A friend and I'd planned to visit our favorite nurseries in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties back in February. We rescheduled several times when one atmospheric river after another interfered with our plans. Last Saturday we finally got our chance to get on the road. We only made it to two of our three usual stops this time (with a nice lunch break in between). Our first stop was Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria. I'll cover it in this post.
The attraction of Seaside is two-fold. Not only does it have a great range of plants, many of which I've never found in the Los Angeles and Orange Counties garden centers I visit more often, but it also has a series of wonderful display gardens. (You can view the map here.)
I spent more time in the display gardens than I spent in the nursery on this visit. I'll share my tour, area by area.
Cottage Garden
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Glare was an issue when taking photos all day but we enjoyed blue skies and sunshine. It started out on the cool side but warmed up considerably during the course of the afternoon. The Cottage Garden was mostly green but there were splashes of color here and there.
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Clockwise from the upper left: what I think was a Dianella, a mass of Leucanthemum vulgare, Phlomis fruticosa just coming into bloom, Rosa banksiae 'Alba Plena' (including a closeup), and the Salvia collection just starting to produce buds
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California Native Garden
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A little wild but always a joy to see California poppies
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Clockwise from the upper left: Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina' with poppies, more poppies, Plantago lanceolata (not actually native to California but naturalized all over the US), and Heuchera maxima. The Ceanothus were in bloom too but I didn't get a good photo.
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Grassland
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Most of the grasses had been cut back
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The area included a bench made from a tree and a few noID flowering shrubs
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A gigantic mass of Echium candicans sits along one edge of the Grasslands area
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Succulent Garden
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One of my favorite views of the Succulent Garden
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A mound of Aeonium behaving as it does in my garden when left to its own devices (left) and Portulacaria afra, aka elephant bush (right)
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Clockwise from the left: noID Agaves in bloom, A. vilmoriniana, and noID Mangave
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Most Aloes were done blooming with the Aloe ferox on the left being a notable exception
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Xanthorrhoea preissii, aka Western Australian grass tree (left) and Cyphostemma juttae, aka wild grape, just breaking dormancy (right)
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South African Garden
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The first thing I noticed upon entering the South African Garden were the Leucospermums. The red-orange one is 'Sunrise'. The yellow one may be 'High Gold'.
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Leucadendron 'Jester'on the left and 2 shots of L. 'Ebony'on the right
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There was one fresh pink bloom on Protea 'Pick Ice' but even the dried blooms were attractive
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The blooms of Dombeya wallichii (left) had also dried but remained in place. Polygala fruticosa is shown with fresh blooms on the right.
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Chondropetalum, aka Cape rush. It looks bigger than the dwarf C. tectorum.
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A restio, possibly Rhodocoma capensis. I've mixed feelings about this plant but its stems were looking very flashy in the sun.
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Central-South American Garden
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Clockwise from the upper left: variegated Agave americana, a noID Dyckia, 2 other noID bromeliads, Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', and Fuchsia arborescens, aka tree fuchsia
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Australian Garden
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With time running out, I didn't give the Australian Garden its due. Clockwise from the left: noID Acacias, noID shrub, and Prostanthera ovalifolia in bloom
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Asian Garden
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I always liked the fresh red foliage of Photina x fraseri but I'd never seen the plant in bloom. I love it!
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Of course I didn't ignore the nursery.
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Views of the plants for sale in various areas
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Some of the plants that drew my attention included, clockwise from the upper left: Asplenium antiquum 'Hurricane' (fern), Callistemon viminalis 'Red Alert', Leucadendron laxum, and Phormium 'Duet' and 'Sundowner'.
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I brought home a Leucadendron laxum and three other plants from Seaside. I'll show these and my purchases from our second stop, Terra Sol Garden Center, in my next post. For now, here's a glance at the trunk of my car when I got home.
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We had a great day but it took me over 2 hours just to get home from my friend's house in the San Fernando Valley. LA freeways can be a nightmare.
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All material © 2012-2023by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
