Bearberry PDX, a new place for plants in Portland

BREAKING NEWS recently shared by Chris Hembree: "I decided to lose my mind and sell plants in my backyard this summer. Follow me at @bearberrypdx to stay updated. Hope to see PNW friends in the garden soon! I’ll be open for visits (by appointment only) starting May 20."

If you were a regular shopper at Portland's Xera Plants when they had their shop in SE then you probably ran into Chris Hembree, he worked there a couple summers between corporate jobs. Since leaving Xera he's been busy building a new garden in St. Johns and experimenting with Arctostaphylos propagation. Chris says when he got laid off from his most recent job he figured why not take the time to experiment with more propagation and start selling plants to fellow plant geeks and new gardeners alike. So this summer, he's officially open for business, selling his own plants as well as a ton of plants from Xera. 

I was part of a group invited over last weekend for a launch party to make it official, and as of today—May 20th—Bearberry PDX is open for business! This is the cheery landscape that greeted me when I arrived.

This too, how can you not love a carport with grapevines?

Heading down the steps along the side of the house, a view of the Willamette River and Forest Park comes into view. Not to shabby...

Turning to look back up the steps, the poppies were all sorts of wonderful (although I don't think I managed to get a single one in focus).

The plant tables are spread throughout Chris and and his husband Richard's back garden, it makes for a shopping experience like no other...

Just a couple of Ceanothus x 'Midnight Magic' sitting on a fabulous fungus covered log.

Philadelphus lewisii, maybe ‘Snow Velvet’? (I didn't manage to take a photo of the plant tag!)

Arctostaphylos for sale that day included A. viscida 'Sweet Adinah'...

...and Arctostaphylos pajaroensis 'Myrtle Wolf'.

What a place to shop for plants, it is off-the-charts fantastic! 

I was pretty tempted by this Eryngium petiolatum, having never met an eryngium I didn't love. In the end I decided the fact it loves moisture ("great for rain gardens") meant I should probably leave it behind.  

I was going to ask Chris for ID on the garden plants I wasn't sure of (I know this is a Callistemon, but which one?). Then I decided that was a bonus of making an appointment to shop, you get Chris as part of the deal and you can ask him ID on the plants around his garden that catch your eye. Fun right?

Okay I did ask about this one (because it's GORGEOUS!), it's Arctostaphylos glauca 'Canyon Blush'. 

I love it in combination with these Diplacus (Mimulus) 'Changeling'.

What? I'm falling for a monkey flower? Craziness. 

Moving on...there were so many different Arctostaphylos/manzanita planted around the garden. I should have thought to ask Chris just how many.

Fabulous place to sit for a moment and take it all in...

Propagation area...

Have I mentioned just how stunning the location is? 

No those dots in the blue sky are not splatters on your screen, they're just a few of the many buzzing pollinators all over this Ceanothus.

I only managed to catch one in action on the plant.

Yep, more propagation. 

At this point (if you're lucky enough to be local) you're probably wondering about shopping at Bearberry? Chris is now open by appointment (book one here) Wednesday-Sunday, 10-6 all summer. Plant availability is listed here.

Milkweed for days (not yet blooming)...

And more poppies...

I have to admit I lusted after this tan oak—Notholithocarpus densiflorus, that is if I got the ID right. Could those leaves be any more beautiful? 

A big thanks to Chris for inviting me over for a sneak peek and letting me help spread the word about Bearberry. In these strange days spending time in a beautiful garden so grounded in its place (did I mention that most of these plants are Western natives?) and getting to talk with someone so excited about plants that he's opening up his home garden to make them available to others, well, it just doesn't get any better...

The Bit at the End

Wondering about the name, Bearberry? From the Missouri Botanical Garden: “Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, known by a large number of common names including common bearberry and kinninnick…Fruits are technically edible for humans, but are generally considered to be mealy and lacking flavor. Meriwether Lewis described these fruits to be “tasteless and insipid.” On the plus side, bears, birds and small mammals love the fruits. Genus name comes from the Greek words arctos meaning bear and staphyle meaning bunch of grapes in reference to the fruits (often in grape-like clusters) which are commonly eaten by bears. The specific epithet comes from the Latin words uva meaning grape and ursus meaning bear thus bear’s grape, also in reference to the fruits serving in the wild as bear food. Bearberry nickname means the same thing, namely, that bears eat the fruits of this plant.” When I asked Chris why Bearberry he said “I figured I should choose something manzanita-adjacent, and since The Little Apple is already a grocery store at the coast, Bearberry won. Also, it's just fun to say!”

—   —   —

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control. 

All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

An excellent plant adventure; return visits to RPR and the BigJohn Hicks Oasis

Last Saturday was the annual Rare Plant Research open house, and naturally I was there. This is the 22nd year in a row I've attended this event, which is always held the 3rd weekend in May. How is that even possible? That I've been going for 22 years, and that I've been in the same place, on the same weekend (rain or shine), that many years in a row? Crazy. Burl (owner of RPR) mentioned he was going to be winding down operations, so who knows how many more years I've got?

I was rather taken with the flowers on this Euphorbia cap-saintemariensis, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't love the plant in its non-flowering stage—plus it was expensive. Thus I left it behind.

I was a rather subdued shopper all around, only picking out a couple things I went knowing I wanted, like another saracennia. One of mine has failed to grow new pitchers this spring, wonder if it had anything to do with the ginormous slug family I found living in the pot?

I love eavesdropping at this sale, listening in on the other shoppers. My favorite quote this year came from a lady who was thrilled to spot the bug-eating African violets (yes, she was talking about the saracennia).

Killing time hoping that the long line to pay would dwindle, we (my friend Scott—maker of this garden—was my partner in crime for the day) walked up to tour around the grounds of the house above the nursery, home for Burl and his wife Cyndi. We were rewarded with a blooming Agave parryi...

What beefy bloom spike!

The bromeliad vertical garden at the house is looking a little tired. Time to add some more plants to the mix!

Ah, nice ferns!

Matteuccia struthiopteris perhaps? (ostrich fern)

Okay, we're back down at the nursery now, and it's time to pay for our plants! Here's Scott's fabulous haul: Yucca rostrata, colorful bromeliad, a NoID brown plant with small leaves (perhaps Haloragis erecta ‘Wellington Bronze’), a sarracenia, Agave montana, and three very very very spiky opuntia.

My small haul: sarracenia, tillandsia, and a bromeliad.  

After we were done at Rare Plant Research we swung by Mike and Megan's garden, the BigJohn Hicks Oasis. I was there a couple of times last summer (post here) and wondered what it would look like in mid-May. Amazing is the word, it looked absolutely amazing...

Oh the tree ferns!

And the Polygonatum kingianum... (well I suppose the Impatiens omeiana deserves a mention to).

Mike has been busy putting together creative plantings, including these kokedama creations. I loved the combination of Arthropodium candidum 'Maculatum' and Pyrrosia lingua.

So good! (I wish my photos were better)

Rhododendron 'Ever Red'

More Arthropodium candidum 'Maculatum' (the San Marcos Growers website calls it "a grassy bulbous deciduous perennial from New Zealand").

I've got a couple patches of this plant in my garden now (thanks to Little Prince Plants), but Mike and Megan's plants are next level gorgeous. 

As are their Parablechnum novae-zelandiae (aka Blechnum novae-zelandiae).

These podophyllum! The were HUGE! I should have gotten a hand in there for scale. Mike said they came from Ernie and Marietta O'Byrne.

Oh look! More Arthropodium candidum 'Maculatum' and Parablechnum novae-zelandiae. Great combination.

*Sigh*... maybe someday I'll take the plunge and get a Podophyllum difforme -Starfish Form, so strange (in the very best way)!

More tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica) appreciation.

Damn! Astelia ('Red Devil'?) and Paris polyphylla var. stenophylla 'Luquanensis'. This combo gets me every time I visit.

I was so focused on the individual plants during our visit that I neglected to take any landscape images. This might be the most pulled-back shot I got. Can you believe their gunnera is so massive in mid May? The mild winter has certainly helped our PNW gardens start the season right. Sadly I keep hearing we might be paying for the odd winter with water restrictions later in the season.

The plant directly under the gunnera in the above photo, Scadoxus puniceus.

I didn't get the name of this bright happy bromeliad... isn't it stunning?

Okay, a few more new plants. We stopped at Mike and Megan's so I could drop off a plant, but ended up leaving with plants too! Schefflera  'Mato', Mike remembered I wanted one of these when I was last at Little Prince and he nabbed me one. It's not hardy here in Portland, but it will spend summer vacation outdoors.

The rest of my haul..."extras" Mike had at the house and offered up to Scott and I.

Abutilon 'Fairy Coral Red'

And a few Haworthia attenuata 'Concolor'  (green) and Gasteria 'Kaleidoscope' (brown, which may be a stress color, all the photos I saw online are green).

Okay, one last plant and it's a great one, Agave ovatifolia 'Orca', a gift from Scott. The poor thing has lived a rough life out there in the ocean (or rather being shipped across the country in a box) but from now on it's going to be treated like royalty. I'm so excited to have joined the variegated Agave ovatifolia club (one I'd been priced out of). Coincidently I believe one of the variegated agaves I featured towards the end of last Friday's RBG post (4th from the bottom) is an 'Orca'.

The Bit at the End

Do you know Niwaki? It's a Japanese company with all sorts of gorgeous garden tools and other things. They've just released a new line of garden clothing and accessories in a camo pattern, it's unlike any camo you've ever seen before, kinda fun... here.

—   —   —

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control. 

All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.