Dan's Papers - May 22, 2009 -

Last August I went to Oregon for a nursery trade show where I was introduced to some spectacular new plant material, a new twist on some old favorites, and the wonders of the Willamette Valley. We took a bus tour throughout the region to visit some of the largest tree and container plant growers in the country, and en route I actually saw amber waves of grain undulating in the late summer breeze.

Monrovia nursery is so large we never even got off the bus as we motored through acres of new varieties of barberry, a great plant for deer country with gorgeous new foliage emerging. But it was not until I took a separate private tour of Iseli nursery that my socks really got knocked off. The Long Island sales representative took us around the show gardens at this 1,000 acre nursery which is 35 years old. Their ideas for the use of evergreens alone could inspire you for years. The mission of the nursery is to get plant material that formerly could only really be found in collectors' gardens and make those plants available to everyone.

The display area is a marvel of dwarf evergreens that grow there in Oregon at twice the rate that they grow here. Color, texture and shape in endlessly fascinating variations enchanted us. Dwarf elms with white tips, the teddy bear shaped Chaemacyparis Little Marley, the cool clear color of Juniper Cedrus Icy Blue, the bizarre Pinus parviflora Fukuzumi that grows at a 45 degree angle would all be magnificent centerpieces in any garden. Pinus leucodermis, the dwarf Bosnian pine, could be used as a Christmas tree, while Tsuga Moon Frost, a white tipped Hemlock, could light up the shade. The nursery was starting a whole new range of test gardens, and they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the garden writers of America to show off some of their newest varieties.

We drove over to the container area and it was here that I fell in love with an old favorite in a new form. I have been hardened by years of failure in the garden. There are numerous delights that grow well elsewhere but never sprout or somehow fail in my yard. However a fantastic new variation of a Ginko caught my eye. Here is a street tree, an urban stalwart that can withstand pollution, high foot traffic and variable care, and I have always wanted one for my yard. Ginkos have the most elegant leaves. The foliage reminds me of Egyptian hieroglyphs, and their buttery yellow fall color makes them a brilliant glowing tower in autumn. There is a circle of them near the graduate student housing at Yale University that has created a soaring temple of trees as Ginkos grow straight and tall.

At Iseli nursery they had two forms of Ginko new to my eyes. One was a petite standard, a topiary form only three-feet high that was full and perfect to use in planters flanking the front door. An under planting of Lysimachia would set these topiaries off nicely. There was also another form of the Ginko tree that had an elongated version of the already elegant leaf. The petioles, or leaf stems, were longer and so the leaf itself had a graceful arch to it. If I could have packed these two up into my suitcase and brought them home with me on the plane I would have. Hopefully we will be able to find these elegant and enduring plants sometime soon in nurseries here on the East Coast, because these Ginkos are just the beginning of the list of plants from Iseli that I want in my garden...