Whitman Farms

Feijoa sellowiana

Lucile Whitman — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:29:23 +0000

Feijoa sellowiana

The common name for this plant is Pineapple Guava.
Often considered by the timid too tender for us here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, this lovely shrub has flourished through our worst winters–OK that’s a lie: one winter it lost its leaves and died back a little, but normally it looks like it does today (pic in mid December), a beautiful soft evergreen shrub. In early summer it flowers with fleshy edible sweet flowers (not very filling tho) and in the winter the edible fruits taste like citrus pears. At the moment the only size we have is field grown: $75.00.

Size: Field grown

Price: $75.00

Vitis Canadice grape

Lucile Whitman — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:24:02 +0000

This pink seedless is a favorite in the Northwest where summers can be cool because it can be relied on to produce good crops of excellent spicy-sweet grapes. They aren’t huge, but not tiny either. It is one of the few seedless grapes that I don’t object to the skin.

Size: Bareroot

Price: $8.50

Aratama (Acer palmatum ‘Aratama’)

Lucile Whitman — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:28:14 +0000

Acer palmatum 'Aratama'

Aratama is one of the brightest and most colorful red dwarfs (5′ in 10 years) because somehow it appears multi-colored a good portion of the year, so it sort of shakes up the eye. As luck would have it, the only picture I took is when it was uniform bright red when the best color is in the fall when it is all over the map. maybe next year.

Size: 1 gallon	Price: $25.00
Size: 2 gallon	Price: $50.00
Size: Field grown	Price: $105.00

Ficus ‘Chicago Hardy’ fig

Lucile Whitman — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 01:48:18 +0000

This is probably the hardiest fig I grow. Some say it can stand zone 4, and that may be true with lots of hay on top and it will still freeze back to the roots, but as with all figs it will regrow and fruit on new wood. The fruit is purple and sweet.

Size: 1 gallon

Price: $25.00

Styrax japonica ‘Evening Light’

Lucile Whitman — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:47:33 +0000

This new introduction from Plant Haven is stunning. The foliage is a shiny purple turning dark green in the shade and the bell flowers opening in June really stand out. There are some other new Styraxes coming out, but this is my favorite. And can you believe I have that stupid hose in the background? Zone 5.

Styrax j. 'Evening Light'

Size: 1 gallon

Price: $50.00

What caught my eye today 6/8/12

Lucile Whitman — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:37:16 +0000

Styrax japonica ‘Evening Light’. Go to Ornamental Plants>Other Plant Groups> Styrax and read about this new purple-leafed Styrax.

Ulmus hollandica ‘Wredei’

Lucile Whitman — Sat, 26 May 2012 02:17:47 +0000

ulmus-wredei

Ulmus hollandica ‘Wredei’ is a dwarf columnar elm with golden chartreuse foliage. It’s a killer. Check out the photo. zone 5

Size: 1 gallon

Price: $25.00

What caught my eye today (5-25-12)

Lucile Whitman — Fri, 25 May 2012 22:56:52 +0000

Sometimes there’s a plant that just brightens up your day when you look at it, and here in Oregon where the spring has been cold and rainy, I have loved the little Ulmus hollandica ‘Wredei’. It is not Dutch Elm resistant so you folks where that is a problem can just go on to something else, but this jewel is a zone 5 plant that is dwarf and columnar–both hot commodities right now and chartreuse yellow–cute as a bug’s ear is what it is.

Here is the next big thing

Admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 05:17:05 +0000

Maples (and other hard to grow items e.g. Disanthus and Sciadopitys) in Smart Pots (i.e. Root Control Bags grown above the ground and in this case in a shade house). We have been doing this a couple of years now and find that the plants which can drain through the bottoms grow wonderfully. We still grow 95% of our material in the ground in regular Root Contol Bags (see below), but there are some plants that just hate full sun and languish out there in the field (e.g. Full Moon Maple) so this is a wonderful new venture for us. We list these as ’2 gallon’ in the catalog.

How do Root Control Bags work?

[View with PicLens]

Japanese Maple in Root Control Bag

Jose contemplates the task of freeing this freshly dug tree’s root ball from the root control bag.
He demonstrates the technique of taking a serrated knife or gardener’s clippers to the root bag cutting lines from top to bottom.
We see the root ball – the picture of health- released from the root control bag. Notice that almost no soil drops from the root ball.
Jose has rescued yet another tree from the root control bag. This Acer palmatum is now ready to continue healthy growth in pot or ground.

Pruning Demo Video

Admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 08:40:23 +0000

A demonstration of pruning on a Japanese maple, Acer palmatum.