The Beautiful Swan Island Dahlia Show

It’s that time of year again for the Dahlias.  It always reminds me that Fall is just around the corner.  In another post of mine, I indicated that my father introduced me to the love of gardening and his favorites were roses and dahlias.  If you’ve never been to the Swan Island Dahlia Show it is a “must see”.  The dahlias are incredible and some the size of a large dinner plate.  You see all the amazing varieties and colors in one place.

Head on down to Canby this weekend and see what I mean.  Here’s a video to entice you more. They ship worldwide so there’s no excuse not to fill your garden with these blooms.  I plan on going this coming Monday!

 

Annual Dahlia Festival 2009
Saturday, Sunday, & Monday August 29th, 30th, 31st & September 5th, 6th, 7th
Swan Island Dahlias

Indoor Display Hours 10:00am to 6:00pm, Field Hours 8:00am to 8:00pm

  ** FREE ADMISSION ** FREE PARKING **
**HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE ** RAINBOW OF COLOR

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

Those Little Buggars

From the website - backyardnature.net

We’re facing triple digit temperatures here in Oregon.  and, with those high temperatures I wanted to give you an “ALERT“ .  Today’s supposed to be my “fun” day, but I wanted to share something with you that happened to me while gardening just the other day.

All my life I’ve been an outdoors person and an avid gardener. Never have I been stung by any kind of small insect. Now as an adult, I got stung by a swarm of wasps (yellow jackets).  It felt as if I was in the middle of a sci-fi movie (my manager said it sounded more like a comedy).  Trust me, it wasn’t funny and it hurt.

I went to water some plants after the temperatures cooled down.  When I reached for the faucet I felt a sting.  I brushed it off and tried again.  After the second sting I realized something was wrong.  When I straightened up, my entire body was covered with wasps.  I couldn’t brush them off fast enough but managed to get into my house.  They followed me. Going into the bathroom I was fighting them off – I had a small army of wasps in my house now.  They had stung me under my clothes and all over my body.  I got stung more than 12 times. From reading on-line I found out wasps are most aggressive in July and August (a great website to find out more is http://www.backyardnature.net) and were they ever aggressive.  I managed to kill them all off but not before I had been stung all over.  I was now red and swollen all over my body and it hurt.  In fact, I couldn’t sleep that night as I was in pain.  It took 4 days for all the swelling to go down and soreness to disappear. Now I understand why children cry after being stung.

The weather is hot, and wasps are on the defensive – BE CAREFUL.  Anyone else have this experience this summer?

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

A Rose By Any Other Name…

Our Rose Festival is here in Portland.  Not only are there many fun and exciting events throughout our area, there’s a special place that shouldn’t be left off your list to visit.

The International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park is one of my favorite spots to not only see a spectacular view of downtown Portland along with Mt. Hood, but to wander throughout the 6,800 rose bushes with 557 varieties.  Whenever I get out-of-town visitors or clients, I always take a break with them at the rose garden.

Many of the best, new rose varieties are planted in the garden every year so visitors can see what is new in the hybridizing world.  The garden is supported by a strong group of volunteers including the Portland Rose Society and the Oregon State University Master Gardeners.  Within the International Rose Test Garden is obviously the test garden, The Gold Medal Rose Garden, The Royal Rosarian Garden, Miniature Rose Test Garden and the Shakespearean Garden.  Portland’s International Rose Test Garden is the oldest of 24 public rose test gardens in the United States for the All-American Rose Selection (A.A.R.S.).  The 5+ acres has a panoramic view of our “City of Roses” (Portland) along with a framed view of Mt. Hood.  It was established in 1917 and has always been maintained and operated by the Portland Parks Bureau.

One of my favorite spots in the garden is The Rose Garden Store.  Everything in the store either looks like a rose, smells like a rose, tastes like a rose, holds a rose in it or is for or about growing roses!  If you love roses like I do, one trip to the garden is never enough.  Whenever I’m thinking of buying a rose for my yard, I go to the International Rose Test Garden first to see what I might want to purchase for my garden. Included are a fountain, paved paths, public garden, rose garden, statue and public art, guided tours, vista point, and wedding site – by reservation. Besides, the admission is FREE.  Can’t get much better than that.  The Garden hours are from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. (All photos from Portland Parks & Recreation website).

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

For Mom – Flowers, Farmers Markets, Gardens

Here’s a link to the post I wrote last year about the Farmers Markets throughout Portland and Oregon.  In addition, here’s yet another link to this year’s calendar from the Oregon Farmers Market Association that may prove helpful.  Take your Mom to one of these Farmers Markets this Spring/Summer and support our local area growers.

There are lots of gardening events coming up and Spring happens to be my favorite time of year:

Adelman Peony Gardens in Brooks @http://www.peonyparadise.com is open May 1-June 15.  My peonies are doing great this year – don’t know if it was the long sleep and cold they had this winter or whether my 9 peony plants are getting of the age to start blooming profusely – in any case, I know they’re going to be gorgeous this year.  By the way, I’m personally looking for the Mt. Hood Peony – anyone know where I can find it?

Schreiners Iris Gardens @http://www.schreinersgardens.com has not only beautiful fields to enjoy but lots of celebrations coming up as well. I’ve personally purchased all my iris’ from this garden and have been there many times including for their fun events.

There’s a garden I’ve never been to and am planning on going there soon – The Connie Hansen Garden at Lincoln City @http://www.conniehansengarden.com.  The million times I’ve been to Lincoln City yet I’ve never been to this garden.  It is now on my “To Do” list for this year.

And, one of my absolute favorite flowers – the Lilac.  The Hulda Klager Lilac gardens in Woodland, Washington @http://www.lilacgardens.com -  is a must see.

With all the talk of people planting their own vegetable garden, articles on the Victory Gardens of the depression-era and the new White House garden,  locally even our own City Hall here in Portland is planting a garden.  In addition, Oregon is lucky to have a nationally-renowned seed company in Albany.  This is just another place I’ve been wanting to go to -  the Nichols Garden Nursery @http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com.

For even more gardening events, here’s the link to the Oregon.live Home and Garden publication for some additional May events.  “So much to do and such little time……….”

Happy Mother’s Day.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

The Start of Spring and Garden Events

Wasn’t Wednesday a great Spring day here in Portland?  Now that Spring’s officially here, there are only more great sunny days to come.  I actually got into the garden and got my hands dirty – felt really good. Thank goodness Winter is over.

Along with Spring come the garden shows, plant sales, garden events, etc.  I’ve always considered the following event to be the “true” start of Spring.

The Wooden Shoe Tulip gardens open March 25, 2009.

One year I went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip fields with my camera in tow.  It was a gorgeous “10″ day in Oregon — blue sky, sunny but not hot, light breeze and the tulips were in full bloom.  Mt. Hood was in view in all her glory along with the red barn on the property.  I took a full roll of film only to get home that day and found I had left the roll of film on the counter.  I was happily snapping pictures all day with no film.  Obviously, I was very disappointed.  If you go, make sure you take your camera.  Nowadays with digital cameras that isn’t a problem.  Bring along some good rain boots or garden shoes to trek around the fields just in case it isn’t that perfect “10″ day.

Another one of my favorites on April 4, is the Garden Palooza at Fir Point Farms in Aurora, Oregon.  There will be 40 local nurseries and garden vendors to get you excited about gardening.  Hundreds of plants, tools and garden art.  A true gardener’s paradise.

On April 4 and 5, there’s the Trillium Festival at Tryon Creek State Park.

Then there’s the Hardy Plant Society Plant Sale April 11-12 at the Expo Center.  For years they were at the Hillsboro Fairplex. The first time I went, I was overwhelmed and had to go back the next day there was so much.  With their expanded quarters, there’s even more to see and “buy”.

This is only the start of many more.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.