Do I have a place to put it? she asks herself. C'mon girl, does it matter?

April 2, 2001
Hoyt Arboretum Plant Sale

Never mind that it was cold and raining during the Hoyt Arboretum plant sale or that the check-out line was sometimes twenty people long, it was worth it.

Gardeners behaving nicely despite bargain prices for rare, native and good ol' boy plants.

This was a spirited gathering of happy plant nerds in Portland, Ore., where the rising sap of spring has made gardeners particularly sweet. There was no pushing or shoving over the last of the blood red Helleborus orientalis crosses, and no undo hysteria around the one Ariseama for sale.

$10 for running bamboo; a steal or a bad joke, depending on how you feel about the stuff.

Among the sale's highlights (in addition to the money raised for the Arboretum) were Chinese fringe tree, Chionanthus retusus, fritillarias galore (including F. michailovskyi), and a nice batch of the East Coast native tupelo tree, Nyssa sylvatica. Great prices on bamboo, too.

Drought? Energy shortage? What, me worry? Local author Susan Narizny high on chlorophyll and ready to plant.

 
All in all, it was a high-energy kick off to what promises to be a long, dry season, what with water rationing a likely bet this summer in the Pacific Northwest. Here's hoping Portland gardeners have something left in the old budget for drip irrigation, no doubt the hottest gardening trend for 2001.