Rosa

Monthly Top 10 Plants at Campiello Maurizio (June 2023)

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Summer has been flying by but I have to say it’s been a beautiful one. This year the garden has been easy to love and I’ve really enjoyed it for the first time in a long time.

There’s always great happiness when you find just the right plant. Rosa ‘Altissimo’ is a pleasure to grow.

One: This climbing rose, introduced by Delbard in 1966, is a jaw dropper when it’s in bloom. Sadly, mine needs to struggle a bit in the small and not-so-fertile bed where it is forced to live, so it’s been growing slowly, but at least it continues to put out those incredible blooms.

Heralded as disease-free, so far it looks great to me.

This Begonia aff. palmata was purchased from Shayne Chandler during a visit to the Olympic Peninsula a year or two ago with my friend Theo.

Two: As an act of kindness a year or two ago Theo decided to take me up to see Heronswood as a break from working so hard during the pandemic. It was great to see the garden, and it was even more fun to visit the home garden of Shayne Chandler. Long a fixture in the PNW, with his designs, and his public friendship with Dan Hinkley, it was nice just to spend a little bit of time talking to him.

And his garden, wow! (I don’t think I posted photos but maybe sometime soon I can get back up there and report here about it.)

It took me wwwaaaayyyyy too long to get this Pteris wallichiana from Evan’s old garden into the ground.

Three: Last fall my close friend Evan had to move away from the garden they’d lived in for many years. It was the family home, and it was time to downsize. Instead of throwing in the towel and just saying “Whatever, I’m out of here,” they jumped into action with organized lists of plants for folks to dig, as well as their own rescue plan for what they’d be bringing to the city. One of the plants on the list I knew I wanted IMMEDIATELY was this fern. Grown from spore, I divided a batch of them at Cistus last year, and I knew I wanted one then. So finally, after many months, this one is in the ground!

Mission accomplished!!!

A Cistus introduction from before my time there, Abutilon ‘Tiffany Sconce’.

Four: It’s not breaking news to say I have a thing for abutilons… This is one I reencountered while helping to inventory which ones we had at Cistus. It’s a lovely one, with a sheen just like the best art glass, and purportedly hardy-ish, so of course you know I wanted to plant one in the garden this summer—and so I did.

This goatsbeard planted itself here. I’m fine with that since Aruncus dioicus is one of my favorites.

Five: Not as many native plants this month, but I don’t think that’s a surprise. So many non-natives really shine as this time of the year.

Overall, so long as Aruncus dioicus is planted in the shade, you’ll easily be successful with it. Planted in swaths, it looks much better than this one does. We do have more of these at Secret Garden Growers so I’ll be adding a few friends soon.

Was happy to bring home this Pittosporum patulum home with me.

Six: A regret about leaving a job like the one at Cistus is that I will always be sad about the plants I DIDN’T try while I worked there. (My garden is just not big enough for much more though, and I honestly could not afford to buy a lot.)

That thought is absurd though since I can always go back to look for them, or even try something else now that I’m a civilian shopper and no longer a talented and beloved team member. Before I put in my resignation—a thing I didn’t want to do but had to professionally since there was no pathway forward for me—I thought long and hard about fun stuff that I urgently wanted to try, and I was so happy that this was available.

Have I planted it yet? Well… that’s another story… ask me in a few more weeks.

After several years in the stock tank, the Schoenoplectus acutus, continues to show how awesome it is!!!

Seven: A few years back I purchased this stock tank to change things up a bit in the garden. Having grown up on a creek, and then having had a family home on a river, I love water. If I’m not near a body of water, I feel a bit off balance in some way. It’s a comfort to me. One of the interesting challenges though has been to make this work year round, and to include more native plants in the blasting sun.

Tule grass for the win!!! With that tall vertical appeal, I don’t know why more folks aren’t using it. Lots of insects are attracted to it too and while I rest in the hammock nearby I enjoy watching them buzz right by.

Sideshow Bob or Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’?

Eight: One of my many collections is of asparagus plants. I love the edible sort as well as the ornamental, and the family fascinates me too. This plant is a common ornamental one, but this year, it feels especially pretty displayed on this plant stand in the big container.

I enjoy that it adds humor and amuses me. Laughter therapy is good.

A Holodiscus dumosus I grew from seed now happily planted in my front garden.

Nine: Years ago when I first started working at Cistus I was asked to go on a trip to Southern Oregon with Sean and Preston, another employee, and our mutual friends from England. It was during that trip I became more aware of this plant, one I’d seen before, but at that time I mistakenly thought it was some form of Holodiscus discolor instead of a whole different plant.

So, this my readers is Holodiscus dumosus, and it’s one I grew from seed. I grew a crop or two of these at Cistus Nursery but I can’t say for sure if any are available.

Be on the lookout for it though, and if you find one, plant it!

Last year I ordered a Pelargonium ‘Vectis Glitter’ and it didn’t make it. This year, I’m glad I tried again.

Ten: Pelargoniums are also mostly non-hardy plants I love but I don’t think they always love me back lol. Last year I was excited to buy this one from Geraniaceae. I LOVE the stellar forms. This one needs to grow a bit more yet, but I’m being patient with it.

The blooms were perfect, so I guess it was worth the hassle of waiting another year.

I’ve been slowly working on the site again over at Spiffy Seeds.

If you have any extra special seeds from your garden that you’d like to send me to include in my shop, I’d be grateful and can likely trade with you for something else. Just send an email to: ann@amateurbotannist.com

I’ll be posting about seed-related topics there too from time to time on the Journal page. You can read my most recent post here: Seeds Matter to Me

Our Garden Home After 1 Month Away

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It’s always nice to come home. Normally I would have freaked out at the mess in the garden and all the work I needed to do but one month in Italy has performed its magic. My Italian side still has nothing but positive, wonderful, and charming things to say about the place.

“Look at all that green? Where did that come from? It’s fantastic!”

“It looks like a lovely cabin in the woods. Who lives there? I do! What fun!”

And lastly, “Let’s straighten things up and have friends over. We must have something to celebrate, right?”

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Home Sweet Home.

From the plane I’d been able to see roughly where I’d grown up just outside of the city, and then I saw one of the few Italian family farms left in the area. Not too long ago there were so many more and all of the large Italian families in the city had one of their own.

All of this was quite emotional for me. In the space of a generation or two so many had disappeared as Italian-Americans were able to become so many more things because we do have that ability here, or at least we did. Now I’m not so sure about the American Dream, but I know for many of the immigrants in my family, it was real.

Having just returned from Italy were there are so many small farms, it made me sad—but proud too. Oregon is a great place and I am so happy to live here. It’s not always comfortable for me, but overall, after this last trip to Italy, I feel like both of my feet are firmly on the ground now. Funny I find myself wanting to sell produce or plants or even food more and more, but I know exactly where that impulse comes from and I am proud of it.

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Willamette Falls, Oregon City, Oregon.

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Rossi Farms on NE 122nd Avenue. One of the few Italian family farms left in the area.

After passing out for a few days I was able to get up the energy to walk through my garden to see how things were going.

So many of my favorite plants were blooming, and thanks to friends, all of the seedlings were doing great too.

The plane rides had been really hard on me and my swelling was very bad initially but it got better and eventually I saw my doctor and we discussed where I was at concerning my health but I will get to that in another post. I just wanted to emphasize, it really took me several days to get out and walk around and when I did it was quite painful.

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Rosa “Sombreuil”.

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Clematis “Jackmanii”.

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Unknown Dutch Iris.

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Unknown Dutch Iris.

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Rosa “Golden Showers”.

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Rosa rugosa.

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Billbergia nutans, Billbergia Bromeliad, Queen’s-Tears.

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Fave blooms.

The fava bean plants immediately excited me—even though I was in pain. As much as I’d loved being in Italy, I missed my kitchen and while there I’d wished I could have spent more time just hanging out in kitchens watching people cook. I have so much to learn and often feel like a pokey and useless creature but what comes out of my kitchen usually makes me proud. There was so much I didn’t see in one month. There were so many words I didn’t get to hear.

Back home I recommitted myself to cooking more difficult things and I’ve set out to learn more skills.

I also decided that my war on the edible garden is over now. My distaste for my former life is done and I’m ready to move on and I knew I badly need to do the garden renovation dance.

So, during the last week I’ve attacked the front yard with a great gusto, but I have a few big projects to get through before I can say the kitchen garden is up and running as it should be. I am renovating and clearing several areas at the same time with particular goals in mind. Yes, I want more food space, but I also need to dedicate my time and energy to plants which produce seeds I can sell. Maybe I can even get to some plant selection of my own in time. I hope so. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do.

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LuLu gained a little bit of weight while we were gone. I hate to call her neurotic, but she has her issues. Overeating nervously is one of them. 

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Maurice wanted us to know we were missed. Many stern looks were tossed our way between naps.

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Mona was happy to see me and couldn’t sit still. Even at her age she’s still Miss Wigglesworth.

The cats were happy to see us—as you can see. At first LuLu was in shock and hid from us but she continued to look at us with a pinch-me-is-this-real? look. After a few days we all settled in again. I think that’s in part due to the fact we had a great house sitter who really cared about the cats. Additionally, I think that we have 3 cats now who like one another. Mona getting along with LuLu has been a welcome surprise.

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Sweet souvenir: my new Bialetti.

We brought back a few things from Italy. Since we had to carry everything, I wasn’t feeling quite as generous as I wanted to be but my back survived.

My first gift to myself was this lovely little coffeemaker. Now I can make a quick shot of espresso just for me. Or, I could make one for you, the garden visitor. It works perfectly and makes a great cup of espresso.

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Not sure yet where we will hang this up.

The second gift to ourselves were these terra-cotta pieces for the back garden. We had to have St. Mark’s lion, and for me, well, something more historic.

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I mentioned LuLu is a bit neurotic, right?

That first week after we returned this is what always greeted me when I left the house or when I returned home. She melted my heart all over again. We immediately went on diets together too and I’ve been enforcing strict activity goals for her. Ok, maybe not that strict, but both of us have lost some weight.