Back to blossoms

Silver Star Vinery owner Debbie Fischer’s home garden business in Yacolt is blooming once again following her injury in a car crash more than two years ago.

In February 2015, Fischer was riding in the passenger seat of a car traveling across an intersection at less than 20 mph when a drunk driver T-boned her side at around 85 mph.

“We were almost at a dead stop and then suddenly it was just, ‘boom!’” Fischer said. 

Fischer was left with two broken bones in her back and an inability to effectively move around for more than a year. In June 2016 Fischer underwent back surgery which left her in recovery for almost another year. During this time, Silver Star Vinery was upkept by Fischer’s friends and neighbors.

“I have amazing friends that helped out,” she said. “They kept this nursery going for me.”

Now, over two years since the accident, Fischer is back in the garden full-time.

“We’re coming back now,” Fischer said. “It’s getting back to where we had it. I can walk now, bend over and pull weeds and just do my own work again.”

Silver Star Vinery specializes in clematis plants but offers several other types. Plants are grown for sale in Fischer’s four greenhouses which sit nearby the two-acre display garden.

“We quit counting how many (plants) there were when we hit about 400 and that was years ago,” Fischer said. “I’d say there’s probably 600 to 800 here now.”

Fischer said typically a one gallon plant costs $18 to $20, but during her upcoming Open Garden Sale July 15-16, costs are lowered to $12 to $14. Due to her back injuries, the annual sale did not happen the last two years. 

“I’m so glad to be able to do it again,” Fischer said. “People really go crazy about it.”

Fischer said during the sale Silver Star Vinery will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — on paper.

“If anyone wants to stay until dusk they can,” Fischer said. “It’s amazing how many people in the past have come and want to hang around.”