Meet Mark Akimoff, a specialist in rare bulbs and alpine, rock garden, and xeric plants (a 2024 PlantFest Speaker)

Mark Akimoff will be speaking on "The Tough and Rare, Unusual Bulbs for Northwest Gardens" at HPSO's 2024 PlantFest. He'll be covering the lesser known and unusual bulbs for Northwest gardens and discuss how flower bulbs are perhaps the most perfectly adapted plants for climate change. Read on to learn a little more about Mark. He is one of three speakers who will be presenting at PlantFest in 2024. Do you have your tickets yet to this speaker event? Get them now here! 

What is your favorite plant or genus?

The genus Fritillaria, it's diversity is stunning, I've enjoyed seeing them in the wild from the little Golden Bells of F. pudica blooming in the arid, windswept eastern Columbia River Gorge, to misty mountain meadows in Alaska's Chugach Range filled with the darkest purple blooms of F. camschatcensis and the scarlet red, hummingbird magnet Fritillaria recurva among Northern California's Oak woodlands. There are many species adaptable to almost any garden situation and as a bulb grower they are one of my most rewarding collections. From the Imperial Fritillaria's for a dramatic show in the border, or diminutive rock garden subjects from the rocky isles of the Mediterranean, they fill every niche. My favorite in the genus is Fritillaria obliqua with its glossy, jet-black bells.

And do you have a favorite tool?

The ubiquitous -- but, oh so useful -- hori hori knife! Recently, I recently found a titanium seed dibbler/ pricker/widger with a weeding fork on one end from a supplier in the UK that is quickly becoming my favorite greenhouse tool.

Tell us about a person who was instrumental in your decision to garden.

My uncle Dan owned a rare palm tree nursery and a beautiful garden full of rare palms and cycads on the island of Kauai, he would introduce new palms into the landscape trade from seed he collected around the world and I always thought traveling to find rare plants like he did was the coolest job ever!

You've been at this for a few decades, so what would you tell a beginning gardener?

Best advice I ever received as a young gardener came from Jack Poff of the the R.S Berry Botanic Garden, he said, "every year start seeds of trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials. You may not have room for the trees now but someday you will and you will build an amazing garden starting a new batch of seeds every year." Some of the large specimen trees at illahe rare plants, are going on 25 years old now from seedlings and it's so rewarding to see them mature knowing they were started as seeds long ago.

We couldn't agree more, what a sense of accomplishment. In closing, could you name a plant you want but can’t find?

The alpine Junellias from Chile and Argentina, I saw Junellia spathulata, in the Andes above Santiago, they are wonderfully fragrant, beautiful, often blue flowered, compact alpine shrubs related to Verbena that I can't seem to find anywhere but would be amazing garden subjects.

Mark Akimoff is the owner of illahe Rare Plants, a craft nursery specializing in rare bulbs, alpine, rock garden and xeric plants for a changing climate. Mark has been a specialist grower of flower bulbs for over 18 years and has over 25 years of experience as a professional horticulturist. His wide-ranging career with plants has spanned from large-scale wetlands, riparian and environmental restoration projects for government, estate gardening and groundskeeping to teaching horticulture at the community college. His main passions are rare flower bulbs and alpine plants. After many years of growing and shipping rare and unusual flower bulbs around the world from his nursery in Salem, Oregon, Mark has recently expanded into growing plants of all sorts that will thrive in the rapidly changing climate conditions we are experiencing. The nursery specializes in dwarf species for rock and crevice gardens as well as dryland and low water use plants for all gardens. He has a full catalog and informative blog at www.illaherareplants.com