Our second nursery stop last Saturday was Terra Sol Garden Center in Santa Barbara County. It's much smaller than Seaside Gardens and doesn't have any display gardens but I've always found it to be a great resource for new plants. I don't think I've ever left that garden center empty-handed, often spending more there than I do at Seaside. (You can view my earlier post on Seaside here.)
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| Views of plants for sale |
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I was surprised at how much this plant looked like the Acacia 'Cousin Itt' I grow in my garden. It's 'Itts' bigger brother, Acacia cognata, aka river wattle. The flowers are just like those currently peppering my "little river wattle".
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Plants I noticed but didn't purchase included, clockwise from the upper left, Pilea peperomioides in flower, Pyrrosia (?) in a hanging basket, and Veltheimia. I came very close to buying a Veltheimia as I've admired the flowering bulbs a neighbor has scattered through her street-side succulent bed but I planted 2 of these bulbs years ago and, even given this year's rain, they haven't bloomed in recent memory.
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Terra Sol offers a lot of garden decor items and a many pots outfitted to serve as fountains
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Statues, especially Buddhas, are plentiful, if pricey
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The garden center has a well-rounded selection of small-to-large succulents, and it frequently has succulents you don't commonly see elsewhere.
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This Hildewintera colademononis, aka monkey tail cactus, was one of the rarer specimens on display on this visit. (You can see it in flower here.)
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While Terra Sol doesn't have landscape displays, it has a lot of containers planted with succulents. Some of these were for sale but the larger ones are provided as inspiration. The bottom photos are 2 sides of the same fountain-style planter.
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So what did I bring home from this trip?
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This was my haul from Terra Sol, shown below in my garden
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My biggest investment was the 2-gallon Leucosperum cordifolium 'California Sunshine' shown in the upper left, which currently looks very small in the spot I selected for it (formerly occupied by an 8-foot tall Duranta). Clockwise from the top right are: Carex 'Feather Falls', Anemone coronaria 'Mistral Bordeaux',Gasteria morombe, and Sedum 'Cape Blanco'.
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And, for the record, here's what I took home from Seaside Gardens.
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Prior to planting
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Top row: Lophomyrtus x ralphii 'Little Star', including foliage closeup
Bottom row: Leucadendron laxum (still unplanted), Cuphea 'Starlight' (also sold as 'Starfire Pink'), and Coprosma 'Evening Glow'
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As it turned out, we timed our trip well. The skies opened up once more on Wednesday and again on Thursday. It was dry and sunny all afternoon yesterday even though gray storm clouds hovered in the background. There's a slight chance of rain again on Monday but at present it looks like it'll pass us by. Another forecasting agency suggests that there's currently a 58 percent chance of yet another storm a week from today but I'm not convinced of that prospect at present.
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Yesterday morning's view of Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles, from my back garden
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Best wishes for a pleasant weekend, in the garden or not. I stopped by my local garden center Thursday afternoon to pick up things to fill in around recent plantings and serve as groundcovers in bare spots so I'll be busy for awhile at least.
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material © 2012-2023
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
