Really, I can't help myself...

My name is Kris and I'm an addict.  I'm addicted to plants.  I see all those holes left in my garden after that horrific heatwave in June and I start itching.  I pay a visit to a garden center - or two or three.  Just to look, you understand.  After all, one should plan ahead.  I fully intend to hold off on planting until the weather is more hospitable.  Okay, maybe I'll buy a succulent - or two.  After all, they can handle the hot, dry conditions of summer here in SoCal.  Actually, it's been a lot cooler of late but, yes, I know it's supposed to be a tough summer.  Then, lo and behold, there's a plant I haven't been able to find in a size or at a price that makes it absolutely irresistible - do I pass it by with the vague hope that it might be available in the fall?  That seems foolish, doesn't it?  I should be able to give a few new plants the care and attention they need to get through summer, right?  As long as I don't go crazy.

I met a friend for lunch in Newport Beach last week.  As the restaurant was less than a mile from Roger's Gardens in Corona Del Mar, it seemed silly not to take advantage of the opportunity to pop in there and have a look around.  The garden center itself was relatively quiet, although there was a lot of construction activity on the new restaurant that's being built in the back.

The Farmhouse is scheduled to open in August

The medians in the parking lot have been replanted since the last time I was there.



The vertical planter at the entrance has been replanted too.



The demonstration bed just inside the entrance was roughly the same, although I think it had been embellished with Celosia 'Intenz' since my last visit.



I admired a beautiful bromeliad in a hanging planter.



There were lots of succulents in 6-packs.  A great buy, I made a note to purchase some.



I grabbed a few 6-packs of succulents and 3 Yucca desmetiana 'Blue Boy' before rushing off to meet my friend for lunch but, when another friend paid me a visit on Sunday, we returned to Roger's.  I thought I might get just one or two things I'd left behind during my earlier visit.

Some of the things I deliberated over on my first visit included, clockwise from the upper left: Agave xylongacantha, Clerodendrum ugandense, Gomphrena 'Balboa', and the dwarf Jacaranda (still a pricey $100)

Choice as these plants were, I didn't pick up any of them on my return visit.  That's evidence of some will power, isn't it?  Please enjoy the lovely hanging begonia and ignore that cart in the background.  Okay, I did fall off the wagon but it was just a few plants.  Really - just a few.



And look here: I got this wonderful photo of a butterfly!

The Monarch butterfly is my Wednesday Vignette.  Visit Anna at Flutter & Hum to find images that caught the attention of other gardeners this week.

All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party