Fall plant shopping trip

A friend and I made our biannual trip north to shop for plants last weekend, visiting three of our favorite garden centers in Carpinteria and Santa Barbara.  While I didn't come home entirely empty-handed, my purchases were relatively light this time.  That's at least partly attributable to the supply of plants I accumulated during the summer months and only planted out as temperatures dropped, as well as all the areas I recently filled with bulbs.

Most of my photos were taken at our first stop, Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria.  My photos focused primarily on Seaside's expansive demonstration gardens.

My friend and I were greeted by the garden center's cat, Oreo, as soon as we got out of the car

The Cottage Garden was exploding with blue-flowered Salvias and a few roses

Serene scenes from the Grasslands area

Even in November, the South African section was colorful, courtesy of Leonotis leonurus and Kniphofia

Protea 'Pink Ice' was in bloom too

The Succulent Garden always looks good.  I immediately noticed all the Agave gypsophila 'Ivory Curls'and assumed they'd been planted since my last visit in February but, after checking my prior photos, it seems the plants were there, albeit noticeably smaller.

Clockwise from the upper left: A mass of Agave bracteosa (squid agave), Agave attentuata (foxtail agave), and a closeup of Agave gypsophila 'Ivory Curls'

A variety of Aloes on the left and a closeup of new-to-me Aloe eminensis, which I understand is a tree aloe now classified as Aloidendron eminens

Other succulents that caught my eye included Euphorbia caput-medusae, Myrtillocactus geometrozans, and Pedilanthus bracteosa

This is my only photo from the South American Garden and the light wasn't favorable but I had to take notice of the fact that this Russelia equisetiformis (firecracker plant) is always in bloom

Although my focus was on the demonstration garden, I did a thorough round of the nursery as well.

Like the demonstration gardens, the nursery is organized by the plants' areas of origin.  I agonized a little over the Asplenium antiquum 'Hurricane' (a rarer variety of bird's nest fern, upper right) but ferns in general aren't happy in my garden so I passed.  I noted the perfect specimen of Mangave 'Tooth Fairy' (lower right) and can only hope my tiny specimen will look like that someday now that it's been freed of its small pot.

After a lunch break, we visited Island View Nursery, also in Carpinteria.

This photo of a noID Tillandsia was the only one I took during this stop.  The flower spike was large and very fragrant.  When I posted this photo on Instagram, people who know more about Tillandsia than I do thought it might be Tillandsia straminea.

Last up was Terra Sol Garden Center in Santa Barbara.  It's small but often packed with unusual plants.  I took no photos at all there, mainly because time was growing short and I was focused on plant shopping.  My biggest score was a selection of foxgloves.

Foxgloves aren't at all unusual but they had Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach', which isn't always easy to find.  I brought home 3 peach, 2 purple and 1 white variety, all in the 'Dalmatian' series.  One is already planted in a barrel in my front garden (with large river rocks to deter the blasted raccoons) and 2 are in one of the raised planters in my cutting garden.

I bought a few other plants at our first two stops as well.

Island View had a 1-gallon Agave parryi (left) for $12!  (My friend bought a 1-gallon Mangave 'Lavender Lady' for $10!)  I also brought home the Begonia conchifolia var rubrimacula on the right.

My Seaside purchases were more mundane, a handful of small succulents and 2 Lotus berthelotii (one shown here planted near another I planted last year).  This Lotus is commonly used as a hanging plant but I like to use it as a groundcover.

That's it from me this week.  I hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend.

All material © 2012-2022by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party