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Episode 179 • August 28, 2010

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With the cool down it feels like the summer is over, but there is still lots of time to enjoy the heat. We usually have at least 3-4 more weeks of very warm weather before the rains of fall return. Last year we had 90's in the middle of September. Enjoy the cooler days, enjoy your late summer flowers and try not to think of the cooler weather yet to come.

Don't forget the 'GardenPalooza: The Tour' event that is coming up on the 9-12 of Sept. We have over 25 locations that will be offering classes, seminars, discounts and specials. You will also have the opportunity to sign up at selected nurseries to win gift cards for your favorite restaurants and other great prizes.

Enjoy our preview of some of the participating locations in this week's show.

This week we featured...

Swan Island Dahlia Festival

If the end of summer is approaching you know that it is time for the dahlias to shine, and time for the annual dahlia festival at Swan Island Dahlias (503-266-7711) in Canby. We stopped by to visit with Nick Gitts about the festival and to see some of the new varieties that they are offering this year. We saw 'Blondie' and 'Flame Thrower', both huge 'dinner plate' types of dahlias that will be available in 2011. The festival features over 40 acres of blooms and for the cut flower display on the weekends they cut over 15,000 blooms in the arrangements. You can stop by and learn about dahlia care, enjoy food for purchase and wander the fields at your leisure. The festival is free and is happening on the weekends of Aug. 28-30 and Sept. 4-6, but you can visit the fields anytime through September.

Late Summer Hostas

Hostas are known as a shade and cool weather plant. We paid a visit to Sebright Gardens (503-463-9615), growers of hundreds of great hostas, to learn about some the varieties that can handle the summer heat and still come out looking pretty! Thomas from Sebright Gardens took us around the display gardens to check out some of the plants that were looking good. The first thing that Judy noticed was that the combinations were incredible. They had one bed that was full of ferns, hostas and epimediums. Thomas pointed out the border of a small hosta called 'Stiletto'. It was small and compact and created a nice edge to the garden. Next to that was the hosta 'Princess Anastasia' with a bright center to the leaves and a dark edge. Another hosta with a whiter center was called 'Paul Revere' and that whiter center creates a sharper contrast to the leaf. Next we looked at a bunch of ferns. Ferns are great in the shade garden because they have such a different texture in their foliage. Two of the ferns we saw in the bed were the 'Korean Rock Fern' and a crested fern called Dryopteris Filix-mas 'Crispa Cristata'. We then took a short walk to their fern greenhouse where they were growing some of the 80 different kinds of hardy ferns that you can find in their catalog. On the way we saw 2 more hostas that were looking good, 'Whirlwind' and 'Gypsy Rose'. Some of the ferns we saw when we got to the greenhouse included, 'Quilted Hart's Tongue Fern', 'Blue Fern', 'Koidzuma's Wood Fern', and the 'Rosy Maidenhair Fern'. You can see these anytime you visit them at the nursery (check the website for hours) or during the GardenPalooza event. They will have an additional 10% off for GardenPalooza visitors (Sept. 9-12) and on Saturday the 11th you can even learn how to divide your hostas during a free seminar at 10:30am.

Egan Summer Perennials

The summer perennial garden is a special place. There are plants that bloom in the late summer that are unique and stunning. We stopped by Egan Gardens (503-393-2131) in Keizer to see what Ellen Egan had in her garden center. There are a nice mix of late summer annuals and perennials that are in full bloom right now. Ellen Loves summer and she packs her garden full of color so she can enjoy the summer season longer! Some of the plants she recommends include coreopsis 'Lime Rock Ruby' and 'Lime Rock Dream'. They are tender perennials, which means that they can survive here if you protect them with lots of mulch in a protected area. They are continuous bloomers, but if they stop blooming you can give them a buzz cut and they will send out more blooms. You can do that with a lot of your perennials, Ellen told us to pretend we are deer and cut them down and they will reward you with more color! Next we saw the perennial lobelias. These are different than your trailing lobelias in your hanging baskets. Hummingbirds love these tall, colorful, plants. Another great plant is the gaillardia. We saw the new variety 'Oranges and Lemons', which is very hardy for our area. These plants are also long bloomers and will keep blooming if you cut the seed heads off when they are done blooming. The bright yellow of the gaillardia looked wonderful next to the next plant, Nepeta 'Blue Dragon'. This one has a long tubular flower that is irresistible to the hummingbirds. Judy picked out another shorter yellow flower which surprised us because it was a Goldenrod. Goldenrods are usually huge plants but this one stays nice and short. We finished with a couple of hardier coreopsis from the 'big bang' series of plants, 'Galaxy' and 'Cosmic Eye'. Stop by and check out all these great plants at Egan Gardens during GardenPalooza: The Tour. Ellen will have a bunch of seminars and special pricing on Mums, Baptisia and other plants as well. You can look up her page on the GardenPalooza site for all the details.

Terra Gardens Containers

When people think about summer containers they think about flowers and blooms, but the late summer container can also be stunning without colorful blooms. Dan from Terra Gardens (503-581-0441) showed us what 'foliage' means to a late summer container. He pointed out that there is no plant that is in full bloom 100 percent of the time and so foliage can play a big part in having an interesting container. The best part of the visit to Terra Gardens was looking at the 'End Caps'. End Caps are the display areas at the end of a display isle. At Terra Gardens you can actually get a good idea for a container by shopping the plants on the End Cap. Dan had one that was loaded with great texture plants including the 'Wire Vine'. It is a tough plant! It survived last year when other plants didn't. That made it a favorite with Dan. Dan showed us that by mixing textures, like the 'wire vine' with Black Mondo Grass and a fern, you can create a visually stunning container. If you are looking for height you can add a tall lobelia which will die back in the winter, or a tall grass like 'Heavy Metal'.

The next display had hostas, which will die back, but return in the spring, next to other more hardy selections. We saw Choysia ternata, fringe flower, heuchera and trees as options for your fall and winter containers. Talking about trees had us thinking about fruit trees too and Terra Gardens has a huge selection of fruit and shade trees. In fact, on Sept. 25th they will have the 'Home Orchard Society' coming by to help people with their fruit tree questions and identification. You will want to check with Terra Gardens for more information on that event and others. Terra Gardens is part of the GardenPalooza event and they are celebrating by offering 25-70% off anything that they grow for the entire month of September. Stop by their location on Cordon Road in Salem and check them out.

 
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