Two weeks ago, before summer officially began and prior to the June's first heatwave, a friend and I attended the
Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society's Drought Tolerant Plant Festival at the
Sepulveda Garden Center, a community garden run by the City of Los Angeles. We arrived early under gray skies and and enjoyed blessedly cool temperatures, which isn't something you can generally count on in June in the San Fernando Valley. I know as I grew up in that inland valley.
I took my time to scope out the plants. There were some beautiful specimens that were too expensive for my blood.
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| Left to right: Agave sebastiana, Agave 'Snow Glow' and crested Euphorbia kibwezensis |
There were few real deals but, in retrospect, there were many I should have considered more seriously.
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| Left to right: divisions of Agave 'Blue Flame' (for $5 - why didn't I bring one home?!), variegated Agave gypsophila, and Agave 'Royal Spine' |
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| A nice variety of reasonably priced succulent selections in mostly 4-inch pots from Hannah's Succulents |
Other than cactus, succulents and bromeliads, there weren't many other drought tolerant plants but there were a surprising number of pot sellers. No, California hasn't legalized recreational pot (at least not yet). I'm talking about clay pots.
Another surprise was an exhibit by the
California Turtle & Tortoise Club.
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| This is "Speedbump," so named because he was run over by a car. You can see the work performed by the vet to repair his shell when he was rescued by the society. |
Succulent guru
Debra Lee Baldwin was scheduled to speak so, after making our purchases, we killed time before her talk looking at some of the community gardens.
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| Most were very neatly maintained |
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| Some focused on ornamental plants more than edibles |
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| This one was very exuberant |
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| This was the most whimsical one I saw |
We came upon a plant that intrigued us both but neither of us could identify.
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| Can anyone tell me what it is? |
The Matilija poppies (
Romneya coulteri) were blooming too.
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| My own Romneya coulteri, planted in early spring, didn't bloom this year but at least it's still alive on the back slope where little else is in respectable shape |
I didn't go home with a lot but I did make two purchases.
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| I found a well-priced Agave 'Mr. Ripple', now in place in my dry southeast side garden, where it has plenty of room to spread out. I also picked up an embellished pot from Hearts of Jade, which operates a succulent art and gift shop in Moorpark. |
If the event had followed our recent heat apocalypse rather than preceding it, maybe I would have purchased more plants but there's always the
Inter-City Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale. I may be able to entice my husband to go if August isn't blazingly hot (ha!).
All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
