Polk County
Living
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 17, 2015 7A
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Daryll Combs, owner of Daryll’s Nursery in Dallas, talks with customers about plant selection on a recent visit. The nursery propagates many rare or unusual varieties.
Plant Paradise
Daryll’s Nursery has plenty unique and rare offerings to inspire the garden lover
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Daryll Combs,
the owner of Daryll’s Nursery
in Dallas, jokingly explains
that he likes plants because
“they don’t talk back.”
His wisecrack actually isn’t
far from the truth — as
working with plants seems
to offer him a sense of peace.
Years ago, Combs found
he felt claustrophobic work-
ing indoors, so he made a
career of trimming trees.
After doing that for several
years, the physical nature of
the job took its toll, so he
had to take his livelihood in
a different direction.
“I had already started
kind of a hobby plant busi-
ness, and it just got bigger,”
Combs said. “When I had to
stop the tree work, I just
started my own nursery.”
Combs opened his first
nursery in California and
has nurtured a love for
working with plants since.
“It’s all I want to do. … It’s
tough to make ends meet,”
Combs said, “but I just enjoy
growing plants.”
In 1992, Combs moved his
nursery from California to
Dallas. It took time to adjust.
“Before, at my nursery,
the average temperature
was 70 degrees, so it’s totally
different here,” he said.
The lessons learned, how-
ever, were worth it.
“I wanted to own my own
property, and I didn’t down
there,” he explained. “I made
several trips up here looking
and I would talk to other
nurserymen around to find
out where a good place was.
One guy in McMinnville told
me to check out Dallas.”
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Looking to make your garden grow? Daryll’s has plants, soil, and plenty of advise for
those wanting to make an upgrade to their landscaping this summer.
He found the property, a
former nursery off West El-
lendale Drive, and started
carving out his niche. Now
peaceful, with a few quirky
touches, Daryll’s Nursery
was a little rough when he
took it over 23 years ago.
“There was nothing when
I came here,” Combs said. “It
was just weeds, so I devel-
oped this arboretum.”
“That arboretum” is to the
left of the entrance for peo-
ple driving in and features
several stands of bamboo, a
plant Combs likes for its
meditative environment.
“What I like about bam-
boo, it’s just peaceful,”
Combs said.
Pushing bamboo stalks
aside in the
largest of the
s t a n d s ,
Combs re-
veals where
he has or-
chestrated
the bamboo
plant to form
a space in the
middle large
enough for a
picnic table.
Cistus, or rockrose, is a speciality at Daryll’s.
“This is my
room in here. This is like a stands, something he antici-
fort, a hide out,” Combs pates every year.
“It’s so exciting when they
said. “I started it with one
piece, right there, right in start coming up,” Combs
the middle. Then it just grew said.
Bamboo isn’t his only
into this mass.”
Spring is the season for plant passion, though.
Daryll’s Nursery special-
new growth in the bamboo
izes in cistus, or rockrose,
propagating and selling
about 45 varieties of the
plant that produces small,
delicate looking flowers.
“They are pretty spectac-
ular,” Combs said. “Nobody
in Oregon … that I know of
propagates as many vari-
eties as we do.”
He brought his first cutting
of rockrose to Daryll’s about
12 years ago. He said the
plant can take most curve
balls Mother Nature can
throw at it, and some vari-
eties will bloom into the fall.
“They are a heat lover, a
sun lover,” Combs said. “For
the most part, they are deer
resistant, disease resistant
and pest resistant. They’re a
pretty hardy, good plant.”
And for anyone familiar
with Daryll’s Nursery, there’s
one plant dotted around the
property that’s really hard to
miss. Think big — giant, re-
ally — green leaves.
“Dinosaur food, that’s an-
other of our specialties,”
Combs said, smiling.
It requires a lot of water,
but the mature plant is
something to behold, with
deep dark green leaves that
would be easier measured in
feet than inches.
Daryll’s also features a
large selection of ornamen-
tal grasses and 30 varieties
of unusual or hard-to-find
ferns, along with many more
plant gems.
What you won’t find are
annuals. Combs said he
tried to sell annuals his first
five years in Dallas, but
couldn’t compete with chain
stores on price.
He does have the perfect
growing environment for an-
nuals — or any other plant.
Combs mixes his own soil
and, at the encouragement
of a landscape designer in
Portland, began selling his
mixture.
“We have people coming
in here from all over, even
from Portland, and that is all
they buy,” Combs said. “It’s
mostly compost and then
there’s some fine bark and
some pumice in it. We can
go through 20 to 30 bags in a
day. It’s crazy.”
Perhaps it’s just another
indication of how much
Combs and his staff, Nikki
Dorrell and Josiah Brown,
love their jobs — walking
around Daryll’s is a horticul-
tural education.
After years of growing
each variety, they have a
wealth of knowledge about
how individual plants will
mature and how to make
them thrive.
“We know from experi-
ence what things are going
to do, so we make signs that
give you all the information
you need,” Combs said.
Zen
Garden
What: Daryll’s Nursery.
Where: 15770 W. Ellen-
dale Ave, Dallas.
Contact: 503-623-0251,
http://daryllsnursery.com/.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Satur-
day.
Of note: specializes in
bamboo, cistus or rock-
rose, ornamental grasses,
dinosaur food, ferns and
more.
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Daryll Combs and Josiah Brown load a dogwood tree into
a truck for a Mother’s Day delivery last month.
Dinosaur food, one of Daryll’s specialities,takes a lot of
space and features big, bright green leaves once mature.
Nikki Dorrell puts soil and plants in pots at Daryll’s Nurs-
ery on a recent warm and sunny spring day.