A Mini-Vacation in Portland Part 1 (Of Many) Tsugawa Nursery

Visiting the Rare Plant Research annual plant sale and garden open has become a bit of a tradition.  Since I had to use some personal days at work or loose them, I decide to drive down on the Friday before the sale on May 20, take in some nurseries, spend the night and have a plant play date with Danger.  What a grand time it was.  The first stop on the way was Tsugawa Nursery in Woodland, Washington,  very close to the Oregon border.  Come with me and enjoy the explosion of color!





Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum'  is a lovely thing.   Thoughts of ripping out my big patch of the non-variegated form and replacing it ran through my mind briefly.


Schizanthus have a special place in my heart although I've not grown them in years.  The lady who owned the tourist shop in Alaska where I worked for 16 summers planted these out front and so many tourists inquired about this easy-to-grow annual that we finally put a sign in the flower bed.  Maybe next year these will get a spot in my garden, perhaps if the pot ghetto gets emptied.  (Who am I trying to kid here, that'll never happen.)

Rhododendrons and azaleas are ubiquitous in gardens in this region because they grow and bloom with little care.

Another plant that has my heart is tuberous begonias.  Those I started myself are looking good except for the pendulous ones planted in pots hanging from the greenhouse eaves.  I hope they get over the shock of being transplanted and thrown into the sunnier location soon and start growing again.


This one almost made it into the plantmobile but it wouldn't be happy being jostled around for a couple of days so it stayed.




So peaceful.  It's difficult in looking at these scenes to know that this nursery is very close to Interstate 5, an always-busy, major highway.




Glass/ceramic flowers.  These were made using the drilling method rather than the Reeder/gluing method which makes much more sense.  (I drilled for years before Linda taught me an easier way.) I'm always torn when I see a great old hand-painted porcelain piece used.  Once it's drilled, it's ruined but if nobody wants to use things like this anymore, perhaps it's better that the work is enjoyed in some way.

Tsugawa has large collections of conifers, Japanese Maples, plants and other supplies for water gardens but the nurseries of Portland were calling.  The discount center always has great buys.  Not usually anything unusual but good healthy garden backbone plants.


Why would they put these on sale when they're looking so gloriously gold?  Tempting but there are many in my garden already.