Xera Opens Retail in Portland

I stopped by Xera's soft open on June 6th.  They are located at SE 11th and SE Clay. Their grand opening is June 8th and their regular hours are Thursday - Sunday from 10 am - 6 pm.

As I walked through the chain link fence with my Assistant Yvette in tow. I almost heard Etta James sing "At Last" in my brain.  I instantly knew this was going to a be really great new place to plant shop and that this new love was going to hurt my wallet bad.

There is a lot of diversity of plants here and some pretty amazing stuff. The prices were reasonable, but be prepared to pay a little more for something more unusual, which most is of course. Smaller plants started at $4 and went up from there. 

There are a lot of unusual plants here and you really need to take the time to read the tags fully, especially because some of the plants are so unique and some are on the verge of hardiness.

I was fortunate to have assistance from Paul Bonine, one of the co-owners. He was very helpful and thoughtful about what I would like and could easily describe each plant, its unique characteristics and convince me I couldn't live without it. 

I went home with one of the Echinoceros mid left.

My glorious booty!

Acacia boormanii - There was only one so I had to scoop it up!

Apparently this Acacia gets to be 10-16 feet tall by 11-12 feet wide. So I think I have to dig out some more grass.  But it's needle like foliage is so pretty and it will be a sea of yellow poofs when it blooms.

One of Paul's beloved Telopea x 'Braidwood Brilliant' - there were only a few!

Telopea is in the family Proteaceae and is spectacular in flower. It forms a large evergreen shrub and is cold hardy to just below 10ºF. It is native to Australia. This baby gets 8' x 4' or so - I'm not sure where I will put it either, but I still had to have it.

So I think my shopping at Xera mantra will be "At least I still have grass, at least I still have grass".  Meaning if I buy something that gets 12 feet tall, at least I still have grass I can dig out for a new home. Less grass = less mowing!

Xera is conveniently located on my way home from work! Oy this is going to be bad...