Does anyone recognize this flowering shrub seen in Portland, Oregon?

June 8, 2014 10:12 PM

This shrub is in full bloom now in Portland, Oregon. It is tall and rangy. I've been here thirty years and have been an avid gardener, and I'd never seen it before today.
posted by ADave to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

I probably shouldn't try to answer because I'm plantdumb and in Texas but that looks a lot like the oleander in my yard.
posted by polyhedron at 10:23 PM on June 8, 2014

Mod note: Fixed the link.
posted by taz (staff) at 10:26 PM on June 8, 2014

Response by poster: Yes, at first, I thought oleander, but we're still too cold. Need to give climate change a few more years.
posted by ADave at 10:27 PM on June 8, 2014

The flower looks like dog rose, but it all depends on the foliage. To me it looks as though the dog rose is behind some other kind of shrub (or maybe even twining around it?) with leaves that are very not-rose-like. So if it is actually flowering from those dark green branchy things, I have no idea.
posted by Athanassiel at 10:42 PM on June 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I think it's a particularly reflexed form of a white single camellia.
posted by KathrynT at 10:49 PM on June 8, 2014

Best answer: It looks like bush anemone.
posted by notquitemaryann at 11:07 PM on June 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

Some sort of Philadelphus?
posted by elsietheeel at 11:10 PM on June 8, 2014

Best answer: Oh yeah, Carpenteria is a good guess. It's a Central California chaparral native, but now they've got cold hardy cultivars that can withstand a Portland winter.
posted by elsietheeel at 11:13 PM on June 8, 2014

Yeah, I stand corrected - that definitely looks like Carpenteria! Nice work!
posted by Athanassiel at 11:19 PM on June 8, 2014

Best answer: Yes, Carpenteria. There is a nursery on Sauvie Island (Cistus, I believe) that sells them.
posted by nanook at 4:47 AM on June 9, 2014 [1 favorite]