Coming Soon to a Nursery Near You!

Ajuga reptans 'Toffee Chip'

A two-inch high variegated carpet bugle is a stunning 2007 Terra Nova Nurseries, decked out in cream to gold leaves with shades of gray-green in the center.

Heuchera 'Midnight Rose'

Black leaves and hot pink spots in spring that later in summer lighten to pink and cream, adorn the foliage. This coral bell is a 2007 Terra Nova introduction found by Terri Poindexter.

Echinacea 'Tiki Torch'

If you are a fan of dazzling colors, this coneflower brings a new meaning to bright, with a brilliant pumpkin orange.

Coffee Grounds in the Garden

With many coffee houses and espresso stands giving customers spent grounds, it has become a popular compost material. There are several things to consider when using grounds in the garden.

Coffee grounds add nitrogen (2 percent) and small amounts of phosphorus (0.3 percent) and potassium (0.3 percent). When applying, sprinkle on top of the soil; do not incorporate it, as it will tie up nitrogen while it breaks down, just like any uncomposted vegetative matter.

Sword Ferns

It is not surprising that native sword ferns (Polystichum munitum), so prevalent in the maritime Northwest, played an important plant in the lives of the indigenous people. It grows in the shade of our conifer forests where few plants dare to venture.

As food, the rhizome was baked in pits or boiled. Medicinally, the young, curled leaves were chewed for sore throats and tonsillitis. Chewed leaves also were used for sores, boils, and to help the progress of childbirth. Sores were washed with an infusion from the boiled rhizomes. As a dandruff cure, the hair was washed in the boiled roots, and the spores were scraped off the leaves as a treatment for burns.

An Early Winter Charmer

Camellia sasanqua 'Setsugekka' is one of the most popular cultivars of unknown parentage from the species sasanquas. The best reason for growing this shrub is for its fall to mid winter flowers, especially in early winter–a time when little is in bloom. From October to January, it presents a spectacular bloom with semi-double, pure white, undulated petals with golden stamens. Unlike the C. japonica species and cultivars which hang on to its unsightly brown, mushy flowers that spoil its beauty, C. sasanqua’s petals neatly fall from the shrub. This cultivar has an upright habit, which can be espaliered, grown as a standard, or kept trimmed as an informal hedge.

In Lisa Albert’s Oregon garden, she grows this camellia next to her entry way. “I planted my shrub where it is, not so much for the cultural environment, but because I thought it would look pretty espaliered against the brick column,” she explains. It looks grand dressing up her entry way as well as providing a prominent view during winter when it flowers. Also sited there, her shrub is protected against prevailing winter winds and rains, while granting a shield from the frigid east winds the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area periodically experiences. In addition, its position provides shade during the morning hours when the sun would burn the flower’s white petals.