East Portland Plant Buying Club

The simplest, most reliable way to start a meadow in Portland’s hellstrips, former lawns, and compacted urban soils. At East Portland Plant Club, native meadow seed packs contains the right amount of seed to cover 1 square foot of meadow  when grown in clusters. This system eliminates the guesswork of traditional seed packets: No calculating seed rates No wondering how much seed to use No wasting expensive native seed No uneven germination or patchy results It also makes wint

Many seeds need cold stratification–that is, time in moist, cold conditions for 30-60 days, before they will germinate, to prevent them from prematurely germinating in the fall. Sowing native seeds directly onto soil seems like the most natural, and hence effective, way to grow them, but in fact, there are many reasons why direct sowing fails, especially in our disturbed urban soils.  Winter sowing refers to sowing seed in pots during the winter, covering the pots with a tran

When I began growing and studying PNW natives, I noticed patterns in the colors of flowers over the seasons. Spring starts out with white, yellow, and blue flowers, with one lone red flower and orange flower. In April, the colors become more intense, with lots of pinks and blues, and still some white flowers. May bloomers are more deeply colored still, purple, orange, and magenta dominate, and no white flowers. In June, even more intense pink, purple, orange, and golden yello

Every fall, gardeners look forward to planting alliums: namely, garlic, shallot, and the many colorful varieties of flowering alliums,...

The practice of planting soil-enriching crops between harvests is ancient and practiced throughout the world. Chinese manuscripts...

How Much Compost, Mulch, or Chips? It’s that time of year again: time to spread compost on the beds, top off the mulch, and refresh the...

The idea of planting crops to feed the soil is ancient. As early as 6000 B.C., farmers in Greece, Rome, China, and the Middle East grew...

Garlic is one of the most rewarding edibles you can grow in Portland. It thrives in our climate, requires minimal (though dedicated)...

Turning Hell Strips and Lawns Into a Sea of Blooms Stinzenplantzen is a Dutch practice of planting naturalizing flowering bulbs—like...

Pre-order now to harvest your own saffron this fall! For immediate satisfaction, you can’t beat saffron. Most bulbs, corms, and rhizomes...

Planting Your New Bulbs Now that you have these beautiful and sometimes strange bulbs and corms and tubers, here are some quick tips for...