combination of coastal desert mediterranean tropical rainforest…in Oregon.

Containers, however, can bring the impossible a few steps closer.

Last Friday, with the help of Eric Paulson – Dragon Gardens NW- and his fantastic pottery (www. gotpots.com) I was able to bring a few pieces of my favorite landscapes to Bridgeport Mall. It was a perfect sunny day preceded by two days of gathering some amazing plants from growers like Cistus Nursery and Xera Plants. In spite of a little sunburn and a few

painful stabs planting up agave plants I wrapped up the whole process feeling like I’d been on a short but much needed trip out of our Northwest climate zone. It’s been said that April is the cruelest month…if that proves to be true, these pots – and many others – will be on display at Bridgeport Mall until May. A little zonal denial might be just what you need.

One of the great perks of my job is the fact that most container gardens are public in nature – tending to planters along streets like 23rd or 21st pulls me into conversations everyday. Just today I met a client whom I had only known by email exchanges – she had left a yoga class , I was watering the pots outside, she noticed the signs on my truck and introduced herself. We chatted about plants, hellebores in particular.

People stop and talk to you when you garden much like people stop and talk to you when you walk a dog – it makes for easy introductions, easy conversation, easy transition from stranger to familiar face, neighbor.

On Saturday my quiet little neighborhood of St. Johns was inundated with over 200 UP students and dozens of volunteers from the community. Over a dozen new trees were planted along the downtown streets. Mountains of mulch and compost were wheelbarrowed through the downtown blocks to fill tree wells and planting beds…and with the help of 20 UP students and a handful of volunteers from the neighborhood, the sad, weed filled pots that anchor our public plaza were planted up with new trees  and perennials provided by the St. Johns Main Street program.

 It was great to see the finished product , but better by far was the watching a group of people who had never met – some who had probably never donned a trowel – all getting acquainted as they stood around a massive pot of soil and filled it up with plants. A retired Master Gardener volunteer helped an overdressed college student who gardened with an expensive leather purse over her shoulder…people passing by stopped and struck up conversations…I had expected that a Saturday of dirty, labor intensive volunteer work might not bring out the best in everyone involved, but it did.

I drove by the new plaza pots this morning as I headed downtown to fill some pots up with tulips and cyclamen…it was a good feeling, thinking of working out there on Saturday with a bunch of people I might not
have met any other way, neighbors with nothing else in common, chatting with each other over common ground.

March 23rd

Container Gardens LLC will be partnering with Eric Paulson of Dragon Gardens NW on two new container garden displays at Bridgeport Village beginning March 23rd.  Dragon Gardens NW will supply six gorgeous pots to hold plant designs by Susan Lynch. The pots will remain on display at Bridgeport through April as part of their spring Va Va Bloom Event. After April you may look for the planted pots at their permanent home, the display garden now under construction at Dragon Gardens NW new location at 19100 SW Boones Ferry Rd. in Tualatin. Check out some of Dragon Gardens stunning handcrafted pottery at www.gotpots.com

 March 24th

 On Saturday March 24 Container Gardens LLC will be participating in Clean Sweep, a volunteer project funded and coordinated by St. Johns Main Street Program.  We will be leading a group of 20 sophomores from the University of Portland in installing new container plantings in the old urban pots in St. Johns main plaza. A total of 200 students from UP will be participating in this project, which will also include planting new street trees, cleaning up and replanting the downtown tree wells, graffiti removal, and many more projects to benefit the business and residential communities. Im happy to live in St. Johns, even happier to be a part of such a great event. Pray for sun and warm temperatures…..

April 28th

At 1 pm on April 28th  I will be presenting a container garden demo at Bridgeport Village Mall on behalf of Oregon Home Magazine. Please drop by and ask me your most pressing container gardening questions!

March in Oregon…waking up on a Monday, pulling back the curtains with a sigh…its pouring down rain outside,the wind is whipping everything around, blowing the front gate open and rattling the windows.  I would sell my soul for

a week in a tropical locale. I would even settle for subtropical.

I have to admit I am lucky though, I live in a world of garden shows, nursery greenhouses and wholesale flower markets. 

Climate denial is just a short drive away on this dreary Monday.

Meet Platycerium Bifurcatum – commonly known as the Staghorn Fern.  I plucked this last one from the display wall at the flower market and brought it home with me.

These amazing plants are native to Australia and New Guinea.

In their native environment Staghorn Ferns are found growing on trees, which makes for an easy

translation to an indoor container plant – a few slabs of wood make a cheap and environmentally friendly container – add

sphagnum moss and a few lengths of fishing line nailed in to hold the fern in place, and you are one step closer to the tropics.

These ferns are simple to care for, just hang them in a warm spot with indirect light, keep the moss moist and give them a misting once in a while.

As the name Staghorn might suggest, these plants dont need coddling or cooing. They dont bloom,so no fussing around

orchid style to coax a few weeks of glory from them. They just grow into a stunning sculpture, a little piece of Zone 10 in

the middle – or hopefully the end – of an Oregon winter.