Okay, so we're moving to Crescent City and leaving tons of plants behind...sigh... There are some plants that I'd like to take with me.....Obviously gonna be wet in crescent City. Is anyone growing anchusa azurea Alkanet up there in the PNW to let me know if it will do okay there, or far too wet for it?
TIA
Sherry

Sherry,

I don't grow that. Hope someone will answer your question. Glad you found a house but, it must be hard to leave your plants.

lol...I've had far too many plants for a long time..almost a burden. I will now be more selective. I hate to give up the anchusa because I'd not even had a chance to put it in the ground, having kept it in a pot to take with...in case we stayed around here. It's easier to give up plants that I've grown for a long time than to leave the new ones I haven't had fun with yet...lol..I'd also anticipated finally growing a large stand of rudbeckia maxima and now I'm thinking that tall stemmed plants such as that will most likely be beaten down by rain....

Just take it with you and create a nice growing environment for it. From what I read it needs good drainage and you could make that at your new place. How exciting for you to get to explore new plants that would not grow in your hot climate. When you get settled hope you will make a thread of you creating your new gardens. They will be amazing.

The house we were buying...we didn't get...the owner was waffling and we're running out of time, so Jer has rented a house available Oct 1 so that we can be up there to look around and be ready to grab..same as down here, the cheaper places get grabbed right away and that's what we always look for...something to remodel. I have to say that I'm relieved...though we liked the location, it was a really awful house with a really, really tiny yard. That, of course kept me from wanting to take too many plants with me. We'd really be happier on an acre in the big trees, so.....here I am trying to think how I can take more plants along. This will probably be a two trip, at least, move as it is. But then there are things like the aristea major that I got as a 4" from Annie's...I knew that it would take 5 years to bloom, but I already know how quickly 5 years can pass without even thinking about it, so I got it anyway. I don't remember how many years it has been, but it's in a large clay pot and suddenly looking 'large'....I am not leaving that one behind....lol. A few other plants that I would leave behind if only they'd produce seed before we leave...echium simplex, echium Tajinaste...I will have to try to squeeze them in also...bearing in m,ind that I really have no room for plants.

Did I mention the 4 cats? Who don't get along?

So, yeah....however it goes, I think I'll have to take the anchusa....

Sherry,
Do you have friends you could give the plants to, then when you get settled you could get starts or cuttings to grow. Growing is the fun part anyway. I sure hate to be in your place but at least you have your family and those plants will be replaced in no time. Maybe you will discover better and more interesting cultivars.

Or maybe slow down some with the plants? Maybe, we'll see..it's been really out of control here for years...lol..

So I will be moved up there in a couple of weeks and I can join all of you guys complaining about the rain through the wet Winter...instead of being down here, complaining about our lack of. I do know what it's like up there, we built a home on Whidbey years ago, but there we were in the rain shadow and got about 15" of rain...Crescent City will get over 60".....

Right now I'm looking forward to a wet Winter and having time to actually cook for a change...

I will not lack for things to grow, I have seeds...lots of seeds..and I'll be able to once again grow things that do not do well down here...looking forward to it.

Yep, things are out of control here. Have to tone things down. Way down. Whidbey is beautiful. There is a nursery over there that I love. They have yellow chain trees growing over a half round trellis and in the spring the yellow flowers hang down in side the walkway the half round makes.

I'm not sure how much rain we get but it's plenty.

It's been 33 years since we left Whidbey and quite often I come across mention of such and such nursery there, leading me to believe that there must be more than a few now. When we were there, you got your bare root trees, etc. at the Ace Hardware in Freeland..lol..we did give some consideration now to moving back there. I've heard recently that the ferries are quite a nightmare now and quite expensive. The guy who bought the house that we built there still lives in it.

Yes, the ferries are expensive. A beautiful place but would only live there if you worked on the island.

We're retired, but our son is with us and could work in Oak Harbor....the only reason we were even considering...we loved Whidbey, though I'm sure t's changed and more crowded in the last 30 years...lol..