sprig to twig

Now that things are slowing down in the garden, it’s a good time to trot out some of the things stored away that didn’t quite make it into previous posts. When I visited Mississippi Ave a few weeks ago, I took quite a few pictures of a place I find inspiring, The Rebuilding Center. If you drive toward the river on Fremont, you will come upon it where Fremont intersects with Mississippi.

It is a place where builders and remodelers can drop off unwanted building materials that are then sorted, priced and put on display.

Bulletin boards hold ideas for ways to use cast off materials in ingenious ways, but perhaps the most inspiring examples are to be found in the building itself. Here is a wall incorporating a hodge podge of reclaimed windows. Greenhouse, anyone?

Scrap metal has been welded into a decorative fence.

The main entrance is a fantasy land, with built-in benches at the base of trees whose branches, adorned with sparkly elements reach for the vaulted skylights.

Here’s another look at that entryway.

The space is huge, with enough room for separate areas dedicated to doors, windows, etc.

In the lighting department, whole fixtures hang from above while shelves of globes and shades fill the dense shelving below.

This is one of those places to come with an open mind and let the imagination roam free. Who knows what manner of garden structure might result.

Tucked way in the Sellwood-Moreland district, just a little north of Tacoma on 13th Ave., all ye home cooks and gardeners (not to mention candle makers, home brewers. etc. etc.) will find a treasure in Portland Homestead Supply Co.

As soon as I stepped through the door, I was struck by the quality of the goods on display. They steer away from electronic gadgets in favor of the tried and true (note the bright red hand-crank meat grinder on the nearest table). These are items that can pass for artifacts. Indeed, they raise the homely arts of home making to an art form. All of the standard jars for canning and pickling are here, but for just a little bit extra, you can buy jars that will turn your kitchen’s yummy output into gourmet gift items to make you proud. I was drawn to some stainless steel pie pans…anticipating the delight they would bring to turning out pies and quiches.

Need a little help getting started? Many subjects are covered in their book section.

On a mezzanine overlooking the main room is a large table where classes are held. Be sure to check out the class schedule on their website if you would like to try something new with a little hands-on help. See that “fresh eggs” sign on the mantle? It is not just for show. I was there on a Friday, when fresh farm eggs had just been delivered. There were duck eggs as well as huge chickens eggs and teeny tiny ones. Once you have tried eggs straight from the farm you will never go back.

Several small rooms off the classroom hold different categories of merchandise. This one had aprons and various linens, all with that homey feel executed with a modern twist. While I was there, a woman came in with oven mitts she had made using flour sacks handed down in her family. I’m not sure any of that batch will make it to the showroom floor, the way employees were snatching them up. Don’t worry: she will be back with more.

This drying rack folds flush to the wall when it is not in service.

All the makings for candles, including an interesting array of molds (bottom shelves), and an instructional book. I think taking the class would be a fun way to get into this.

Just as I was about to pay up and take my leave, someone mentioned that there were garden related items out the side door.

Have you ever seen a sweeter looking goat? It was unclear to me if this was Wendell or Belle, but the pair of Nigerian dwarf goats provide endless entertainment, keep the grounds clear of blackberry vine and, if all goes according to plan, will provide some frolicking kids come spring.

They share the yard with chickens and ducks, all roaming freely…

the only restraints being good looking fencing treatments that block off the alleys on both sides of the shop.

As with everything else, the room holding soil amendments and tools is spick and span, and the displays are as attractive as they are utilitarian. Those galvanized bins hold all sorts of soil amendments, even hard-to-find things like Jersey Greensand…all available in bulk or in 5# bags. Now it really was time to shove off, and I found myself chomping at the bit to get back to my kitchen and garden.

Back to my original plan to take you on a stroll along Mississippi Avenue in North Portland, but first I suggest that you visit Digging to see Pam’s tour of the greatest fall display I have ever encountered.

This is one of those areas that has been in transition for a number of years. Unlike the urban renewal model, the process has been organic, leaving old houses like this one, complete with a yard full of roses, to cozy up next to a brand new building housing shops and businesses.

New housing complexes raise the density along the street,

complete with a bamboo-lined pedestrian alley that extends the storefront shopping experience.

Many of the storefronts have a funky, reclaimed quality about them, like this Mexican restaurant.

A few remnants of the old neighborhood remain untouched.

Food carts are a big deal in Portland. Since this one is on private property, it can build some covered seating for its customers without running afoul of city ordinances.

Art on the street runs the gamut, from this minimalist gallery presentation

to these farm animals strutting their stuff on the sidewalk.

SunLan carries nothing but light bulbs. You never saw so many light bulbs…of every size, shape and description. It almost resembles a curio shop.

While across the street a new building sports this sleek entry

with modern, sophisticated planters. You wouldn’t think that the disparity of styles would work, but it all seems to hold together and exude personality in a way that monocultures like malls try so hard for and miss by a mile.

This brand new covered portal would seem to suggest something coming soon to this currently almost vacant lot, but on Mississippi you never can tell. It may have been built entirely for its own sake.

Most of a block is lined with new shops fronted by a courtyard punctuated by these large stone orbs.

One of the shops is emblematic of the quirky nature of the street. The Meadow is devoted almost exclusively to the world of salt. A selmelier is to salt what a sommelier is to wine. They have one.

Yep, that’s a wall of salt, all right. There are tester jars of each variety, and little cups of water to clean the palate between tastes.

Those handsome slabs in the foreground are Himalayan salt blocks. They can be heated or chilled to serve a variety of foods while imparting a delicate hint of salt.

To round out a true gourmet shopping splurge you can pick from a nice selection of flowers (while I was there last summer, a biker type in studded leathers chose a perfect, small red rose, had it beautifully wrapped in tissue, tied with a ribbon and off he roared…presumably to his lady love, but it might have been his mom (there was that tattoo). The Meadow also has a selection of high end chocolates, wines and bitters.

Having guided me through a tasting session, this delightful young woman is bagging up my purchases: smoked Malton finishing salt, truffle sea salt and a tiny silver spoon (suspicious if I am ever in a drug bust). The salts are expensive, but potent. They are used at the end of cooking or at the table, and the tiniest bit packs a wallop. So you see, Wendy, I did wind my way around to a little bit in this post that justifies linking to your Garden to Table Challenge. I guarantee you these salts will bring out the best in anything from your garden or farmers’ market.

My plan was to take you up and down Mississippi Ave in North Portland today, then focus on a few of the shops in subsequent posts. Then I visited danger garden and was reminded that Pam has declared October “support your local independent nursery month”. So I am reshuffling the order and taking you straight to Pistils. With a name like that and a building as colorful, quirky and inviting as the one pictured above, I can’t imagine anyone walking right on by without checking it out.

As you approach the entrance, a wrought-iron fence allows a glimpse into the yard, which stretches down one side and into the back.

To get there, you must enter through the shop

…where an artist’s eye is everywhere in evidence.

It’s a gift shop; it’s a plant haven; it’s an idea factory…and we haven’t even stepped outside yet.

But when we do, we find that all outdoor plants are 25% off. Even at this late date, there are plenty of unusual and hard-to-find offerings… like medlars (where else have you seen those for sale?)

Even the chicken coop has a boatload of charm. In the spring there are baby chicks for sale. Summers, the birds are loose among the plants. On this visit they were contentedly cooped up and clucking softly.

This is a small gem of a place that delivers big in satisfaction and intrigue. I would be hard-pressed to name a favorite favorite, but Pistils would definitely be in my “elite class”.

All of Dymaxicon’s writers were there: from left to right, Chris, Hillary, me, Larry, Nancy and Lilly. Over the course of two days, we got to know one another and it began to feel like a family.

By backing up a little bit, you can see our booth, with all of our books on display. With seven stages all going at once, featuring readings, panel discussions and conversations, plus an exhibit hall full of booths, no two people attending Wordstock were apt to have the same experience. Portland is a very bookish place, so there were plenty of local writers. More surprising was the number of big names like Pulitzer winners Isabel Wilkerson and Jennifer Egan and best selling author of The English Patient Michael Ondaatje. Lesser luminaries and stars of the future rubbed elbows with students, publishers…basically anyone engaging in a love affair with words. Saturday evening, we all trooped over to the Aladdin Theater to watch the Live Wire radio show being taped. My favorite part of their manifesto reads: “We believe that ‘funny’ and ‘culturally relevant’ aren’t mutually exclusive.” They put that into practice by incorporating many of Wordstock’s authors into a highly entertaining evening. The shows, taped in Portland, can be heard on public broadcasting stations around the country.

Not far from the convention center, on East Burnside, is the Jupiter Hotel. A funky old motel from the ’50’s has been remodeled into a stylish place to lay your head, or, in our case, to gather to rehash the weekend, tipple and tell stories in the bar/restaurant, the Doug Fir.

I had been scoping out E Burnside the week before, so when the question “where shall we go after?” arose, I actually had an answer. It was late, and a bit rainy to enjoy the wonderful outdoor space, but gathering around the fireplace in the lounge served us well. Roll-around tables and seating could be reconfigured to our liking. Now, since this is purported to be more of a garden-centric blog, I will leave the word stuff and take you back a week to my prowl around Burnside.

Formerly a down-at-the-heels area, considerable work has gone into upgrading. These bioswales occupy several corners between traffic and pedestrians.

I especially like the metal domes protecting the drains.

Formerly derelict buildings have been reclaimed to house little boutiques, vintage resale, galleries and restaurants.

…and in the next block, more of the same. Across the street from these is the Jupiter.

I went around the block to get headed in the right direction and came across this bicycle shop with personality.

In the next block, this radio station was not to be outdone.

I parked the car to get pictures of the murals, and that was when I spied the back alley of the Jupiter, where guests can enjoy bamboo-lined patios.

Or lunch on a fine day, far from the traffic and noise of busy streets.

Rooster Rock is a huge park just outside Portland in the Columbia River Gorge. I can’t believe that I have lived here most of my life and had never been there. It was not for want of trying: the place fills up pretty fast on weekends and holidays. When our friends suggested a picnic in the middle of the week it was one of those “Aha!” moments.

This is the view from our picnic spot looking down at the river (the hills rising on the other side are in the state of Washington).

Looking the other way, across the parking lot (see! no cars!). Despite temperatures in the mid-nineties, we had the place nearly to ourselves except for a gaggle of nude sunbathers and the odd dog walker. For a truly scenic outing, one can take the old Columbia River Highway that winds past a number of waterfalls and to the top of that cliff in the distance, where there is a picturesque lookout with an incredible view of the gorge. Silly me: I failed to take a picture of the rock outcropping that gives this park its name (it looks like a giant rooster’s tail).

After a refreshing swim, we settled down, with our wine and all sorts of good things to eat, to watch the sunset.

It just got better and better,

The haze from nearby forest fires does wonderful things for sunsets…reminds me of sunsets seen from Griffith Park in Los Angeles when I lived there in the 60’s. A guilty pleasure, but it is beautiful.

Usually, a drive to Sauvies Island (just minutes away from downtown Portland) means a visit to Cistus Nursery, a nature hike or a picnic and a swim. This time, I wanted to check out a farm stand I had heard of. If you go left off the bridge and keep straight rather than turning right onto Reeder Road, begin watching for:

pristine white fences and many cars on the right.

The tykes playing around the entry sign look tidy enough here, but by the time I left, their shirts and faces showed their appreciation for the berries and other goodies.

Before heading out to the fields, a stop at this station provides buckets, seacateurs, check lists and pencils: all of the supplies needed to “pick your own posies”.

The fields stretch as far as the eye can see.

So if you don’t feel up to the trek, or you just want to show the kiddies a good time, a transport is readily available (with hunky teen boys driving the tractors).

Who needs a cutting garden when fields of zinnias (among many other types of blooms) are offered up for 25 cents a stem?

I think repeat visits will be a must. I see a bouquet of sunflowers in my future, once the zinnias pass their prime.

My mission was to get peaches for a pie. Store-bought peaches are almost always a disappointment. Here, one is primed with information about what to look for in the perfect peach: a deep red blush, a slight give to gentle pressure, and no resistance when plucking the fruit with a tug straight down (twisting tends to break the skin).

The trees in this orchard have been kept small, so that it is easy to wander among them to choose and pluck fruit at its peak of perfection. I have visited many farm stands on the island, most often as an afterthought on the way to some other destination. This farm is well worth a planned trip with nothing else in mind…though you might want to meander up the road a bit to check out the lavender farm, or venture out Reeder Road to the Herb Farm.

Here’s what I plan to do with the peaches: arrange slices in a hot pre-baked cornmeal crust; pour over a mixture of 1 c sugar, half c flour,1 tsp ground cinnamon, quarter tsp each salt and ground nutmeg and 1 c whipping cream; bake at 400 for 40 min and chill well before serving.

We usually go to the Portland Nursery on Stark Street, but when we heard about a garden art fair at the one on Division, we decided to go the extra few miles to check it out. It was a gloomy, rainy day, so not much gardening was going to happen. I guess I am one of only a handful of people that think that way, because attendance was sparse.

A large area of the nursery was given over to tents for the artists, with one big one for performing musicians. The hay bale seating was a nice touch, considering the old-timey fiddling and such. I was expecting more in the way of garden art. I’d say at least 50% of the artists were jewelers.

A gardener’s hands do not make the best showcase for jewelry, so I zeroed in on…big surprise…succulents. I thought these hanging snail shells, each with a little succulent, were delightfully inventive.

There were succulent terrariums in bowls,

and hanging globes,

and hanging teardrops.

But here we were in plant central, so it wasn’t long before we were out there inspecting plants. This outlet of Portland Nursery lacks the display gardens of the Stark Street location, but they compensate by using every vertical surface for displays like this one.

There are large hunks of real estate given over to displays like this one featuring many styles and sizes of fountains.

This cascading fountain was set apart at the entrance to the shade house.

The pot selection is impressive, especially for this late in the season. I was wowed by these massive concrete numbers.

I found this unique sedum in the native plant section. Sedum oregonense ‘McKenzie River Form’ is touted as evergreen-ever glaucous.

I fell for this little guy: Thuja occidentalis ‘Golden Tuffet”, which caused some hilarity when R discovered that I had purchased…yes it’s true…an arborvitae, after having spent the better part of our gardening life together vetoing his every attempt to sneak one in. I guess that proves that there is no such thing as a “bad plant”. How about you? Is there a family of plants you profess to hate? Has one of its distant cousins crept into your affections when you least expected?

Our friends who downsized from a big old Victorian in the alphabet district in NW Portland now have this view of the Fremont Bridge looking downriver.

While in the other direction there is the Broadway Bridge in the foreground, backed by the city’s skyline. The sidewalk you see here is part of a 40-mile loop trail for walkers and bicyclists. The water of the Willamette River is so high right now that parts of the trail are submerged, but that won’t last for long. We plan to bring our bikes sometime soon.

The condo building is surrounded by something like a moat. This is the view looking from the sidewalk out between the two buildings with the river in the distance and industrial buildings and docks on the far shore.

Down the sides of the buildings the water cascades down these concrete spillways. The reflecting pool in the last photo has similar levels that can be seen through the water, but not easily photographed.

The landscape designer was meticulous to the point that the first rocks in this dry creek bed had to be removed because they were the wrong color. These rocks are exactly the color of the sidewalk and nearly uniform in size.

I am normally not a petunia person, but I find the large blocks of bright red ones in concrete raised beds surprisingly pleasing.

After passing through a lobby with falling water on both sides (just in case we haven’t had enough rain) we made our way to our friends’ condo, where they have this view from their balcony. They can watch all of the river traffic and the loading and unloading of cargo ships across the river. If that isn’t enough excitement, the Portland Police’s horse barn is off to the left, where the horses are worked in the ring. They miss having a space to garden, but the low maintenance will make room for sailing getaways, etc. Looks like a pretty good life to me. Now I am off to spend the next three days of promised sunshine mucking about in the garden and loving every minute of it. To each his own, right?

Mothers Day weekend brings the Rhododendron Society’s big sale in the parking lot of the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. Since Richard is a fan, it has become something of a tradition with us. Here is what we came home with this time:

Rhododendron ‘Nancy Evans’ x macabeanum will have creamy yellow blooms with red nectaries (whatever that means).

This is the second Loderi in our collection, Rhododendon ‘Loderi White Diamond’. It should get huge in time, with large fragrant ivory trusses.

Bright red flowers attracted us to R. ‘Markeeta’s Prize’, even though we have had less than perfect luck with red-blooming Rhodys…fingers crossed.

While R was indulging himself, I was off browsing the other offerings. On the left is Acer palmatum ‘Shishigashura’, or Lion’s Head maple. This is an unusual form for a Japanese maple, tall and upright rather than low and weeping. I have been wanting one for years, so I was happy to find this small one in my price range. On the right is Pinus mugo ‘White Bud’, an Israeli introduction with “White buds that glow against the dark-green foliage in winter…”. The plant in the center is a Monkey Puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana, my Mothers Day gift. It is from Means Nursery, but that’s another story.

We though it would be fun to see a nursery and display garden featuring Rhodys to get some ideas about how to combine them with other plantings, so we headed over to Bovees Nursery

Behind this gate is a fully mature garden made by true connoisseurs of the species.

Several of these big-leaved guys took a big hit and were lost, but this one is looking good.

Mature trees like this maple with the beautiful peeling bark provide a canopy of shade.

As does this Prunus serrula.

Something to see at every level. Looking down, these moss-covered rocks give way to seas of white anemones as ground cover.

Other parts of the woodland floor are covered in lacy ferns.

These little pom poms were a form I had not seen before.

Following a trail around the house towards the greenhouse, we came out of the woods into a more open area just as the sun broke through for a few moments. We spent most of the day dodging hailstorms and cloudbursts.

The next few pictures were taken in the greenhouse, where the largest collection of the semi-tropical Vireya rhododendrons in North America (perhaps the world) are housed.

The owners of this nursery are slowing down as age catches up with them. It shows in the haphazard labeling and pricing, as well as their willingness to shoot the breeze endlessly with visitors. We learned a lot, and came away with a warm feeling about the place. We did not come away with any plants. We felt kind of bad about that, but it was hard to tell what was for sale (many areas were roped off with not for sale signs) and nothing that interested us had any kind of labeling. In hindsight we would have made at least some sort of token purchase, but the skies opened and we dashed for the car. Maybe we will go back on a nicer day, pick up an unusual plant or two, and remember to ask about those “nectaries”.