Do you need a distraction from the news feed today? I have one for you! How about a Chilean Super Bloom? I was very lucky to get to visit Northern Chile in early October. I joined Jane McGary my long time friend and bulb growing mentor, along with Fred and Leonard of Dancing Oaks nursery for a 2 week, 2000 mile adventure heading North from Santiago along the Chilean coast to the Atacama desert and back again! The massive rains caused by the El Nino weather pattern in the Southern Pacific the last few years have created some absolutely spectacular desert wildflower blooms. Please enjoy this little teaser and if you have a garden club or plant society or even a group of friends with a projector screen or computers I would be happy to come in person or do a zoom presentation, my presentations include travel tips, food insights and of course the amazing flora! Reach out to discuss. Even better, you can schedule a two part series, part 1 Chilean Andes from Santiago to the Lakes district with tons of Alpine Flowers, click here to go back in the blog and read about that trip and then follow it up with Part 2 and the Super bloom flora of the Northern Chilean coast and Atacama desert!
As a flower bulb guy, this was the trip of a lifetime, and it was fantastic to spend it with some super cool, knowledgeable plant people. I feel lucky to have traveled twice now to Chile, it has become one of my favorite places in the world. The beautiful scenery, miles of untouched coastline, rivers, mountains, easy travelling for the most part and great food! I have told people it reminds me of what Oregon must have been like before urban sprawl, deforestation, the decline of the salmon and over crowding. If you want to see even more of this beautiful landscape Jane McGary will be giving a talk about her many visits to see the Chilean Coastal Flowers and Atacama Desert to the North American Rock Garden Society Columbia Willamette Chapter this Thursday evening November 5th, at the Smile Station in Sellwood. Click here for details.
On the home front, we are in propagation mode, with the return of the cooler weather we are sticking cuttings and getting seed flats ready. Still shipping the remaining inventory and have a few things to update the shop list with later this week or at the start of next. We will keep shipping up as long as our weather looks good for it. Stay tuned for some holiday specials coming as well! We have some gift ideas for the gardener in your life we will be featuring in the next few weeks so you can get a jump on that christmas shopping.
I figure everyone will have had enough political rancor leading up to today and what the chaos of the next few months is certain to bring as the denials, false accusations, lawsuits, protests and marches and collapse of democracy is witnessed first hand in our nation. To that end I will spare you my usual diatribe about it and what I think is going to happen. But you still have time to get a water purifier, some food stuffs stocked up, 2nd amendment protections in place and hopefully a solar generator up and running along with the ability to live independent of our dysfunctional government if you get shopping right away.
“The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.”
Mark Twain-1907