An afternoon at Little Prince of Oregon

Mid-December I had the pleasure of visiting Little Prince of Oregon (LPO) with friends Evan Bean and Ann Amato, they're on the left in the photo below. I'm the one in the back in black, and in front of me is Alexa Patti, head grower at LPO. 

We were treated to tour time with both Alexa and Mark Leichty, Director of Business Development at LPO, with additional bonus chat time with Mike Hicks (Production Manager); and Ernie and Marietta O’Byrne of Northwest Garden Nursery, creators of the Winter Jewels Hellebores. In case you haven't heard the big news, LPO is taking over the hellebore program from the O'Byrnes. We spent a little time in one of the green houses with the Winter Jewels stock plants and there were even blooms—in December! I'm thrilled this program is in good hands and that the O'Byrnes get to enjoy retirement.

Onward! Ann is all sorts of begonia crazy so we spent some time checking out the begonias that LPO is growing. This one is 'Froggy' (yes, very fitting for a nursery with a frog logo).

Begonia chloroneura

Begonia soli-mutata

I didn't get the name of this one, but those big leathery leaves were pretty fantastic.

This is the largest of the many greenhouses at LPO, and houses many (most?) of their houseplant selections.

I've been visiting LPO for over eight years and it's been amazing to watch them grow. Their greenhouse space has at least tripled and they've gone from selling only wholesale to selling direct on their website. Walking through the nursery you definitely see their commitment to growing fabulous plants, and the people who work there all seem really happy too.

These Cryptanthus ‘Zebrinus’ and Ananas nanus 'Cathy' were in the holding area for the Little Prince of Oregon display garden at the 2024 Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in February. I can't wait to see what they come up with this year!

Pteris quadriaurita 'Tricolor'

This cool columnar planting was in one of the greenhouses that had space set aside for overwintering of employee plants.

That's also where this colorful Blechnum brasiliense was located.

Here's Evan, Ann and I with our haul, we each left with an amazing collection of LPO plants.

Here's what I got, clockwise from the fern in the upper right-hand corner: Blechnum brasiliense, Pteris quadriaurita 'Tricolor', Blechnum appendiculatum and Begonia chloroneura.

Blechnum appendiculatum is said to be hardy to Zone 8, perhaps 7. I'll be testing that as I plan to plant it out in the springtime.

The pteris will be a house plant for me, maybe vacationing outdoors in the summertime.

Same for the begonia.

But wait, there's more! Clockwise starting with the agave on the far right: Agave stricta, Ananas nanus 'Cathy', Cryptanthus zebrinus, and Hohenbergia ‘Chocolate Tiger’ (Evan got one of these too and after a little online sleuthing is referring to it as Hohenbergia correia-araujoi).

Look at that dark color and striping!

So refined and glamorous...

I'm looking forward to watching this one grow.

Spikes! I might leave this one in a container in hopes that it stays small, cause it's so darn cute!

Two big sexy bromeliads round out my haul...Neoregelia ‘Tiger’ and Aechmea fasciata ‘Primera’. 

I was pretty excited when I learned LPO was planning to offer bromeliads, everyone needs at least couple, and they're so easy to grow.

Just a little water in the cup at the center of the leaves and good light... it's that easy. Well, and don't leave them outdoors in the winter unless you're in a warm climate.

Such a fun day with plant friends and a pretty exciting haul... exactly what I needed in this cool, dark, part of the year...

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Visiting @vasyazub and his fantastic plant collection

On a Wednesday in late August Eric and set out to visit Vasiliy (@vasyazub on Instagram) up in SW Washington. I've followed Vasiliy online for years, but we'd never met in person. I was excited to see his greenhouse set-up, his plant collection, and put a real face to this online persona. I wasn't expecting this however, what a fantastic water garden...

The fountains were relocated from their previous home, where there was a devastating fire a couple of years back. The greenhouse is visible in the background, just down a steep incline.

A better shot of the greenhouse.

We have to pause here to appreciate the spiky plantings...

Pretty fabulous, and very dense. I hope they don't get many weeds.

Now we're inside the greenhouse, and I am in awe...

I wish I would have taken a photo as soon as we entered, but this view comes close. The right side (the side that's up against the succulent plantings we just saw) is planted and jungly. The left side gets more sun and mainly features sun lovers in containers.

On the left...

And back to the right...

This is cool business is a pinecone bromeliad (Acanthostachys strobilacea). I only know that because Vasiliy had recently divided his plant and sent both Eric and I home with a piece, more on that at the end of the post.

Trevesia palmata (snowflake aralia)

I thought about trying to organize these photos so I wasn't flipping back and forth between the jungly side and the dry side, but that became even more confusing. 

Spiny "dry" bromeliads, Deuterocohnia brevifolia and D. lorentziana.

Ginormous epiphyllum.

As we got towards the back of the greenhouse—near the bend visible in the ninth photo from the top—both sides took on a jungly feel, with lots of gorgeous ferns, palms, and plants I can only appreciate but not identify.

Musa x paradisiaca Ae Ae (or something like that, everyone seems to spell it diferently).

I've given up trying to grow that little gesneriad, the round plant growing in the bricks. It just doesn't like me. I still adore it however.

Aglaomorpha of some sort.

We've made it to the end, and are rewarded with this sweet pond/greenwall set-up.

That Ludwigia sedioides (mosaic plant) on the left is one of my very favorite pond plants, it's so fabulous!

The greenwall planting is fairly new, so it's just starting to fill in.

Check out all the different species Vasiliy included...

That's a happy nepenthes!

Retracing our steps back towards the door everything looked new again from a different angle.

The lack of ID/names isn't anyone's fault but mine. I simply could not keep up with all the cool things I was seeing.

Something else I need to mention—there was a whole room in the house devoted to terrarium plant growing, with frogs and insects too. I didn't take any photos in there, we'd just arrived and I hadn't taken out my camera yet. Trust me though, it was amazing!

I wish I could offer my bromeliads a place like this to spend the winter months, instead they'll be hunkered down in the basement, less than ideal conditions as far as moisture and light.

I dream of a greenhouse half as wonderful as this!

I'm back home now and here's the Acanthostachys strobilacea mount Vasiliy made and sent home with me (Eric got a similar one), isn't it wonderful? Tillandsia, a couple of Aechmea recurvata (at the top), I love it! Such a generous gift. Thank you for sharing your time, your knowledge and your plants Vasiliy! If you're reading and want to see more be sure to follow @vasyazub on Instagram.

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All material © 2009-2023 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.