Friday, August 6, 2021
CapitalPress.com
7
Out in the Garden Nursery: A place in the shade
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
MOLALLA, Ore. —
About three years into
her landscape architec-
ture degree, Carol Wester-
green changed her career
goals.
“I realized that grow-
ing is what I’d much
rather do than designing
others’ gardens and tell-
ing them what to plant,”
said Westergreen, who
now operates Out in the
Garden Nursery. “That’s
just not who I am.”
The rural Molalla,
Ore., nursery, owned by
Carol and her husband,
Dale Poppe, specializes
in perennials and orna-
mental grasses and carries
several favorite shrubs,
too.
“I’ve always been a
foliage person; I look for
textures and long-term
attributes,” Westergreen
said. “Flowers are just a
bonus.”
Some of Westergreen’s
favorite grasses are of
the Calamagrostis genus.
The cool-season grasses
flower early with stalks
that hold their shape as
the entire plant mellows
to golden brown with the
crisp fall breezes.
“When the winter sun
hits them, they just light
up,” she said.
Out in the Garden Nurs-
ery is part of the Cascade
Nursery Trail, an alliance
of independent, family
owned specialty nurseries
in Oregon’s Willamette
Valley.
With plant sales and
nursery events canceled
because of COVID, West-
ergreen realized how much
she missed the camarade-
rie and encouragement of
her colleagues.
“Nursery
people
are some of the finest
around,” she said. “I’ve
said many times that if it
weren’t for them, I would
probably have thrown in
the towel a long time ago.
I am a firm believer that
together we are stronger.”
It would have been nice
to commiserate with each
other more during the
daunting challenges of the
past year, she added.
While ash from the
September
wildfires
appears to have supplied
needed nutrients to a cou-
ple of plants that are per-
forming like never before,
February’s ice storm took
out two gigantic oak trees
that were a display garden
focal point and the source
of the garden’s shade.
“I have an umbrella
over a blue hosta that’s
going to get sunburnt oth-
erwise and there are a few
other plants that are going
to require something for
the summer until we fig-
ure out what to do.”
What sells best at the
nursery changes from day
to day but Calycanthus
“Aphrodite” — a Sweet-
shrub — never fails to
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“It is stunning in our
display garden and peo-
ple always ask what that
shrub with the big flow-
ers is,” she said. “It’s a big
shrub so it’s not for every-
body but it is absolutely
gorgeous, with flowers 3-4
inches across from Memo-
rial Day to Labor Day.”
Despite its challenges,
last year was good for the
nursery. Many customers
showed up, Westergreen
said, simply because they
needed to get out of the
house.
“It’s really nice that we
were able to be open last
year and be a little haven
or sanctuary from all the
yuck in the world,” West-
ergreen said. “Come out
and enjoy the garden, play
with the animals and find
some cool plants for your
garden — I like being able
to provide that.”
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
Carol Westergreen at her Out in the Garden Nursery in
Molalla, Ore.
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