About 10 days ago, a friend and I paid a quick visit to Roger's Gardens, one of my favorite "local" garden centers (about 45 miles from my home). We dropped by after visiting Sherman Garden's plant sale nearby. As we had reservations for lunch, we didn't have a lot of time. In the process of doing a little plant shopping, I checked out several of the garden center's demonstration beds, which are often good sources of inspiration.
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| Roger's always plants this sloped area in the front section of the nursery with interesting plants but I'm not sure I've ever seen a more striking display than this one, featuring what I'm guessing is the new Helianthus 'Sunbelievable Brown-eyed Girl'. I bought a different bushy sunflower called 'Sunfinity' last year at another nursery but this one's reported to have more bloom power. |
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| This bed adjacent to the checkout area is replanted seasonally. As befits our dry summer conditions, numerous drought tolerant plants were used, including bright yellow Achillea 'Moonshine' in this section. Helichyrsum petiolare (aka licorice plant) and Phlomis fruticosa (or a relative) were planted nearby. |
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| At the other end of the bed, succulents and Stachys byzantina (lamb's ear) provided a muted palette. I didn't look at the succulents closely enough to determine whether they were Agaves or Mangaves but I think the vignette demonstrates how well sculptural succulents like these can be combined with softer foliage plants. |
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| I was surprised as how much I liked this block-y display, light on flowers, featuring a number of shrubs |
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| This is the same display, photographed from a different angle. I noticed what I think are Pittosporum tenuifolium and Westringia fruticosa (aka coastal rosemary) among other shrubs, as well as a mass of silvery Dichondra. |
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| The vertical garden in the background here is planted with various succulents |
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| This side of the structure, the backdrop for Roger's periodic seminars, was planted out with even more succulents, some flowering |
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| Roger's has put a lot of emphasis on planting for pollinators and wildlife in recent years. I'm not able to identify many of the plants from these photos snatched on the fly but that impressive mass of white flowers is Achillea 'Sonoma Coast'. Verbena bonariensis is planted behind it. The plants in front of the low concrete wall are pollinator-friendly specimens for sale. |
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| View of the same bed from a different angle. Sunflowers (Helianthus) are visible in the background. I suspect the sculpture pieces are by Dustin Gimbel. |
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| This display also gets changed out seasonally. It features Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Helichyrsum petiolare, and what appeared to be Senecio serpens (blue chalk sticks) on steroids, as wells as Agave, Mangave and what might have been Dianella. |
I didn't take time for closeup photos or check out Roger's exterior perimeters. Next time perhaps!
All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
