A visit to Hidden Acres

Way back on March 13th, BCD (before coronavirus distancing) I enjoyed an annual outing with my sister. We were headed to Pacific City for our book group's beach weekend, but just south of Tillamook, we stopped for lunch and a nursery visit at Hidden Acres Greenhouse & Café.

Not to be confused with Hidden Acres Nursery (a wholesale rhododendron nursery in Sheridan, OR) Hidden Acres Greenhouse and Café is a modest family business that has operated at least 15 years just off Highway 101 in Tillamook County.

I can't remember just how I first learned about them, but Sally and I have enjoyed stopping here in March for at least the last four years, for lunch and a stroll around the greenhouses and grounds.  Here's a hazy shot of the café, where there are lots of gifts and garden-related items for sale in addition to food. I heartily endorse the sandwiches and salads, and their soups are the perfect warm lunch on a cold, early spring day.

If you visit over winter or early spring, you might see a pile of greens in a large front bed, sheltering an enormous overwintered gunnera. In this shot from several years ago, you can see the gunnera is just beginning to emerge from its winter covering.

In the open back area, there are some colorful seasonal shrubs and containers.

I liked the stiff presentation of this rare conifer: Abies bornmulleriana, native to northern Turkey, near the Black Sea coast.

Hidden Acres' greenhouses are full of rows of annuals and perennials.

It looks like they do a lot of their own propagation, or maybe they buy poppers to grow on.

Calibrachoa starts in multiple colors.

They had many 4" pots of tiny-flowered fuchsias.

For those of you with LOTS of room...

Hidden Acres supplies the City of Tillamook with all their hanging baskets, but unfortunately I failed to get a good picture of the baskets planted out.

From a year or two ago, some happy succulent plantings managing in the slightly warmer coastal climate.

Their perennial supply is kind of a mystery; there will be one or two of one species, then a whole row of another species. A couple of years ago, I took home a Fothergilla 'Mt Airy' that has made me very happy. I almost always find something interesting and this last visit was no exception; the two below had to go home with me, especially after I was introduced to the beautiful blue flax on the Denver Fling in 2019.

And that concludes my most recent visit to Hidden Acres Greenhouse and Café. It's a small family nursery making a big contribution to gardens in Tillamook and beyond - full tummies are a plus!

Flowers in the time of Coronavirus, or Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - March 2020

What a weird two weeks it has been. Sad and sober reports of increasing infections and deaths, lack of leadership on a national level, panicked clearing of grocery shelves, and cancellations of events both big and small have helped me appreciate what a solace my garden can be when the world becomes unpredictable.

I'm soothed by the way the irrepressible pink flowers of Ribes sanguineum seem to say, "Life will go on."

Serious pinky goodness in Loropetalum chinensis 'Sizzling Pink' reinforces that message.

The whole shrub is an extra-large helping of pink optimism. It's an example I need.

More pink perfection in this impeccable bloom on Camellia 'April Kiss'.

Not to be outdone, Mahonia aquifolium, our native mahonia, is bursting forth with ebullient yellow flowers.

A young Acacia pravissima, whose buds I showed last month. has opened its fabulous little puffball flowers for us this month; don't worry, be happy!

No Epimedium in my garden has a name, as they each came unidentified in plant swaps from generous gardening friends. What a nice reminder of the special thread that runs between us all.

Daphne 'Eternal Fragrance' reminds that steadfastness is a strength to be valued in these days of uncertainty.

The little white flowers of Beesia deltophylla look great against its coppery foliage.

Camellia transnokoensis is a challenge to photograph. It's an odd shrub that I really haven't given enough room in my garden, but I like seeing its small, simple white flowers in spring.

Osmanthus x burkwoodii is a mass of bloom this month. After three years in the garden, it is outgrowing the severe shape it was pruned into and is finally opening up to its natural form; slow and steady, that will get us through.

Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, hosts Bloom Day in the middle of each month. Hop on over there to see what's happening in gardens all over today.

Happy Bloom Day, all - stay safe, and let your garden do the heavy lifting for awhile.