Little Prince of Oregon Nursery visit

Last weekend, March 23rd and 24, I visited Little Prince of Oregon Nursery. Not once, but twice with two separate groups of wonderful people.  What better way to kick off spring than back to back plant geeking with friends, right?

The first visit was with our local Plant Geek Group and the second day I went with a group of Garden Bloggers.

Little Prince is a wholesale nursery in Aurora, Oregon that offers many amazing, well grown plants.  They've been around for over twenty years. In '97  they started with 15,000 square feet of green house space and now they have increased to 160,000 square feet! I think the number of houses is 79.

Mark Leichty is the directer of business development. Great guy, and he gave us all a great tour of Little Prince!   

Mark Leichty, speaking to the Plant Geek Group

A few years ago,  I purchased some Little Prince plants from Mark at a plant show in Ridgefield, Washington.  I asked him if we could plan an outing for a Plant Geek Group and he said Yes, and gave me his card.

The event has become very popular with the group and everyone has a great time. 

(Side Note: our first visit was in August last year and...we will be avoiding that. I think some of the group is still a little traumatized from the heat)

I love this Little Prince sign,  loaded with Sempervivum

 I had intended to just go and take photos the second day but came home with more treasures.

Mark started the day talking to the group, gave a brief history of the Nursery and some upcoming changes.

Plant Geek Group

Then it was on to the production houses

Tender succulent house

If you like Echeveria as I do,  you will love a peak in this house.

So many Echeveria! 

Now on to the new Prop house

This new Prop house is very smart and energy efficient with all the bells and whistles.

What I wouldn't give to have something like this!

...and as soon as I got inside my camera fogged up

So I took out my phone.

The pink LED grow lights are set at the perfect height for the targeted amount of lumens at the plant 

resulting in a more compact plant and faster rooting.

 

You can see the clear walls are set up to divide the areas into watering zones.

They can program the system to run each zone based the individual plant needs.  

There are sensors in this house constantly monitoring environmental changes and the computer can make adjustments to the watering, heat, cooling ect...

These areas are also bottom heated by water to help with rooting. 

Rooting time has decreased by as much as 2 weeks since implementing these systems. Allowing for faster production.  As equally important, plant deaths have significantly decreased.   

Water Heater

When the temp rises a baffle in the back of the house opens up allowing air to pass through this giant swamp cooler.

(That's Kate McMillan who blogs at Cultiverity  and Amy Campion of The Worlds Best Gardening Blog)

This giant swamp cooler works very well!  

Now on to some plant shopping!

I have some protected spaces (West facing under eves) for these Yucca 'Blue Boy'

I live in North Vancouver, Wa. and I get a little colder than gardeners closer to the river or in the Urban heat island.

Yucca 'Blue Boy'

 

Agave 'Blue Glow'

Agave geminiflora

I picked up three of these, I've never seen this
Campanula before.  I knew just where I wanted to plant them!

Campanula pesicifolia 'Kelly's Gold'

..And to add to my growing Epimedium collection.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Purple Pixie'

Eryngium bourgatii

Sempervivum arachnoideum

Sempervivum 'Feather Power'

Miles of Semps!

Bush Tango Kangaroo Paw  Anigozanthos 'Bush Tango' flower bud detail

Last year when we visited, Little Prince was working on their Arctostaphylos collections.

Now,  they are on the market and selling fast!  Way to go Little Prince!

View of the green houses from the office.

Patty, Kathy and Rachael from the Plant Geek Group.  I think this photo Encompasses how we were all feeling!  

At the end of day one. Little Prince provided the Plant Geek Group with lunch

Thanks,