DECEMBER 2, 2005 JUSt|OUt49
Paradise in Monmouth
A trip to Dancing Oaks
here is no doubt that the queer community
summers working. Leonard had tak
likes to garden. There is also no doubt that
en a few plant identification classes
we have made a big impression on the world
and worked at a wholesale nursery
of horticulture. Throughout this winter I am
for nine years. Fred is a full-time doc
going to visit some gay-owned nurseries in
tor of internal medicine in Corvallis.
T
This is going to be very hard for me, because
their Web site, they are members of
checking out nurseries, buying plants and talking to
eight plant societies. In their “spare
really smart plant people is not my thing. You know
time” they like to vacation, but for
I’m totally kidding, right? 1 love this.
them a vacation is a wildflower lour
the area—some familiar, some not.
I set out to visit a nursery that I had never been to
before, Dancing Oaks in Monmouth. TWo cups of cof
fee, as many doughnuts, an egg sandwich and a pit
These guys are busy. According to
Get Dirty with Dan
BY DAN YOUNG
' Ty
in South Africa or a trek into the
The magical scapes of Dancing Oaks make the trip to
Monmouth worthwhile.
mountains of Chile to collect plants.
drive from Portland to Monmouth; I know I’ll be back.
Their love of greenery is obvious even before they
The drive out there is beautiful enough, but when you
stop or two later, 1 was driving up the long gravel road
den. Water trickled out of rocks almost hidden by
start talking about it. There was the mock orange phase,
arrive you won’t be disappointed. The garden alone
to the nursery. Through a gate made of colored glass
rushes. Carnivorous and hardy pitcher plants edged
the Rosa rugosa period, the Phormium year.. .and now
would be reason to go, but the plants for sale will defi
and metal bits, past a long row of eucalyptus, 1 was
the koi-filled pool. Everywhere 1 turned and looked,
2006 will be the year of the Kniphofia. Judging by the
nitely leave you without enough money to go out the
greeted by two of the nicest plantsmen I’ve met.
there was something great to look at.
newest beds in the garden, it doesn’t look like bamboo
next weekend. Even I—who have told myself, “No more
is that far away from becoming an obsession, either. As
new plants this year!”—couldn’t resist. Oh, well, I nev
er was one for great feats of self-control. ©
Leonard Foltz and Fred Weisensee made me feel wel
Around another comer were gravel-mulched beds
come the moment I closed my car door. A quote from
full of hardy cacti and agaves. One more turn and we
the late great plantsman J.C. Raulston hung on the
passed a few new beds with bamboo and towering
The garden and the retail nursery seem to go hand
door of the office: "If you are not killing plants you are
Nicotiana tobbacum from Mexico. The whole time I
and hand here. Being able to see a plant in the garden
really stretching yourself as a gardener.” I knew this
kept wondering what would be blooming here and
is a great selling point, and having the nursery allows
was my kind of place.
there earlier in the year. Yet fall color and structure
them to grow plants for their garden. "We are like
are not overlooked in this garden.
heroin junkies with our own pharmacy,” Fred says.
We set out to explore the beautiful and quiet four-
they put it, "We have no discipline to specialize.”
acre display garden. The guys started planting 10 years
Past all this, we came to the pavilion: a big, open
Their addiction is infectious. Throughout the
ago and have created a lovely garden. Plants were
feeling house surrounded by a wrap-around porch
spring, summer and fall, they are busy hosting classes
well-labeled and combined wonderfully. Through a
and lots of windows that look out onto the gardens.
and giving lectures on gardening, both at their nurs
maze of gravel paths, we came upon a long cedar per
We settled down there for coffee and chatting. Tiny kit
ery and at garden clubs. Along with the lectures, small
gola draped in climbing roses and various vines. Huge
tens tugged at my shoelaces as I started to learn the
group teas and after-dark garden tours are also on list
purple fruits hung off an Akebia trifoliate, making me
story of Dancing Oaks.
of things to do at their nursery. Both fill up fast, so if
stop to check them out a little closer. At the end of the
Ten years ago Fred and Leonard decided to move
pergola was the first of two water features in the gar- 1 back to the family farm where Fred spent his boyhood
you would like to take part, plan well in advance.
I definitely would recommend taking the 90-minute
RED LIGHT • CASH FOR CLOTHES • RED LIGHT • CASH FOR CLOTHES
1 Deiic-totM
lnxyt y d'oetcvre
$$$$$$ SE 36TH & HAWTHORNE $$$$ SW IITH & STARK $$$$$$
D ancing O aks is open from 930 am to 5 p.m.
Wednesday through Saturday between March 1
and Oct. 31 Fortunately, if you need a little plant
fix in the winter, you can call to set up an
appointment. The nursery has a Web site,
www.dancingoaks.com, where you can find direc
tions, get a little sneak peak at their garden and
browse the plant list. They are located at 17900
Priem Road and can be reached at 503-838-6058.
To reach D irty D an , e-mail
dirtydthegardener@yahoo. com.