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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2015)
16 CapitalPress.com August 21, 2015 Nursery specializes in rare perennial plants By GAIL OBERST For the Capital Press PEDEE, Ore. — Leon- ard Foltz, owner of Danc- ing Oaks Nursery with Fred Weisensee, pulls out a scrap- book of the 1920s-era Priem farm, a dairy that once oper- ated on the land now home to native and exotic nursery plants. The barns and build- ings have been since leveled by time and by World War II Camp Adair war games. The Weisensees have owned the land since the 1960s. While Fred was grow- ing up on his family’s land, across the Willamette Val- ley in the Cascade foothills, Leonard Foltz was growing up on the Jordan farm his great-grandfather had es- tablished east of Scio. His father and grandfather were mill workers and mechan- ics. His sister still lives in the 1884 house on the Jor- dan property. Fred eventually became a doctor, and continues to N15-4/#5 practice in Corvallis. But it wasn’t until Fred and Leonard attended a series of garden lectures near their former Oregon City home that they began to dream of operating a gar- den with a nursery on Wei- sensee land. “We thought we would move back after retire- ment, but it was getting too crowded for our rural blood. We thought: Why not now?” Leonard said. Because of an opening at Good Samaritan Internal Medicine in nearby Corvallis they decided to make the move within a few months. In August 1995, the two moved into a mobile home on the property and be- gan planting a garden and starting the nursery which opened officially on 1997. They’ve only recently torn down the trailer and built a wood frame and E-crete (energy efficient concrete) house, a few hundred yards from the nursery. The nursery started small, specializing in wa- ter plants — many of which they had started in Oregon City. At their Pedee-area nursery, they sold the seeds, and divided and propagat- ed the plants they owned, including a tree peony that still grows in the middle of the gardens. Today, they gather plants from all over the world and test their abilities to endure Oregon weather before reselling small amounts to homeown- ers. The nursery doesn’t sell wholesale. The gardens, which demonstrate landscaping design ideas, includes wa- ter features, a prairie garden area, a pergola for roses and vines, a spreading oak tree with shade plants, and se- cluded areas with benches and tables surrounded by shrubs and flowers, accent- ed here and there with art pieces. Most of the items ‘We thought we would move back after retirement, but it was getting too crowded for our rural blood. We thought: Why not now?’ — Leonard Foltz growing in the gardens can be purchased from one of the five greenhouses. The nursery sells around 1,500 different items throughout the year. Leonard manages the nursery full-time with help from Fred in the evenings, weekends and his days off from medical practice. About 10 years ago, Fred and Leonard had an open- beam pavilion built in the middle of the gardens to accommodate visitors who want to sit for a spell on the veranda surrounding the building. The water features followed. Although there are many native plants available for sale, Leonard said his mainstay is unusual pe- rennial plants — some of which are surprisingly du- rable. Along the walks is all manner of flowering plants — from gardenias to gun- nera, dierama to sinningia — from the Himalayas to the tropics to the Oregon coast. The company’s web- site, www.dancingoaks. com, has a user-friendly catalog that helps narrow choices based on catego- ry, exposure to sunlight or water, and even deer-re- sistance. The nursery is open Tuesday through Sun- day through Oct. 31, then reopens March 1, 2016. During the off-sea- son appointments can be made by calling 503-838- 6058.
