growLively

Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon.

Just thought I'd post this shot of the Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. If you're traveling this Memorial Day weekend and you happen to be in Portland, be sure to stop by this garden. It's lovely and you can also enjoy their tea house. Gorgeous!

Wordless Wednesday: Farmer's Market in Banos, Ecuador

 

Off to Ecuador!

Travel alert: I will be running off to Ecuador Friday morning. I'll be flying into the capital city of Quito and then heading off to Banos, a city that sits on active volcanoes…Yay! I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing the week that I'll be there, but I'm sure it will be fun. On Saturday, when Dallas breaks the all time record for consecutive days above 100F, I will be waking up to a 50F morning followed by a 70F day. Aaahhhhhh, thank you mountains. Who knew you had to go South to get away from this horrible heat?

Map of Ecuador

I'm looking to hit some Volcanic baths, do some hiking in the national park that surrounds the volcano and…well, maybe a whole lotta nuthin’.  If inspired, I may also head down to Cuenca. The architecture in Quito and Cuenca is supposed to be amazing. Banos will provide the beautiful landscapes. In any case, you can look forward to posts and photos of the adventure. Believe it or not, I’m skipping TWO work conferences next week, one in Chicago, to go on this trip. UNBELIEVABLE. And I’m patting myself on the back for it, lol.

Tungurahua Eruption 2011 - photo courtesy of The Telegraph

I spent two weeks in the Amazon jungle in Peru in December of ’09 and it was amazing. This trip to Ecuador will much less of a “back woods roughing it” kind of trip, but I’m really looking forward to seeing such a beautiful country. Hopefully, Tungurahua, or “Throat of Fire”,  will cooperate while I'm are there…

OFA- Ohio Short Course

Up in Columbus Ohio for a few days for OFA. I'll be hunting down all the coolest new plant varieties for next year or year after. Will also look for any other fun new products. Pictures to come!

Off to IGC in Chicago...Then TNLA in San Antonio...

And the work travel continues...leaving first thing in the morning for the Independent Garden Show (IGC)  in Chicago (love heading up there this time of year...such a nice break from Texas summer heat!) The high is supposed to only be 80 degrees..whoohoo!! From there I go directly to Texas Nursery and Landscape Expo (TNLA) in San Antonio.

I'll be looking for excellent new gardening products, plants and such.

Here is a lovely photo from Chicago last year of a huge bed planed with Gooseneck Loosetrife.

Pistils Nursery, Portland OR

Another great tiny garden center you should visit, if you're in the Portland OR area, is Pistils Nursery. Very urban and super cute with a nice selection of plants and giftware. They also have a really fab chicken coop and some foul residents...

 

This boy was not happy about my poking around in his coop! I believe this is a Faverolle...please correct me if I'm wrong. What a beauty.

 

Super fab coop. Love how they've planted/set plants around the base.

Plenty of room inside for the babies...

Bodacious petunias! Bauman Farms, Portland OR

Ok, WOW, was all we could say when we came upon the many greenhouses or gargantuan petunia baskets at Bauman Farms near Portland OR. They grow the biggest petunia baskets I've ever seen! Now, of course, we simply can't pull this off in Dallas, TX. Petunias just have too many grievances with our climate. Just to make it worse, they sell these monsters for...wait for it...$47.95!!! Good Gravy. That's it? Really? What a deal.

 

If you live near, or swing through Portland OR, Bauman farms is about an hour outside of town, but totally worth the drive. It's a 4th or 5th generation family farm that grows the most fantastic berries. They have a great produce stand, chickens, pygmy goats and garden plants. Too fun!

Chinese Garden, Portland, Oregon

I just got back from Portland this evening and have about a million photos to go through. I thought I'd start off with a photo from The Chinese Garden, or Lan Su Yuan,  in Portland Oregon. One of the many beautiful gardens, nurseries and garden centers I saw on my trip to the Perennial Plant Symposium this past week. In Chinese, Lan means orchid and Su means arise or awaken. It was built in conjunction with the Portland's sister city Sozhou. All of the beautiful hardscape, tiles, stones and sculptures came from China. This is really a lovely garden and a must see if you're in Portland.

 

I also ate lunch at their tea house in the garden. The food is wonderful and their tea selection impressive.

More photos from the Amazon, Peru

So sorry I've been delinquent in my postings! Hard to come back from two weeks in the jungle and get hit with American Christmas! I have a ton of photos to sort through, but I promise I'll get at it this weekend. Here are just a few more I have handy...

My friend Kevin took this shot...nice how I color coordinate eh?

More amazing, beautiful fungi...they look like little ocean creatures...

So many stunning majestic trees...

And super fantastic bugs! This is some sort of beautiful centipede I've yet to ID...

 

You didn't think I'd leave ya hangin' on chickens did you?? LOL..I actually took quite a few chicken pictures...more to come. So many breeds I've never seen before!


Check out this awesome Rhino beetle!!! Quite the friendly little bugger...


Look at this amazing flower! So much to ID...so little time...sigh

I'm still adjusting back to "regular" life after my time in the Amazon. Such a wonderful life changing experience...

Back from the Amazon, Peru...

Wow, what an amazing journey. Not only did I see some amazing natural sights in the Peruvian Amazon, but also made some great new friends. I have so many photos to go through that it's going to take me a bit, especially amidst the holidays. I'll try and post a few as I go.

Me on a sweaty jungle trek!

My ultimate score!!! Poison Dart Frog, Dendrobates reticulatus. Very hard to find and photograph! I believe this species is only native to the small area around the part of NE Peru where I was staying. So exciting.

Just one of the many beautiful and huge trees. Home to so many epiphytes such as bromeliads, philodendrons, orchids and ferns. Lovely!

Striking Helliconia. They were everywhere.

I'm officially obsessed with the fungi of the Peruvian rain forest. There is so much diversity. Every time I looked I found a new one! So beautiful.

 

Me and my new boyfriend Jose...LOL