Ding da da ding da ding ding

Ding da da ding da ding ding ding.

Will you be dressed as Little Joe?

Hi Ian
See you there! My favorite plant sale of the year! Cheers

I'll be dressed like a guy trying to sell plants that won't grow here.

That's no help at all, you'll be blending right in.

Where is Gold Bar?

Check out the link that Ian left.

For pages where you can even get directions from your address to theirs...

Here is a link that might be useful: gold bar wa - Google Maps

I didn't make it out to this thing until the last hour. Still a number of cars out front when I showed up, so apparently turnout was good. As I anticipated by far the majority of plants that interested me enough to shell out were brought by Ian. Often when I go to these multi-vendor sales events there is one or two that stand out for me, although at this gathering I patronized several to some extent. (At past Florabundance arboretum sales Colvos Creek nursery has been the main magnet).

These small local growers offering something different make a priceless contribution to the quality of gardening life here. There is more out there than fruit trees and petunias, way more.

I had a great time at the sale and I really appreciate the growers making the effort to participate in this sale! Got there early and scored some great plants IMHO. Many of the great plants in my garden have been obtained at this sale! For me it is fairly local (for a change) and I don't have to take a ferry or trudge through Seattle or Bellevue traffic! Thanks to all who came and supported Judith and the growers!

Thanks for your support. All the vendors were glad it stopped raining for a couple hours during most of the sale. Turnout was lower than previous years (mostly because of the weather I think) but it was still a lot of fun. Thanks to Judith for hosting this event!! She sure does go to a lot of trouble to make everything work. And thanks to all the volunteers/support staff.

Hi
I wish I had thought about contacting some of the members here before heading out to the sale--just to put faces to names. I really liked it. Small enough to see everything, pause, and go back again and again. Vendors were generous with advice and time and I saw some wonderful stuff (and bought some of it--never enough) I will try to make it back next year.

I hope you're all ready for this again, because I'm sure not. This year I'll be emphasizing plants that may actually survive in our climate.

Unfortunately, I've already lost most of the goodies I brought back last time. A big part of the problem was taking them to the Camano Island site, where it has become clear since I started planting marginal plants there several years ago is colder than much of the Seattle area. Kinds that came through the last winter with no/small amounts of damage at the other place north of Seattle are dead or spoiled here. I haven't even been able to retain intact, persisting specimens of various hardier eucalypts on Camano. After recent winters these are all now sprouting from stumps or dead.

I'll be there! Wouldn't miss it. :)
- Tom

I feel for you, bboy. Just those couple of degrees make all the difference in the world in which plants we can grow. Similar here, near Marysville. Welcome to the coldest end of zone 8. :)
- Tom

>Welcome to the coldest end of zone 8Some plantings on the Camano site date to the 1980's, however our current level of intensity did not begin until much more recently. The place near Seattle has been gardened by the same family (mine) since the 1960's. Again, however, much of the current plantings do not go back that far.

There is at least one benefit to gardening on Camano I really like, that's the drier late winters than we get over here in the foothills, as evidenced by the naturalized madronas that pop up all over the island like weeds. Do you get them near you?

They are not naturalized, they are native. As in many other locations the ones on the property here are now being hammered by leaf diseases. Suitable rocky sunny places well east of here also sport patches and groves of madrona trees. There are some conspicuous stands atop cliffs in the Issaquah Alps, for example.

Yes they'll grow in spots almost anywhere around here they can outcompete the big evergreens in isolated dry areas like steep or rocky slopes, but in your area you'll find them all over the island growing in plain flatland as opportunists sort of like a big fireweed; not here or in Issaquah. For that they're an excellent indicator of micro-climates in the PNW. :)

Ian, what's your nursery name we can look for this weekend?

- Tom

The Desert Northwest. Not bringing a lot of true desert plants this time around, though. But I will have a lot of assorted drought tolerant species.

Went and had a great time! Ian was always busy chatting it up with plant lovers. Hope he sold lots this year as he had some cool stuff!

I went, bought some Pseudolarix, and had a good time.
Nice to meet you Ian.

Botann, good to meet you as well. Mary, sorry I missed you. How did that happen? As usual I was wrapped up at the beginning making plant tags at the last minute (or afterwards... LOL) Did you see that cool Acanthus Cistus had? Anyhoo.... we did pretty well this year and it was a lot of fun, so, hooray.

I did see that cool Acanthus and I bought another one as the one I got last year didn't make it inspite of a good layer of mulch. I will wait and plant the new one out next spring so it has a fighting chance! Glad you did well, I really appreciate all of the growers efforts to be there. The riverside of Judiths house is wonderful and looks like the perfect place to camp.

So tell those who couldn't go about the Acanthus.

I can't remember the name, but it had spiny leaves on an upright stem. Overall it looked something like this:

That's quite an Acanthus. Plant might be listed and described on the Cistus nursery web site.

Wow Ian, thats my kind of plant! This Acanthus sennii is supposed to have nearly red blooms and is from Ethiopia! I don't know if that means dark pink or orange/red. Hopefully I can keep it alive long enough to find out! It is/was listed on their web site.

It's been so quiet around here lately... are any of you really plant-geeky people still out there? If not then the rest of you should all come anyways. Looks like it is going to be sunny and warm this year for Fronderosa unlike the last couple of years. It should be lots of fun. If you have any special requests I would be glad to bring them.

BTW how's your Acanthus sennii doing now Mary?

I put it on my calendar awhile back. I had looked at the Miller Library web site to see what was coming up. Trying to get somebody else interested in going with me.

So it's this weekend then?
Have to convince my wife that just because the to-be-planted area is getting too big (she calls it my pot ghetto), doesn't mean I shouldn't buy more...right?

You're saving them up for the prime fall planting time, when you will of course be making a big push and getting them all in the ground.

So it doesn't matter if you add a few more.

And you won't be inside watching football instead, so again, no problem.

Excellent idea! It's too hot to plant right now, right?
Uh, right??

Ian,
So, do you have one of those "Australian Shrub called a Victoria Christmas Bush or Prostanthera lasianthos"?

Plantknitter, no, I haven't grown it in years. It actually seems to like a lot of water - I think I lost it in summer if I recall. P. rotundifolia (which you may occasionally find in nurseries) is a bit more drought tolerant.

Waaay too hot and dry to plant.

Even when it is foggy and showery.

You've got to be sure you get the full use of that hammock you bought, anyway.

Australian mint bush is a common item now. Too bad it does not live very long.

Fronderosa is this weekend! If anyone in attendance has any special requests I can fill, let me know and I'll try to bring them.

I'll saddle my horse.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/JohnKugen/SAM_0035.jpg

I got to this event early, this is what I picked up from Ian,from left to right, Banksia marginata,three Grevillea, juiperian v sulphurea, another one that I thought I had the tag to but didn't, and miqueliana, and three Callistemon, Eleanor,Woodlander's Hardy, and saligus.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/JohnKugen/SAM_0034.jpg

I hit the jack pot with Cistus Nursery. On the left is a Fatsia polycarpa which the owner, Sean(sp?) said is hardier than F. japonica. Then a Schefflera delavayi. I bought one from them three years ago and it hasn't suffered any set backs from all three hard winters, so I thought I would try another one. Then a Olearia xmollis 'Zennorensis' and a NW native from eastern Washington/Oregon: Chamaebatearia millefolium. The last one smelled good, the deciding factor in its purchase.

It is still open tomorrow, Sunday. I bought plants from other nurseries and probably would have bought more, except my wife put the brakes on my spending. I'm like a kid at a candy store with these sales. It's getting so bad many of these vendors know me by looks if not by name. This sale is a lot of fun for someone like me, don't miss it.

Planning to go tomorrow. The horse is beginning to wonder why we haven't left yet.

Not wanting to lug everything back, Cistus had it all marked half off yesterday.

Steamboat Island had a 5+ gallon Eucryphia glutinosa in bloom, hopefully somebody bought it. My friend observed that it had the Colvos Creek label still on it, indicating where it first came from, when it was much smaller.

We bought ferns from Judith and a bromeliad from Sean. Kelly and Sue had a giant lobelia from Africa, I probably should have bought that as well. You don't see those every day, that is for sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: Far Reaches Farm ~ A Fine Madness for Plants ~ Propagators & Growers of Unusual Ornamentals ~ Port Townsend, WA - Lobelia to Lysimachia - Lobelia giberroa

I grew some Lobelia gibberoa once, but they died off at the slightest frost. It is not one of the highest altitude giant Lobelias in the wild. I suspect the higher altitude ones would tolerate quite a bit of frost but still not enough to perform here.

Cistus 50% off sale didn't appear to work out all that well but I managed to relieve them of quite a few of their plants at the end.

>I managed to relieve them of quite a few of their plantsHow unexpected.

We seem to have a lot of new people on here, who will want to be aware of what is a pretty fun plant sale coming up this weekend. It is especially interesting if you like rare or unusual plants rather than the same boring stuff. Come and check it out and as usual you can send any special requests my way!

Here is a link that might be useful: 2012 Fronderosa Frolic

Well,.....how was it?
I almost made it, but complications here at home got in the way. Sometimes that happens.
Mike

It was good, for us. Compared to last year I did less promoting and brought fewer plants, yet we were still up a little bit in sales. This may have been because Cistus Nursery didn't show up leaving people who wanted certain weird items to buy them from me. The weather also helped; it was the first time since I have done the sale that it was not abnormally cool or (one year) hot.

Awesome sale! More vendors than I expected way out in the boondocks, and it seemed like every single plant there was something really special. If you like rare and interesting, this is the place. I went drooling from table to table. Lots of fun!
- Tom