Trip to Cistus Nursery

[Chester B]

We had a nice sunny day so I decided to take a trip to Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island.  For those who don't know they specialize in all sorts of rare and newly discovered plant species.  It's still pretty early in the season so they're just starting to ramp up for the season.  Here's a selection of palmy pics.

 

Giant Yucca Schotti??

 

Brahea edulis

 

Butia

Bi

[Chester B]

The above pics don't show the scale of these plants - probably 12' or more each

 

Unusual - Cordyline petiolans

[Chester B]

Giant Chaemodorea microspadix's

Assortment - Butia, Chamerops, and tree ferns 

[Chester B]

Trachycarpus princeps - one has a double head

[Chester B]

There were also a bunch of regular fortunei, waggies and takil outside.

[PalmTreeDude]

Nice palms, did you get any there before? 

[Chester B]

I've only gotten a takil there.  The other palms I can get elsewhere for much cheaper from a specialist palm nursery.  Cistus offers plants that no one else does from different areas of the world, palms really aren't their specialty, but it's still nice to see them.  I have gotten many other non palm plants from them in the past.

The Chamaedorea microspadix were at least 3.5' tall and were reasonably priced, but I have three dozen radicalis growing up from Doomsdave seed stock, so don't really need them.  The princeps were tempting but I have two small ones that I have been growing so I'm willing to wait.

I'll probably be getting some of their evergreen oaks (a specialty of theirs) to replace a couple of Norway maples in my yard.  Quercus hypoleucoides, the silverleaf oak does very well here in Portland and is an attractive tree but still uncommon.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Chester B

[Hillizard]

Chester: Nice of you to post some pictures from your visit to Cistus. I recently got a couple of Embothrium coccineum from them. The owner was super helpful over the phone with growing tips for this challenging species.

 

[Chester B]

In another month I'm sure the nurseries here will be operating full steam.  I'll definitely get some pics then when they have so much more to see.  Their display gardens are really impressive with all the unusual plants.

[Palm crazy]

chester awesome nursery, its been too long since I have been there. Your lucky to have such a great nursery that close to Portland. Last time I was there they had lots of cool unusual palm trees like dypsis. I would love to snatch up that Ch. microspadixs.  They have so many rare and unusual plants it worth the drive for me, one time I spent too much money and didn't have enough cash on hand and they told me to just send them a check for the remainder of the ballance, really nice owners and I have had dinner at their house before many years ago. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Palm crazy

[RJ]

Are you sure those are princeps? They don't appear to have the  glaucous underside that mine have. Perhaps it's just the photos. 

[Chester B]

4 hours ago, Palm crazy said:

chester awesome nursery, its been too long since I have been there. Your lucky to have such a great nursery that close to Portland. Last time I was there they had lots of cool unusual palm trees like dypsis. I would love to snatch up that Ch. microspadixs.  They have so many rare and unusual plants it worth the drive for me, one time I spent too much money and didn't have enough cash on hand and they told me to just send them a check for the remainder of the ballance, really nice owners and I have had dinner at their house before many years ago. 

Lots of great nurseries here, but this is probably the one with the most nationwide recognition.  There is another smaller one called Xera Plants that specialized in drought tolerant plantings.  They have a great selection too although they rarely have plants of any size, they're pretty much starters.

https://xeraplants.com

The thing with Cistus is that you need to have your phone with you to look up the plants as they have so many things you've never heard of and have new introductions each year.  They are my source for unusual broad leaf evergreens.  Lots of plants from the southern hemisphere here that you can't find elsewhere. I guess the owner has sold his house in Portland and moved out to the Island full time.  Here's a blog with photos of his yard.

BTW those microspadix were absolutely huge, I think there were about 5 of them - $57/each

https://www.succulentsandmore.com/2014/07/gbfling14-sean-hogan-garden.html

 

4 hours ago, RJ said:

Are you sure those are princeps? They don't appear to have the  glaucous underside that mine have. Perhaps it's just the photos. 

RJ - I wouldn't doubt anything labelled at this particular nursery, these guys really are experts.  I have only seen princeps once before and to my eye these ones yesterday did not look as blue, but were whiter underneath compared to a fortunei.

[RJ]

12 minutes ago, Chester B said:

Lots of great nurseries here, but this is probably the one with the most nationwide recognition.  There is another smaller one called Xera Plants that specialized in drought tolerant plantings.  They have a great selection too although they rarely have plants of any size, they're pretty much starters.

https://xeraplants.com

The thing with Cistus is that you need to have your phone with you to look up the plants as they have so many things you've never heard of and have new introductions each year.  They are my source for unusual broad leaf evergreens.  Lots of plants from the southern hemisphere here that you can't find elsewhere. I guess the owner has sold his house in Portland and moved out to the Island full time.  Here's a blog with photos of his yard.

BTW those microspadix were absolutely huge, I think there were about 5 of them - $57/each

https://www.succulentsandmore.com/2014/07/gbfling14-sean-hogan-garden.html

 

RJ - I wouldn't doubt anything labelled at this particular nursery, these guys really are experts.  I have only seen princeps once before and to my eye these ones yesterday did not look as blue, but were whiter underneath compared to a fortunei.

I'm certainly no expert, and perhaps mine are not true princeps. I'll snap a picture of mine as a comparison. It's much smaller then those in a 2g 

[Palm crazy]

When I had my little nursery many years ago one of my favorite suppliers was Xera plants. Love what they are growing, too bad they don't do mail order and my local nursery here doesn't stock their plants mostly because Xera doesn't deliver. They have introduced a lot of their own plants. Their main propergation man uses to work for Herons Woods in WA. 

It's been years since I have run into Sean, glad they live on the island now. 

RJ, I don't see it either, maybe green form? The ones in the picture look like they are shade grown. When I got my little one gallons 10 years ago they had very silver underleaves. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Palm crazy

[RJ]

Regardless a great selection 

I wish I could grow the tree ferns ... love the look . 

 

Here red is one of my princeps taken today. 

[Palm crazy]

My guess would be they just need more sun to bring out the silver. 

Thanks for the pricing on the chamaedorea palms. 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Palm crazy