Tuesday, March 31, 2020

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!




8 comments:

  1. Nice. I have Correa 'Dusky Bells'. It has been blooming since last fall. Such wonderful plants. This looks like a great nursery. I hope you had a wonderful time with your sister.

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    1. So far no blooms on my Correa, but it's early. Like you, I always enjoy a garden outing with my sister!

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  2. Oh how fun! And great to know about next time we go to the coast. I have had a hankering for a beach visit for the past few weeks. I don't think it's a result of sheltering-in-place, though. The yearning started before then. Good luck with your new plants - they are both lovely! The Linum is quite the spreader. I spilled some flax seeds on the ground once, and soon enough I had those beautiful blue flowers. I was so surprised!

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    1. I'm happy to hear the Linum is a spreader; it's for Astoria, where it has lots of room to do its thing. And now I'm going to look for seed!

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  3. My son and DIL who live in Tillamook county told me about this gem, so it's great to see some photos. I daydream about what making a garden here would be like -- maybe like gardening in Scotland? Annual rainfall in this area is an astounding 80-plus inches a year!

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    1. Yes, the coast is blessed with an abundance of rain. It can be a challenge or a pleasure, depending on how long you've been stuck inside...

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  4. What a gem you discovered. A good reminder that small businesses are where the real good stuff happens.

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    1. I love discovering small businesses of all types, but nurseries are the best!

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