As part of Virtual Hortlandia, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. Joanne Fuller spoke with Janice Leinwebber from Highland Heather and edited the conversation for this article. How did Highland Heathers get started? I worked in the industry and actually got a degree in ornamental horticulture. I spent thirty years collecting and growing heathers. Then I added ornamental shrubs and grasses– things that mix well with heathers. It seemed natural to start the nursery. What do you like about heathers? They are year-round plants–… 

As part of Virtual Hortlandia 2020, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. Joanne Fuller spoke with Fred Weisensee at Dancing Oaks Nursery in Spring 2020 and edited the conversation for this article. How did you get established? Dancing Oaks is located at my childhood home. Leonard Foltz and I always assumed that we would retire here. We were living in Portland and starting to get serious about gardening. We realized that if we built our dream garden in Portland, it would be very hard… 

As part of Virtual Hortlandia 2020, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. Joanne Fuller spoke with Linda Beutler, Curator of the Rogerson Clematis Garden, in Spring 2020 and edited the interview for this article. You can find them on Facebook here. Linda, is the garden open? The garden is sited at Luscher Farms which is a City of Lake Oswego public park, so we follow the Covid-19 safety regulations of the City. Right now, we are open to foot traffic with no onsite parking…. 

As part of Virtual Hortlandia 2020, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. Joanne Fuller interviewed Lisa Goldbeck from Our Little Farm and Nursery and edited their conversation for this article. Lisa, tell me about the plants you grow? We grow tons of different kinds of vegetables plus herbs, annuals and some perennials. I love our tomatoes. The most important thing for me in a tomato is rich flavor, so all of my favorites have good flavor. I particularly like the ones that ripen green…. 

As part of Virtual Hortlandia 2020, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. HPSO’s Joanne Fuller interviewed Roger Gossler at Gossler Farms Nursery in Spring 2020 and edited the interview for this article: Roger, you have grown so many great plants in your life, what are you favorites that we might not know about? I love lady slipper orchids. They are so expensive. I allow myself to buy one a year. One of the best is Cypripedium japonicum. It has those glorious pleated leaves, and… 

As part of Virtual Hortlandia 2020, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. HPSO’s Joanne Fuller interviewed Norm Jacobs from Arbutus Garden Arts and edited the interview for this article: Norm, what is happening at the nursery right now? We are overflowing with all the plants that are the result of last summer and fall’s grafting and propagation. So, the plant selection is great, and we have a lot of larger plants available for purchase. We love to talk plants with our customers. They bring… 

As part of Virtual Hortlandia 2020, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. Joanne Fuller, co-chair of the Hortlandia Planning Committee, talked with Rick Rogers at Brothers Peonies in Wilsonville, OR and edited the conversation for this article. Rick, what are your favorite tree peonies? I love the American hybrid tree peonies. I think they are much better plants than the Chinese and the interspecies crosses (sometimes called Itoh Peonies). The discovery of Paeonia ludlowii in Tibet in the 1880’s brought yellow into tree peony… 

As part of our series of articles on nurseries participating in Virtual Hortlandia, Lucy Davenport from Bonsai Akira nursery shares her thoughts with us on her nursery and display garden: I opened my bonsai nursery in 2015, to promote the practice of bonsai in the Pacific Northwest. I decided to focus on species we see in our gardens and on our walks through old neighborhoods, where generations of gardeners have experimented with both exotic and native species. From Hydrangeas to Lilacs, Japanese Maples to Dogwood, and many rare and unusual flowering shrubs— the range of plant material for doing bonsai… 

As part of Virtual Hortlandia 2020, we’re doing a series of interviews with participating nurseries so that you can learn more about them and the folks behind them. This week Joanne Fuller, co-chair of the Hortlandia Planning Committee, talked with Carol Westergreen at Out in the Garden Nursery in Molalla, OR and edited the conversation for this article. Carol, what are some of your favorite plants? That is like asking someone to name their favorite child or dog. I like both sun and shade plants. I love ornamental grasses, particularly Calamagrostis. We grow 5 or 6 varieties–easy and attractive for… 

ARTICLE BY: MEGAN HANSEN Megan Hansen is a Portland gardener, plant nut, HPSO member and founder of plantlust.com — a searchable database with over 30,000 plants from nearly 100 independent nurseries, many of them located right here in Oregon. [Editor’s Note: PlantLust.com has been an invaluable resource to me as a gardener learning about plants.  It provides lots of photos of the plants listed, so you can get different views of them (close up and the whole plant), and see them in different seasons.  It also aggregates the information from multiple nursery tags so you can read what the experts…