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HOFFMAN WONDER GARDEN SALE PREVIEW: SHADY DELIGHTS!

Admittedly, the Wonder Garden is a very sunny place but we’ve a long list of shade-loving plants we only wish we could grow. The least we can do is offer them to you at Saturday’s Wonder Garden plant sale, 10am-1pm.

Here’s a few items that can add striking texture, evergreen structure and – of course – flowers to your shady nooks.

Epimedium wushanense ‘Spiny Leaved Form’: Spiny indeed! But not to the touch. This super edgy perennial’s leaves start out maroon red – a great foil to its delicate, pale yellow flowers – and matures into a 2’x2’ evergreen mound. Set it off against any round-leaved shade perennial for a dramatic contrast. Pictured below.

Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’: We do grow this amazing fleece flower in very bright shade and count on its chartreuse leaves to ignite the bed. It really likes rich soil and even moisture, but the payoff – from electric foliage to deepest pink wowza flowers – is worth the effort. Pictured below.

Luzula sylvática ‘Marginata’: Classy, tough and handsome, we’re talking an evergreen sedge with broad curving leaves outlined in narrow bands of yellow. Insanely dependable and long-lived in shade and sun, it’s a no-brainer for edging or evergreen accents.

Fargesia dracocephala var, rufa: In fewer words, clumping bamboo! This fountain of shade-loving foliage will NOT run around in your garden. Instead it’s an ever-widening clump that adds background height, fine texture and swaying movement to our WG’s shadiest bed.

Schefflera delavayi: Big bold leaves carry a lot of weight in a shady garden, rising above all the perennials at their feet and leading the eye up to the trees. This hardy schefflera is plenty bold – leaf size up to 18” – but it also offers a refined shape and thrives where its roots stay cool. Safe for beginning gardeners, too! Pictured below.

Incidentally, there are a number of super fragrant plants that love life in part-shade. If you’d like to meet them, join us at the Hoffman Center May 1st, 5pm, for our upcoming event, FRAGRANT AIR: GROWING A SCENTED GARDEN.

hoffmanarts.org/events/fragrant-air/

SEE YOU AT THE SALE, SATURDAY APR 25th 10-1PM!

Once abundant across the North Pacific, sea otters were aggressively hunted during the maritime fur trade for their rich fur pelts, resulting in a loss of 99% of the global population. While the species has recovered along much of its range, there has not been a population of this important keystone species in Oregon for over 100 years. The Elakha Alliance is an Oregon nonprofit working to build the science, policy, and community engagement to reintroduce a population of sea otters to the Oregon Coast and 10% of sales from this event will go to their ongoing efforts to bring sea otters back to Oregon!

We will be channeling our inner sea otter as we embark on a guided intertidal adventure to see and learn about the wild food sources on our coast. Learn about the intertidal ecology of Oregon’s mud flats, and the sustainability and seasonality of clamming along our coast. Attendees will get to harvest their own clams (with purchase of a shellfish license) and see a cleaning demonstration!

Next, we’ll head to the Historic Boathouse in Garibaldi, for a talk on sea otter reintroduction from the Elakha Alliance.

Known locally as “Pier’s End,” this site offers a venue experience unlike any other, situated at the terminus of a 700-foot-long wooden pier extending directly over the waters of Tillamook Bay. Built in 1936, the boathouse served as a critical rescue station for the North Coast for over 30 years. Today, the structure stands as a testament to Pacific Northwest maritime history, and educational programs are run by the Garibaldi Cultural Heritage Initiative.

We’ll wrap up the day with a thoughtfully prepared shoreline cooking and shucking demo of mussels, and some tasty bites featuring freshly harvested shellfish and seaweed, highlighting the delicious diversity of foods that otters and coastal communities love. Whether you’re a curious foodie or a nature lover, this is a celebration of ocean stewardship, sustainability, and unforgettable coastal cuisine.

Sign up at ShiftingTidesNW.com/workshops/Eatlikeanotter

HOFFMAN WONDER GARDEN PLANT SALE PREVIEW: WILDFLOWERS!

At this Saturday’s WG sale, we’ll be offering 4 effervescent varieties of wildflowers, ready to bloom this season and then seed around for next spring.

We’ve had the best luck reseeding in our sunny manzanita bed, where plants are mulched with gravel and – most importantly – left undisturbed all year. That’s the key to having plenty more wildflowers next season, whether you plant them in full sun or part shade.

And the offerings are:

Gilia tricolor: this bird’s eye gilia is crazy enchanting! Petals are blushed light purple around the edges, fade to white towards the center and draw you right in with their deep dark eyes. Pictured below.

Gilia ssp. pacifica: stout, dark blue drumsticks will start making a racket in our manzanita bed over the next few weeks. Right now we’re enjoying the gilia’s emerging mounds of lacy foliage as we await flower stalks 18” high. Pictured below.

Limnanthes: there’s no more carefree sight in the WG than its random yellow bursts of meadowfoam. Just 4” tall but such optimism! Very limited supply. No fighting.

Clarkia rubicundra: this Farewell-to-Spring with its distinct claret-red center is a relative of our native’s with a similarly long, long bloom time and tops out at a reported 32”! The flower spikes make great cut flowers. Pictured below.

Need Shade Plants? Shrubs? Clumping bamboo? Come on by SATURDAY, APRIL 25th, 10AM – 1PM at The Wonder Garden!

Nehalem Bay Garden Club

Saturday May 9, 2026
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

One Day Only

43080 North Fork Rd Nehalem
At North Fork Rd and Hwy 53

Annuals – Perennials – Tomatoes
Shrubs – House Plants– Veggies Starts

Mother’s Day Gifts – Raffle

Kid’s Gardening Activity and Sharpenator

Proceeds benefit local organizations that share the Club’s mission