Any Oregon Coast Gardeners out there?

Well, this morning was the very coldest yet!!! 23 degrees. Never seen anything like this in the 20 years we have been back in Coos County. This is the last day of March for crying out loud!!! It's warming fast as I write this and I need to get ready to go to town. Darn---don't want to. Bet you all will be outside in your gardens before i get back. Have a good gardening day.
Sue

Shokami, is your boss Blair????

Hi all, I haven't yet tried any of the leptospermum but do find them quite striking. They had some huge ones at the medocino coast garden that were in full bloom. They had paired this dark red one with white magnolia and the contrast was just breathtaking. I hadnt realized that the leptos got so big and you dont see a lot of big flowering trees that color. Finally some sun today but still a cold wind. Im glad to hear everybody else complaining, at least I know that this weather is unusual and Im not the only one who feels a bit too cold.

What is this leptospermum. Is it a tree or bush? Is it fragrant or what is it that attracts you. I looked at a couple of pics but not sure of just how large it gets or what it is that you all are finding such attraction to. Just curious. I have never heard of this plant before, not that I know all the plants but I feel a little dumb not being aware of this. Hehe.

Leptospermum is sometimes called New Zealand Tea Rose because the foliage can be made into tea, it is quite fragrant. So the reason I love them is that I have never heard of a deer touching them. They bloom for me usually twice a year. They are evergreen, you can cut them to whatever size you want or let them go natural. You can get some that will only get 2'x2', I have one that has bronze willow like leaves that will get 20 feet. They don't seem to ever get any bugs, need no fertilizer and once established need little water. The foliage varies on them a lot, some cascade, some have burgundy foliage, some larger leaves. All have the same small rose like flower, some double, some single. It is hard to get good photos of them, they are really beautiful plants. Some are more cold tolerant than others, they do not like the damp so its important to put them where they have good drainage on the coast where we drown in winter.

Wow! Sounds like my kinda plant. I love fragrant plants and I really love climbing plants. I am going to plant a couple of nice climbing roses this year and I think I will try a couple of letospermum. They really sound like a no brainer type of plant. I hope I can find some here.
Thanks for the info.
Jan

hi all.........
yes rebbecca it is blair. does he deliver to you? i do the sales for bandon to yahacts dont go down that way. he does those accts and the landscapers. cool :)

gourd... leptos are great. their a nice airy sort of plant not realy dense foliage. i sent a pic of my ruby glow, its not blooming yet but will later. dark maroon/red blooms with black eye. cool. they do have a lepto that is called tea tree(copper glow) can be a small tree/shrub with much bigger leaves. seems to be pretty tough and wasnt affected by the winter we had so far. has come out of it really well. flower size on most leptos are 1/2" to 1" but the plant just gets covered with them.

another plant you guys might want to consider is the australian mint bush. youwant smell??? omgoodness. its not edible but the fragrance is wonderful just rub on it and its intoxicating. and get tiny little purple flowers on it. and it VERY hardy which is a plus. you can trim the snot out of it and abuse it and it wont die. get about 6-8 ft and kinda egg shaped. have one in my yard and its great.

yeah suns out!!!!! time to take a walk and pull some weeds.
happy planting all.

i will bestarting a pictoral diary of my rhodies as they come into bloom too... so check back ocassionally. i will be adding some pics this am.

whole australian mint bush

close up of mint bush..... ohhh smells os good!! :)

The mint bush is one of the best kept secrets of all. Supposed to grow with good drainage in full sun, I have a beauty in shade with poor drainage that is variegated, awesome plant. Looks good all year which is one of my requirements. And the fragrance is just as she say, awesome. If you are looking for deer proof, this is your plant!

Leptos I have not found fragrant unless you crush the leaves. But very easy indeed and always looks good. I have one called Flat Rock Leptospermum that is a large leaf one, big white flowers with green center and the foliage goes burgundy before blooms. I also only gets about 4 feet and wider than tall. In Australia its called the "Shining Tea Rose," I dunno why.

Oh I do know Blair and probably you as well. Rebecca's Greenhouse, you send me availability I think? I need to go and see him and check out his salvias, I am low on them and he has such a nice selection.

I got the Copper Sheen lepto from Blair a couple years ago. Commercially that has been replaced by Dark Shadows, Copper Sheen being crossed with something and Dark Shadows is supposed to be superior. I have one of each in my yard and they look like twins, waiting for the booms to see why the new one is supposed to be better. Sometimes I think they mess with our heads. The foliage is so lovely, like burgundy blackish willow leaves. I love it without the blooms, which I have not seen yet.

The sun is out which means will will probably all kill ourselves in the gardens. From the forecast it looks like we are rain free till Sunday and its warming up at night as well. People, do not be fooled by the warmer evenings. Almost every year I am and put my babies out and then a cold snap comes and kills them. Carefull......

hi rebecca....
yep i do send you the lists every month. the salvia are just starting to come out now. not ready to leave home yet. we do have some mint bushes that are in 1's that are looking really good. shoot me an email from the fax form and i can give you any info you want and pics if you need them too.

so sick of this cold weather.....and yes i WILL be in the garden today! LOL (mine not blairs)
happy planting!

one day hubby and i will take a drive down to see you... can ALWAYS find something i need?!!

fyi the pic is the sunset just this last sunday... did not enhance it or nuttin' ... taken from the coos head coast guard lookout above the jetty

Beautiful Sunset, reminds me of the sunsets in AZ

One more of my favorites

Beautiful sunset pics! How lucky we are to live where we can enjoy such things in our own neighborhoods. The sky can be so dynamic and even when its day after day of fog and clouds it can still be truly beautiful. It looks like we are in for some nice weather for the next couple of days. Here's pic of one of my favorite places on the coast on a foggy day, I bet it looks familiar to you rebecca. Enjoy the sun everybody!

Hi there

Haven't heard from some of you for a little while. How's this icky weather been affecting Gold Beach and all your cool z9 plants?

Do any of you southern Oregon-ers have suggestions for the PNW calendar? We have no activities down your way, and I'd love to add things from your area as well. (Sanna, you count too- we can grant Eureka honorary PNW status)

Well I think Eureka is having a rhodendron festival or something soon? My rhody guy is taking a bunch of plants to it, thats all I know about it. I do not think there is too much else going on, when Gold Beach and Brookings have their garden tours, I can let you know. I don't know who is going to be on the Gold Beach one but I do know a fantastic garden is going to be on the Brookings tour.

I hate this weather. Was out trying to work and it kept knocking me in the head with hail. Supposed to be warm and sunny tomorrow, like I am gonna believe that one. Yeah for 5 minutes or so.

Now it is just pouring rain. And its cold too. The whole thing is making me whiny. Think I may have a glass of wine and go read my book. Hope someone else is having better weather than I.

Oh, I did a fun thing yesterday. I went to Coquille, actually Riverton to see the Copper Goose. Do any of you know about her? She does all the really big baskets for Coos Bay and the casino, she is completing 64 of them for the city. She is a very interesting lady and the baskets are to die for. She sells the big ones for $85, which is so cheap. The wire basket costs $20 and she puts 22 4" plants in each one. They weigh over 100 lbs when done. She has other containers as well and does custom orders. I ended up buying 5 trays of starter plants from her and really enjoyed her. A very neat lady. It was a fun outing except the drive home was awful, the wind hit at Humbug mountain and I thought we were going to be blown off the highway.

Thats all I got, my big excitement was the Copper Goose. Is anyone else awake?

I'm awake and wet and cold. Just because its raining doesn't mean my dog cares. Just so long as he can get out and reinitiate all of his bushes around the block he is happy. Soak and wet but happy. Me on the otherhand, I am a fair weather type person. I cant wait till we get some nice weather so I can go and play with my strawbale garden. I fed the slugs today as they were begining to feast on my strawberry plants. No way Jose' This is the first year that I have been healthy long enough to get out and start planting a garden and get some bulbs and tubers in the ground and what to we get? SNOW, HAIL, RAIN, RAIN and a little more rain to top it all off.
Do I sound like I have cabin fever. Dang straight I do. If it wasn't for my sweet Wally, I would probably vegitate right into my chair till the sun shown brightly through my window.
Oh well, I keep busy making my pine needle baskets and trading them for plants. I have gotten some wonderful plants and bulb and other goodies. I would be happy to trade one of my baskets for a little sun shine.
Jan

this weather has been horrid! so much wind i thought i was dorthy in the wizard of oz!!! when when when i spring going to come? i am soooooooooooo ready!!

I lost a whole tray of ws seeds today due to a freaky wind gust. No columbines for me this year, I guess.

Garden tours would be wonderful additions to our calendar, Rebecca-thanks! :)

Jan, I think I saw pictures of your baskets somewhere-they were really neat.

I received a couple of trades in the mail and had to go out in the driving rain to plant them. Also had to dig my trade in the rain....rain, wind, snow, hail and more rain. Nice, Huh??? Not counting the one hot day we had this month, I have been trying to think back to when we last had a day or two of decent weather. Can't think that far back. Fall, I guess. Way too long for this part of the world. Now I finally see the attraction for going to Arizona in the winter.
In the mean time, my strawberries seem to be thriving. They are bushy and have blossoms. Amazing. They are in one of the raised beds. The few other veggies I have in the raised beds are doing okay---hunkered down and waiting as we all are. LOL

I've got my strawberries planted in my strawbales. They look like they are doing okay. They are still young so I will give them time.
Here is a pic of some of the baskets I made.

Jan--Your baskets are fabulous!! Have you ever had your own show?? You should. They are great.

hey bee!

hasnt this weather been awful??? i cant even go to work in this. so that 2 days this week without pay...... sigh. so when do i get a chance to come out and see your chicks and veggies? try and stay dry and warm this week. suppossed to let up friday..... we'll see!
happy planting all

rhodie vibrant violet

That is one gorgeous rhodie. I want one! I plan on removing the ugly bushes that are beneath my living room window and a couple of beautiful rhodies would be just the thing to put in there.

We didn't have the wind up here at all as far as I can tell. Hope you're over it.

Jan - your baskets are amazing. You definitely should have your own show.

Beautiful plant and sunset pictures, guys.

I have tried to grow Australian Bush mint and have killed it every time. I put it in the perfect soil in a sunny spot. I'm tempted to try again every year - maybe this year I'll try.

Australian mint bush, I have a beautiful one, variegated and now about 5 feet tall. I would say it needs lean soil, no fertilizer and a rather sunny dry space. I have mine with some shade and it pouted for the first year but has come along okay now. I think mine would bloom better with more sun, but its so beautiful I don't care. I have tried to take cuttings on it and failed miserably, I do have some of the lower branches layered now, been about 6 months so will check and see if they rooted. Usually with the mints, and this has the square stems, they root so easy, made me feel like a failure. This sometimes happens when I want something badly and try to do cuttings, I think I try too hard and baby them. I noticed when I grew them in pots they did not like rich soil or a lot of water. Try it again, its worth growing, looks good all year long and very tough.

Jan, I agree, those baskets are amazing.

We had awful wind but today is like a gift. Its cold and the north wind is awful, not too strong but very, very cold. I will take this over the rain for a few days, then I will start complaining about the wind. Today I got no complaints.

Thanks for the encouragement (or enablement), rebecca. I will try again. I need to make a dry, lean spot for my Grevillea, as well, though it's done okay in a large pot. It's just getting too big for that, though.

It sure is time for us to get a break. I'll probably be complaining about the heat in another month. LOL

hey all.....
i cant believe you actually killed a mint bush! wow. those things are hard to kill. i have one that is in full sun (and we have lots of rain) and lots of wind and all i do is throw some time released fertilizer on it in the late spring and pinch it back a few times a year and its beautiful! they are really hardy. mine is about 5 ft too ..see pic.. need sun and good drainage and will grow just about anywhere. good luck when you try again! it even held up to the freak snow and ice we have had this year.

oh also on your gravellia.... dont use ANY fertilizer with phosphorus in it. will kill the plant. i work in a whole sale nursery and the lady that worked there before me did that and the owner had a cow and he told me why. just an fyi..

Ooooh. So good to know. A quick search led me to this site, which I hadn't found before.

http://www.greengold.com.au/greengold/CARENOTES/CARENOTES/greville.htm

lots of good facts on that site katie........good luck!

Hi all, I ordered a plant that I learned about from this thread. The Mitraria coccinea that you had mentioned before rebecca. I must admit that I couldn't stop looking it up after you mentioned it. I was wondering if any of you had any advice for me regarding what conditions it likes. I was planning on putting it in a spot in half day sun. Will it put up with a hard wind hitting it? The area where I want to plant it funnels the south wind between my house and my neighbors and gets a bit gusty in the winter but is relatively protected in the summer. Do you think it would do ok?

I have one growing in a 7 gallon pot, its doing very well. It does get some wind, this area is pretty windy. I do not have it out in front with the full exposure, but it does get wind. The plant actually looks better if you put it on a trellis and keep it compact, it does tend to get rangy otherwise.

The hummers love it. If you are not sure about the location, do some cuttings. They root just like fuchsia, very quickly, that way if you lose it you will have some starters. I think it is hardy to perhaps zone 8, mine has been fine out all winter with no damage. I do have some small ones, gallon sized and rooted cuttings, all have done well with no problems. I give mine some fertilizer about now to get it started blooming and it will bloom till fall. I would say good drainage with average soil, not too rich.

Can you put a wind break to protect it from the wind? Nothing really likes a hard cold wind, some will survive, but none really like it. But hey if your cuttings take, give it a try.

Thanks for the response. I am glad to hear that yours puts up with some wind without complaining too much. I was going to try to let it sprawl around in a Buddleia covillei that I got to go with it and was hoping that that might help keep it from thrashing around in the wind as they grow together. The area is such a hard area to deal with. Protected from all sides but the south where the hard winter storm winds blow from. I had some nice nicotiana sylvestris that looked great there and then the first hard wind storm from the south in the late autumn shredded them to pieces. Im hoping the buddleia will break the wind without breaking. It will have good soil and drainage though and Im glad to hear that it will bloom all summer.

Some of the australian plants can take wind well. I am trying to think of the one that is everygreen and takes winds so well...hit a blank. Got it, Westringia. Its a nice bush and has a pretty flower as well. Its sometimes called Australian Rosemary, some have blue flowers, some white. If you could put that in the back for a wind break, it depends on your place of view, it would make a lovely background as it gets 5 feet and has a silvery leaf that is nice.

I have also had amazing luck with the leptospermums in the wind, they are evergreen as well.

As far as me having my own show, I never have enough baskets long enough to show. They are gone as soon as they are completed. I have had several art exhibits with my painting and my beaded gourds, but I have never had a show for my baskets.
Thanks for the compliment though. I just finis this one this weekend and its on its way to a trader.

Westringia Looks great, some of them are sort of willowy looking in the pictures and I bet they would show off nicely with the wind blowing on them. Another plant to add to the list, thanks. I like Purpurea from the plant files pictures. Ive been thinking about a lepto, I like to collect species plants and was wondering if you might have a favorite species of lepto?

Hi everyone, I don't THINK I've posted yet here! I'm transplanting like crazy before (if) the warm weather hits. Neat to see so many homies!

Welcome, Wyrd. Happy to see you here. Love your "handle" - what does it refer to?

Yes, welcome, Wyrd. In what part of Coos Bay do you reside? I live on Ross Inlet---a little less that 15 mins. from town. They keep telling us about hot weather coming, but so far it's normal. I think they mean Roseburg where my sister lives. When she's hot I'm usually sitting under a fog bank. LOL Anyway, glad to see you here.
Beebonnet