Maybe it’s cold outside.
It’s dark much of the so-called day, too.
But the weather outside, no matter how frightful, has no impact on the internet.
On it, there’s a bright, colorful, dazzling world of online sites filled with enough plant information to put a spring in the step of even the most winter-weary gardeners.
Winter is a prime time to figure out which plants you’ll want to add to your garden this year, and the sites we’ll mention are excellent sources of information to help you make an informed decision and avoid the “that one looks pretty” impulse-buy approach to horticultural purchases.
And one of those sites is based in Portland, featuring 100 nurseries, 40,000 plants and a name that’s hard to forget: plantlust.com.
Megan Hansen started feeding the plant lust of local nurseries and gardeners in 2010, designing her site as a gathering place for small, independent nurseries offering what she calls “really cool plants.”
As was the case with pretty much everyone we talked to in gardening-related endeavors last year, 2020 was a big year for Hansen, too, business-wise.
“It was a banner year,” she said. “December was four times the previous December.”
And while some Oregon nurseries offer plants for sale on plantlust.com, it’s also a great clearinghouse of plant information. In other words, you don’t have to be in the immediate market for the plant of your dreams to enjoy plantlust.com and similar sites.
We spoke to a handful of people in the nursery business, who all praised plantlust.com. Being steeped in the horticultural world, they suggested several other sites that are excellent sources of information as well.
And while we’re on the subject, we very much recommend checking out the websites of local nurseries or growers for plant information before you decide to make that curbside or mail order purchase.
Marcia:
Though I’ve been a columnist for The Oregonian’s homes and gardens section along with Dennis for the past 10 years, my profession since 1995 has been that of landscape designer.
I’m always on the lookout for the latest plant trends, newest cultivars and improved strains … or just something that makes me happy!
I’m looking for reliable, tried-and-true plants for a specific place in the garden … or a show-stopper.
I call our quarter-acre the test garden. I think we have one of everything, which isn’t exactly how I design for clients, but it is a good excuse to try out all kinds of plants.
Through my quest to find the perfect plant for every situation, I have learned to scour the internet’s rich resources.
I constantly access many of the sites included in this column to research plants and have found them to be quite useful.
With gardening so popular right now because of COVID-19, this is a great time to assess your garden and decide how you want to replace that dead magnolia.
And, with these helpful sites, you can do it on your lunch break from the comfort of your home-office laptop.
Some of these sites are wholesale-only, such as Blooming Advantage, but are a great source of information. Others, such as Great Plant Picks, are just for reference. But many are local retail nurseries that have amazing websites full of plant information and have curbside pick-up, mail order or are safely open to the public.
It used to be, not that long ago, that we either had to order through catalogues, which we still can do, or physically go to our local nursery.
Nowadays, especially with COVID-19, we have many more options. These sites can help you find that perfect plant.
After all, spring is right around the corner.
I hope you find the sites are as useful as I do!
Sites worth exploring
Dave’s Garden (Davesgarden.com): Dave’s not here — he left the business in 2010— but this California-based site continues to grow and is a great one to peruse if you’re seeking the specifics of a possible plant addition. Dan Heims of Terra Nova Nurseries likes it because it’s “real people sharing their plant stories.” And there are 160,000 plants mentioned on the site.
Great Plant Picks (greatplantpicks.org): We wrote about this site in 2018 (https://bit.ly/2MOqYNh), which features only plants that have gone through a grueling selection process. Currently, there are upward of 800 plants, all of them hardy in the maritime Northwest. It’s user-friendly and you can create your own searches, such as “drought tolerant perennials in shade.”
egardenGO (egardengo.com): This is a wonderful resource created by talented landscape designer Darcy Daniels, with lots of plant information and great plant combination suggestions for any level of gardener.
Oregon State Extension Service (extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening): A site filled with useful information about gardening in this state we call home. A favorite part of this site is its “ask an expert” feature.
A selection of ripe tomatoes from Uncle Wayne’s Tomatoes.Marcia Westcott Peck, special to The Oregonian/OregonLive
What are you waiting for?
If you’re planning on putting in another vegetable garden this year, now is the time, despite what it looks like outside most days, to make some purchases. And that goes for buying annual seeds as well. Numerous sites offer seeds and starts, and here are a couple of Oregon ones to consider:
Uncle Waynes Tomatoes (unclewaynestomatoes.com): We did a feature on Uncle Waynes Tomatoes last summer (https://bit.ly/3q17KSF), and at the time owner Carl Barney pointed out that people begin ordering his 4-inch tomato starts — he has 300 varieties — in January. And last we checked, it’s January. You can order now, then pick them up in the spring.
Territorial Seed (territorialseed.com) and Nichols Garden Nursery (nicholsgardennursery.com: If it’s time to order tomato starts, you can bet it’s almost past time to order veggie seeds, and these Oregon seed companies have just about everything you could ask for. But not in infinite amounts, so don’t wait too long.
Wholesale growers
These sites are great for reference and their plants are offered at many local nurseries.
- Blooming Advantage (bloomingadvantage.com)
- Little Prince of Oregon (littleprinceplants.com). It also includes some retail offerings under Little Prince to Go.
- Terra Nova Nurseries (terranovanurseries.com)
Local nurseries with great plant information
- Cistus Design Nursery (Cistus.com)
- Dancing Oaks Nursery and Gardens (dancingoaks.com)
- Gossler Farms Nursery (gosslerfarms.com)
- Hydrangeas Plus (hydrangeasplus.com)
- The Lily Garden (thelilygarden.com)
- One Green World (onegreenworld.com)
- Portland Nursery (portlandnursery.com)
- Sebright Gardens (sebrightgardens.com)
- Secret Garden Growers (secretgardengrowers.com)
- Swan Island Dahlias (dahlias.com)
- Whitman Farms (whitmanfarms.com)
- Xera Plants, Inc. (xeraplants.com)
Links to previous columns
We’ve written on a number of the nurseries mentioned in this column before. The past columns can be found at:
Cistus Design Nursery: https://bit.ly/2K15prK
Dancing Oaks Nursery and Gardens: https://bit.ly/35kl2BW
Gossler Farms Nursery: https://bit.ly/3othpBp
Sebright Gardens: https://bit.ly/39fLBt9
Swan Island Dahlias: https://bit.ly/35m4F7O
Terra Nova Nurseries: https://bit.ly/3hYER6M
Xera Plants, Inc.: https://bit.ly/2Xoq0JB
— Marcia Westcott Peck is a landscape designer (mwplandscape.com or find her on Instagram at @pecklandscape or on Facebook by searching for “The Pecks”), and Dennis Peck is a former senior editor at The Oregonian/OregonLive.
