On October 22, 2007, herbgarden from Beaverton, OR wrote:
A very nice nursery in the west hills of Portland. Broken up into sections. Right off of the parking lot is a circular section filled with small (3" - 1 gal) plants that are suitable and inspirational for container gardening. A stroll off to the other side of the (rather small) parking area leads to a nice selection of Japanese Maples, dwarf conifers, roses, and other shrubs, and further down - trees. Beyond this there are two or three greenhouses (more like walk-in cold-frames) where they store their overflow plants. From here it is just a hop over to the main greenhouse which is where the sales office is located.
I didn't see much in the way of planters - but maybe I just didn't see where they were? They do have quite a bit of garden art on display made by local artisans. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable - very important for any decent nursery.
On my last visit, I had a cart stuffed with 3" pots. I asked a kindly nursery lady whose name I cannot recall to identify a certain plant that I had been admiring, and she took the time to hike clear across the nursery to bring back a single 3" pot for me. She also identified a number of plants that I had picked that were annuals and were going to die as soon as the weather gets a little chillier, and I set those aside. And because my husband was getting antsy to leave, she wrote up our sale (it was rather messy sorting out all the little pots), and while we went to pay for the plants, she boxed them up and brought them to our car. Most nurseries I've been to would have just let me make a mess of the back of my van with all of those little pots on the floor!
Not ALL of their employees were as wonderful, but I sure was glad for her that day. I also asked her that day whether they had peat moss, because I hadn't been able to find it recently. She informed me (very nicely) that taking peat moss from the peat bogs depletes and destroys the peat bogs, which I had not considered before (and for that I felt rather dumb). But they did have an ecologically sound peat moss replacement.
Their selection of PNW natives was not impressive, but they DO at least have a section dedicated to them.
Over all, it is a wonderful nursery where sustainability is a priority and (most of) the staff is very friendly, and I will definitely return. The only reason I did not give 5 stars is holy cow! do plants really always have to be so pricey? ugh! I'd really like to be able to leave there with a little less damage done to my wallet!
