Earthly Connections

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

-John Muir

We owe a debt of gratitude to John Muir and other visionaries that preserved portions of the wilderness and its complex ecosystems for creatures and humans alike. Muir petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park Bill that was passed in 1899, establishing both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and is often referred to as the “Father of the National Parks.”

"Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Steven J. Holmes, a Muir biographer. Muir also saw nature as his own home, as when he wrote friends and described the Sierra as "God's mountain mansion." John Muir related to the smallest thing within the grand scheme of great natural beauty. "The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly. No wonder when we consider that we all have the same Father and Mother." He considered the mountains home. I think it is fair to apply the metaphor to how I feel about the garden. It’s a place of comfort and safety. It’s a place of nourishment and quieting the soul. It’s important.

So as we celebrate Earth Day, Arbor Day and every day, I’m grateful for those that have helped us see, understand and honor our connectedness with Mother Earth. I leave you with this John Muir quote:

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature,

he finds it attached to the rest of the world."

A Plethora of Gardening Events!

The garden season is heating up (not actually yet, but we’re hopeful!). There are too many garden events to list all of them but this is a good selection of what’s out there; many of them are free. Enjoy!


Now through May 1, Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, Daily hours 9am-6pm—Over 40 acres of tulips and daffodils! Buy cut flowers. Order bulbs for fall planting. Children’s activities. There is nothing like the colors of the tulip fields in the spring. Wooden Shoe Bulb Co., 33814 S. Meridian Rd., Woodburn, Ore. Weekends $10 per car load; weekdays $5 per car load. Check the festival website for a complete list of activities.

April 1-31, early bird pricing for the Behind-the-Scenes Garden Tour—The Association of Northwest Landscape Designers (ANLD) offers an inside look at eight professionally designed gardens in the Portland Metro and Lake Oswego areas on Saturday, June 18, 10am-4pm. The landscape designer of each garden will be on site to share their experience and inspire visitors with fresh, new ideas. Proceeds provide scholarships for aspiring landscape designers. Buy your tickets for the June garden tour now through April 31 to receive early bird pricing (regularly $20).

April 15-17, Friends of Bush Gardens 28th Annual Spring Plant Sale—Good selection of plants from Mid-Willamette Valley growers including; Dancing Oaks, Wild Ginger Farm, Egan Gardens and more. Also good selection of garden art. Special Feature; Rhododendron Flower Show & Sale. Free event, all welcome. Hours: Friday 10am-7pm; Saturday 10am-5pm; and Sunday 10am-3pm, 600 Mission St. SE, Salem (Bush Barn parking lot; enter off High Street).

April 16, Leach Botanical Garden Spring Plant Sale, 9am-3pm—Featuring a choice selection of trees, shrubs and northwest perennials from specialty nurseries and the Leach Garden collection. Floyd Light Middle School, 10800 SE Washington Street (near Mall 205), Portland. All proceeds go toward maintenance of Leach Botanical Garden. Free parking and free admission.

April 16-17, Bauman Farms’ Garden Gallery Art Show—Many local artists showcase their work. A portion of all sales proceeds goes to breast cancer research. There is wine tasting, food, and lots of plants and artwork.

April 17, The Well-Maintained Garden, Joy Creek Nursery, 1pm—Leslie Gover will lead a hand-on class to learn when, why and how to divide, down-size and transplant in order to keep your garden looking its best. Joy Creek Nursery offers weekly classes taught by local and regional experts on Sunday’s starting at 1pm.

April 17, Feng Shui Principles for the Garden, Farmington Gardens, 1pm—Learn feng shui basics from expert Anne Mansfield. This ancient Chinese philosophy deals with the nature of beauty and energy as a way to improve life. Enter a drawing to win a half-price personal consultation with Anne. $10 speaker fee. Please call 503-649-4568 or email their events staff with your name, phone number, and how many people will be attending.

April 17, Gardening in Small Spaces for Big Effect, Garden Fever!, 1pm— Small gardens can be visually impressive and often are easier to work with than large spaces. Jolly Butler will present her inspiration and methods for creating a stunning garden environment in a small area. Event is free but registration is required. Call 503.287.3200.

April 23, Garden of Eatin’: Advanced Vegetable Gardening, Farmington Gardens, 11am—Learn how to plan for year-round harvests with careful crop choices, vertical gardening and techniques to stretch the growing season. Weston Miller will also explore the principles of non-toxic weed and pest management to boost your harvests and reduce the amount of time and money needed for a healthy, productive garden.

April 23, Portland Japanese Garden Annual Plant Sale, 10am-4pm—Browse a wide selection of plants native to Asia as well as plants found in Asian gardens. Proceeds from the sale benefit the Garden. Portland-area nurseries will be selling an outstanding selection of conifers, peonies, orchids, camellias, hydrangea, bamboo, bonsai, Japanese maples, azaleas, rhododendrons, and more. The sale will be held in the upper parking/entry area of the Portland Japanese Garden.

April 23, Cooking Up a Garden, Dennis’ 7 Dees (Cedar Hills Garden Center), noon-3:30pm—New to backyard food gardening? Want to advance your food gardening knowledge? A series of fun and informative seminars will get your started. Noon-1pm: Jim Gilbert will talk about Fruit, Fruit, Fruit. Cherie Siegmund unlocks the mysterious world of tomatoes 1:30-2:30pm. The afternoon wraps up 2:30-3:30pm with Weston Miller talking about taking veggie gardening to the next level with careful crop choices, vertical gardening and techniques to stretch the growing season, plus nontoxic weed and pest management to boost your harvests. Call 503-297-1058 to register. With your $5 registration fee, which includes all classes, you'll receive a one gallon tomato plant.

April 23, Advanced Beekeeping, Garden Fever!, 10am-2:30pm—Designed for the city beekeeper who likely already has a colony of bees and is ready and eager to learn more. Northeast Portland beekeeper Glen Andresen will cover evaluating the strength of spring colonies, making splits, swarm prevention techniques, capturing swarms, maximizing honey production and making some of your own equipment. The class includes a two-hour classroom lecture and a two-hour field trip to Glen’s apiary in NE Portland for live demonstrations and hands-on learning (weather permitting). $35 per person; reservations required by calling 503.287.3200.

April 23-May 7, Hydrangeas Plus Spring Overstock Sale, 10am-5pm daily—They don’t know what their inventory will be but you’ll get some great deals on hydrangeas and the other nursery stock they grow. Address is 6543 S. Zimmerman Road Aurora. For more information and to see what’s new for 2011, visit www.hydrangeasplus.com.

April 24, Making and Using Nature’s Bounty: Compost, Joy Creek Nursery, 1pm—Glen Andresen leads a workshop that includes tips on starting the compost process, what materials can be used, a realistic start-finish time line, and the best and easiest ways to use compost in your garden.

April 30-May 1, Master Gardeners’ Spring Garden Fair—Over 200 vendors. You’ll find everything from veggie and herb starts, raised beds, amendments, vermiculture and greenhouses to tools. Also discover trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials grown for the Northwest. Wonderful garden art, furniture, bird and bee houses to change a garden into your special place. Parking is free and admission to the Event Center is $3; children 15 and under are free. Clackamas County Fair Grounds (694 NE 4th Ave., Canby). For more information, click here.

May 1, Demystifying Garden Lingo, Joy Creek Nursery, 1pm—Jean R. Natter will remove some of the mystery and help you become a more confident gardener by understanding the plant and garden terminology in your garden books, websites and catalogs.

May 8, Garden Fragrance Through the Year, Joy Creek Nursery, 1pm—Nadine Black will spark your imagination and widen your experience in the garden by including a variety of plants that offer you fragrance throughout the year.

May 11-15, American Rhododendron Society Convention—The ARS is celebrating “The World in Your Garden” at its 64th annual international convention. You don’t need to be a member to attend. Workshops, clinics, garden tours, plant and book sales, foliage and plant displays, and socializing are planned throughout the convention, which will be held at the The Heathman Lodge, Vancouver, Wash. Find out all the details at the convention website.

May 15, Amplifying the Garden with Containers, Joy Creek Nursery, 1pm—Lucy Hardiman will share how a well-chosen and well-planted container becomes much more than an art object when it is used purposefully in the garden as a focal point of a garden bed, as a complement to a plant vignette, screening an unsightly view or transitioning from one part of the garden to another.

May 27-29, American Peony Society Convention—Peonies will be celebrated with the first ever west coast APS convention. There will be competition flower exhibitions for commercial growers and home gardeners, and if you’re a member of the APS (there’s a $25 fee to join), there will be tours and workshops. The public gets free admission to the flower displays and vendors on Saturday afternoon, May 28, from 1 to 5 p.m., and Sunday, May 29, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Wilsonville (Ore.) Holiday Inn. Peonies will be shipped in from all across the country; it's a real treat to see what the different growers consider their best. For more information, click here.

ARS Comes to the Pacific Northwest

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.
Photo courtesy of http://www.portlandonline.com/.

The Portland area is going to be a popular place this year for plant enthusiasts. I just learned that the American Rhododendron Society (ARS) is celebrating “The World in Your Garden” at its 64th annual international convention in Vancouver, Washington. The conference takes place May 11-15 and you don’t need to be a member to attend. (Two weeks later, the American Peony Society holds its annual meeting in Wilsonville, Ore. And the American Conifer Society is planning its annual meeting in early August.)

ARS has workshops, clinics, garden tours, plant and book sales, foliage and plant displays, and socializing planned throughout the convention, which will be held at the very lovely lodge-like The Heathman Lodge, Vancouver, Wash. Find out all the details at the convention website.

Plant Patents

As the Director of Marketing for the Oregon Association Nurseries (OAN), I joined the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) because I want to understand how public gardens make plant-related decisions. An interesting article about the plant patent process appeared in a recent Public Garden magazine, which is published by APGA.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

My reading the article coincides with one of my favorite work projects: organizing this year’s New Varieties Showcase for the OAN’s August wholesale trade show. Many of the plant submissions reviewed for the showcase are patented or have plant patents applied for or pending in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Even after a patent is applied for, it can take years to make them widely available through garden centers. Often specialty growers and collectors are the first to offer the plants in small numbers.

Below are excerpts from “Plant Patent Potential,”, and article written for Public Gardens by Steve Hutton, president and CEO of The Conard-Pyle Company. You may know his company best for its Knock-Out Roses®. [The Conard-Pyle Company submitted several new varieties of roses for consideration for the 2011 New Varieties Showcase.]

The U.S. Plant Patent Act of 1930 put new and distinct asexually propagated plants on the same plane as industrial inventions in terms of their legal protectability. As with the general utility patent laws, owners of plant patents can prohibit others from making, using, or selling their creations for a period of twenty years from the date of patent application. Since its passing, nearly 21,000 U.S. plant patents have been granted, and there are over 13,000 currently in force. Ornamental plant and fruit breeders are able to charge a royalty [editor’s note: often $.75-$1.50 per plant] to growers who want to propagate, grow, and sell their plants. Funds from these royalties reward breeders for their efforts and enable them to continue their operations.

No plant collected in the wild can be patented. Unique plants that arise from wild-collected seed can be patented, as can their offspring, assuming all international conventions that govern indigenous flora are observed. Sports and mutations of existing varieties found in cultivation are deemed the property of the discoverer and can be patented.

Patenting a new and unique, asexually propagated plant is relatively inexpensive (around $3,000 although it can be as much as $10,000) and easy (it takes about two years from the date of filing to the date of granting).

Dan Heims, president of Terra Nova Nurseries recently made an appearance on Martha Stewart’s show. He talked about plant breeding, finding new varieties for the U.S. market and tissue culture. Here’s the link if you didn’t have a chance to catch the show. Terra Nova Nurseries also submitted several new varieties for the New Varieties Showcase.

DNA testing is a new tool to check plant heritage and enforce plant patents. A recent example of this is the case of Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and ‘Jolly Bee’, two patented hybrid hardy geraniums. From a story that ran in the online April 2010 issue of Horticulture Week:

Dutch grower and breeder Marco Van Noort has lost a EUR200,000 licensing dispute with Blooms of Bressingham North America after DNA testing revealed "virtually no differences" between geraniums marketed by the two companies. Van Noort has agreed to cease trading his 'Jolly Bee' variety, which Blooms of Bressingham NA said was too similar to its Rozanne 'Gerwat' cultivar. The dispute lasted more than seven years since 'Jolly Bee' was granted protection by Plant Variety Rights (PVRs) in 2003, three years after the introduction of Rozanne.