Koida Greenhouses June 7

The Koida Greenhouses have been around for nearly a hundred years and have been owned by the Koida Family for several generations. The original nursery was used to bring flowers to market in Portland, OR. Koida supplies plants to the Garden Center where I work. Steve Beilman, our Sales Rep and my Garden Guru, offered the chance of a tour. I wanted to understand the operations of a nursery and discovered many wonderful things along the way!

The nursery is located just outside of Portland in the city of Milwaukie on about 10 acres of land. Here is a row of greenhouses with hoop houses behind them.

Inside the greenhouses plants line the floor with hanging baskets above. The average temperature is kept at 65 to 70 degrees.

Doors open into each greenhouse connecting them making it easy to move from one to another.

Plants start from seed or plant plug. Plant plugs come from other nursery wholesalers, which take starts from a cutting or seed then put them in a pot and ship them worldwide. Many come from warmer countries like Honduras and some of the big wholesalers ship plant starts to Asia, Europe and North America in boxes by plane.

These gallon pots hold three plant plugs each. Koida uses computer programs to track their plants from growth to sale. This determines cost per pot including: soil, fertilizer, plastics (pots, tags, flats), transportation and labor. Like any perishable, some plants fail. Here you can see the smaller plug in the center pot is failing. Analysis will be completed to determine the problem. Sales ready pentas, at about 18" in red, white and pinks, are available in my Garden Center right now.

It takes 3 to 4 weeks for a plant to be sales ready. The plant on the right is a small wax begonia plug and the plant on the left is sales ready.

A water system with picks run along the ceiling for baskets and along the ground for pots.

These tanks contain fertilizer; for either nutrients, growth control or elements for root start.

An important part of Steve’s job is to walk the nursery and determine what plants are ready for market. Are the flowers peeking with color? Or is the plant past its bloom time?  Some plants become compost or are saved for market later. The petunia’s on the left have been cut down to produce new blooms, while the petunia’s on the right are too tall for market and awaiting a decision whether or not they will be composted.

Steve holds a petunia that has been cut back, already new growth (center of plant) is getting ready to bud?

A snowy field of alyssum. Beautiful!

These sunflowers have been picked through by the pickers to ship out to the stores.

Old crops like this hellebore, sold in my store this past January, will be cut back, wintered and will be bigger plants for next season.

Space is not wasted here as plants line the outsides of the greenhouses. Notice the roof has moveable glass panels that control air flow. To the left is one of Steve’s favorite flowers liatris or ‘Gayfeather.’

All that remains of a crop of lupine, a very popular springtime flower. Hoop houses shelter other crops in the background.

Fields of flowers with a residential neighborhood bumping up next to them.

Koida produces some amazing hostas. This is one of my favorites this year called ‘Cherry Berry.’

Pickers place the flower orders on these racks.

They are then transported to a holding area.

Here flowers wait on racks to the left as a truck is loaded in the distance.

Thanks Steve for a great tour! I look forward to the next time I can come visit you and the wonderful plants at Koida.

Alan’s Backyard June 5

On this day I continued my work on Alan’s backyard. I filled seven of the pots that we saw on Alan’s Backyard May 22. Here’s a reminder of what was in store.

There were also several big pots that contained plants, which needed to be replanted. I took this pot that was originally on the fireplace mantle and added new life to it with a red cordyline, red verbena, ‘Star Dust’ euphorbia and ‘Sundance Yellow’ sanvitalia.

These two pots I planted last time and are now placed up on the chimney. They contain orange and red petunias, yellow and orange calibrachoa and ‘Star Dust’ euphorbia. I picked these colors and plants to replicate fire.

I had originally planted this ligularia with a ‘False Goats Beard’ white Astilbe, but didn’t like how they looked together. I removed the astilbe and replaced it with this ‘Cherry Berry’ hosta. I also planted another hosta in the pot on the other side of the ligularia. This combination of three works better. I planted ‘Super Elfin Cherry’ impatiens as ground cover around them and lined the front of the bed with ‘Super Elfin Violet’ impatiens.

I planted the astilbe in this pot and it looks great against the dark fence by itself.

This large blue pot originally sat next to the astilbe and ligularia, but it doesn’t drain well and the sprinkler kept it too wet. I moved it to a drier spot and planted more impatiens in two smaller pots behind it.

This bistro set is a perfect spot for this white pot of impatiens.

This pot was also on the fireplace mantle. I replanted the grass with some fresh soil and added a white bacopa in front.

This strawberry pot was full of weeds. Instead of strawberries I planted a hot pink and a purple calibrachoa in the top and added a pink and light purple bacopa on each side.

On the front porch I added these pots. The smaller one has impatiens in it and the taller one has a ‘Gryphon’ begonia, with an asparagus fern and an impatien.

This pot seemed perfect for a sweet potato vine.

Alan has several large pots with black bamboo in them that add great texture to his backyard as well as create a very private setting in this wonderful space.

John's Garden June 2

Today I toured my friend John’s garden. He has been gardening as long as I’ve known him and his gardens are as meticulous and interesting as him. When I first asked him to share his garden he said right now it is rough looking, but we were welcome to it. I asked him what he thought were its best features and he told me he wanted to touch all of the senses. It did not disappoint!

The front yard is currently under construction. You can see from the picture that the left side is becoming a hot garden. John’s new game plan is to create a garden of zones. The front is transforming into a desert zone then transition to tropical, then to temperate in the back. Along the steps are some interesting items that capture the senses and the imagination.

This is a type of prickly pear cactus, Opuntia humifusa. It does define a desert zone. John uses silver tags to label his plants.

This is a Cuban oregano and feels velvety to the touch. It gives off a savory-citrus smell. When you bite into it there is a citrus burst, followed by a buttery finish. Yum!

Here is a unique looking geranium, but even more interesting the foliage smells of chocolate and citrus.

This pitcher plant demonstrates John’s darker side. There was even a dead fly in it, but I couldn’t get a picture of it.

The path leads from the front of the house to the back as your feet crunch on the gravel. The large pot in the center of the picture will one day hold a fountain another element of sound.

This is the withering bloom of a Dracunculus vulgaris or ‘Dragon Arum’ which bloomed the day before, but the bloom only lasted a day. The smell of rotting meat from this bloom drifted all the way down to the front walk.

The entrance to the back yard is visually framed by this trellis.

Climbing in the trellis is a purple bell-shaped clematis.

Entering the backyard you are greeted by this rusty piece of art created out of random objects. The large dome sits on a spike and you use the yellow croquet mallet hanging next to it to create a welcoming bell tone. This area contains plants that are heat and draught tolerant as the zone changes to tropical.

A stone path meanders through the backyard. This was put in two years ago and the plants along it are really thriving. The leaves of the trees above rustle in the breeze.

You can see some of the many silver tags that John uses to label his plants.

The studio, on the left, is a focal point of the garden and is John’s painting studio as well as a refuge to winter plants.

We just missed the blooms of this honey spurge, up close there was still a strong smell of honey, at its peak its smell radiated out about ten feet.

In front of the studio is another fountain that soothed the senses.

This huge calla lily was tucked back along the fence.

Towards the back of the garden, in the temperate zone, was this banana bush ‘Michelia figo,’ related to the magnolia family. John says the smell reminds him of banana flavored Bubblicious bubble gum. I must admit the smell has a strange, yet strong-sweet banana smell.

Thanks for sharing your garden with us John! It definitely delivers in the sensory realm. We will be back to document and discover more of your beautiful garden.