A friend and I made our bi-annual plant shopping trip to Carpinteria and Santa Barbara last weekend after it was postponed weeks ago due to unpleasantly hot temperatures. The sun was intense in cloudless skies so I'm afraid my photos were relatively poor on this occasion. Unlike Los Angeles County, both areas also received very little rain from Tropical Storm Hilary in September and the dry conditions were evident, especially at Seaside Gardens.
Defying the bright light, I still took photos of portions of the demonstration gardens at Seaside
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| Top row: Tropical (Vireya) Rhododendron in the Asian Garden (left) and noID Salvia in the cottage Garden (right) Bottom row: Echium candicans in the Grasslands area on my recent visit (left), when they're looking sad, and back in March (right) |
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| South African Garden featuring Leucadendron 'Ebony' with Protea neriifolia (left) with a closeup of the Protea bloom and Leucadendron 'Jester' on the right |
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| Various views of the large Succulent Garden, including a Yucca 'Bright Star' with a trunk (upper right) and a very large clump of blooming agaves, possibly Agave 'Blue Flame' (lower right) |
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| Tropical Garden with Russelia equisetiformis in front and massive Fuchsia arborescens in the background |
As usual, I spent more time perusing the plants offered for sale.
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| 2 of about 10 sales displays organized by categories |
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| Plants I looked at closely but dismissed for various reasons, clockwise from the upper left: Chorisia speciosa (very expensive and could grow 60 feet tall), Cryptomeria japonica 'Spiralis' (needs regular water and not clearly suitable to my zone), Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon' (combustible oil in plant not good for high fire risk areas), Stipa ichu (I forgot to add it to my cart!), and Yucca baccata (pricey but I regret not bringing one home) |
After lunch, we headed a bit further north to Terra Sol Garden Center.
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| Terra Sol always has interesting decorative items but many aren't readily affordable |
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| Flashy Celosia and a vigorous pink-flowered Thunbergia alata |
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| I wanted to remove the weed in the middle of that Abromeitiella brevifolia (left) but, at that price, I didn't dare touching it. The Adenium (right) wasn't priced as high as its neighboring plant but still too rich for me when I've killed one (maybe 2) before. |
Fortunately, as she's a more assertive driver, my friend takes responsibility for the northern stretch of our trip from her home in the San Fernando Valley. My homeward bound trip from her house south to the peninsula takes between an hour and a half and two hours depending upon late afternoon traffic. It was on the lower end of the spectrum, which was great. I had plenty of time to unload my car before it got dark and my husband rang the dinner bell.
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| I'll have more on my purchases later this week, when I've hopefully gotten at least some of them planted |
All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party