Sound Gardener

Sophronitis cernua from Seattle Orchid, a gift from my parents last year, blooming for the first time with a second bud on the way: The orchid is easy to care for, just water when dry.

After hearing wonderful reports about Portland area nurseries, I made a quick trip down to see for myself. As you can see, it was a successful trip! Cistus Nursery's fall sale had just started, and I came home with a Crinodendron hookeranium, Fascicularia bicolor ssp. bicolor (later returned for 'Spinner's form'), Metapanax delavayi, Chamaedorea microspadix, as well as a few others. After leaving Cistus, I went to Pomariua where I found a Schefflera delavayi beginning to show beautiful leaf serration, fingers crossed the lobes become even more dramatic with age. View at a traffic light between Cistus and Pomarius At Pomarius, I found this beautiful Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold,' which was way too big to fit in the car. After showing a photo to Paul, we decided to rent a minivan and drive back to Portland the next weekend to buy it. Topiary bear cub at Pomarius Portland nurseries lived up to the hype; I look forward to my next trip.

Some of my Sansevierias, from right to left S. suffruticosa, S. 'Boncel,' offset of S. trifasciata 'Bantel's Sensation,' and S. NOID cutting from a resort my family frequents. Recently, I have been drawn to Sansevierias with distichous leaves. Happy Halloween!

I walked Sandy in Carkeek Park to enjoy the fall color. The weather has been so warm and dry, many of the leaves were still green.  Sandy reluctantly demonstrating the size of our native bigleaf maple leaves.

I recently made a tacky purchase of a vintage plant pole, otherwise referred to as the stripper pole. Neomarica longifolia / Trimezia maticensis The pole is supporting a yellow walking iris , recently propagated from cuttings, and a Davallia NOID in a faux kokedama planter. Kona lounging by another recent online purchase, Aloe marlothii. And here's a photo of the Aloe just after it arrived in June, looking less impressive than pictured on Etsy. I am please with how much progress the Aloe has made. Notably, the leaves have switched from the juvenile distichous growth pattern to a mature rosette.

Paul and I toured the Seattle Spheres today, followed by a late lunch at Kati Vegan Thai. Both were wonderful. Outside of the spheres, which we saw being constructed when we move to Seattle in 2015.  An endless multistory green wall. The variety of plants included was impressive.  Beautiful palm with white leaf backs, I wish this were hardy. Kerriodoxa elegans Tree ferns  We accidentally timed our visit with a titan arum blooming.  Nepenthes Amazon's botanical collection was impressive. Unfortunately, I failed to take pictures of the landscaping outside, which was also exceptional. I recommend that Amazon begin stocking the plant collection and residential-sized sphere kits on its site.

While in Frankfurt, I also had the opportunity to tour the European Central Bank's new headquarters, which had some beautiful indoor planting. Of course, I only took a picture of these not-so-happy looking vines.  Frankfurt in the distance