SOUTH WATERFRONT
PORTLAND OREGON

Growing Dahlia’s in Urban Portland
by Ann McMahon, resident of Meriwether Condos

Who would have thought I could look out the window of my downtown condo and see a tractor plowing through a muddy field? Amazingly, I have the most incredible view of the Ross Island Bridge, the Willamette River, Zidel’s barge builders, the OHSU buildings and the Tram. Now I will get to see dahlia’s in bloom, thanks to Mark Harvey of Old House Dahlias.

Mark was living in Southeast Portland with his sister. She got married and  moved out, so he needed a source of income to be able to keep the home they bought together. He decided to grow dahlias. For two years he planted the flowers at his home until he decided to expand. He began planting the flowers in Corbett on a leased farm. He kept the dahlias as a display at home and sold the potted ones while raising tubers. From February of 2009 until the end of April, dahlia disasters keep happening: cuttings got too hot in his greenhouse, next he moved them outside and they got root rot. So he tried putting 75 flats in his garage, but there was not enough light for growth. Finally he began to look for a piece of urban land to plant his dahlia cuttings. He had a friend living in the South Waterfront who told him about the land right on the river. So he approached the developers to get their permission to lease the land until the housing market improves. Once he got permission to use the land, he began to grow the cuttings in his garage.

So one morning in May I look out my window and see a green tractor and two men, one wearing a cowboy hat. Being from Montana, I was curious and went down the elevator to introduce myself to this cowboy. It was Mark and his recruit… Dad, of course. His father, Dwight, told me that Mark just has it in his blood to be a farmer. His grandpa farmed in Nebraska. Mark is an environmentalist and worked for the Department of Fish and Wildlife for five years. Now he works during the week for his brother-in-law at Pacific Foods in Canby. But on the weekends, he becomes an urban farmer. His goal is to sell cut flowers in the fall.

The most recent Dahlia disaster came in June with temperatures in the 90’s. For the first time since I can remember, we were able to attend the Starlight parade with no umbrella or raincoat. Mark thought he had until July to solve the problem of not having an outlet to water his flowers. Dahlias are a kind of desert flower, however, Mark planted mostly cuttings and only a few tubers. It’s July now and half the field is finally green, the half with the tubers. The cuttings are still struggling a bit from the heat, but July 4th weekend Mark showed up with a water truck that he borrowed from his brother-in-law. For two days he patiently watered, talking to the condo residents and napping intermittently on the lawn. In September, the South Waterfront residents will all benefit from a field of dahlias in the midst of high-rise buildings, thanks to the persistence of an urban farmer! Check out Mark’s website: www.oldhousedahlias.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Green Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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