Fall is unequivocally the best time to plant in Southern California. It's also the time of year I spend the most time plant shopping. The weekend before last, a friend and I hit 4 nurseries/garden centers on Saturday and a sale at my local botanic garden on Sunday. This post provides a rundown of our expedition.
Our first stop was
Australian Native Plant Nursery in Casitas Springs. It was late morning when we arrived but already very hot. The sun was high so my few photos are sun-drenched.
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| From left to right: Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' (I think), a beautiful if chlorotic Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', and the nursery's goodwill ambassador, Wallaby |
Before heading back to the freeway, we dropped in at
Ventura Cactus & Succulents.
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| The nursery had a wide selection of plants, a portion of of which can be seen on the left, most unfortunately unlabeled. The plants on the right were part of displays. |
After lunch in Carpinteria, we spent a little time perusing
Porch, a retail store offering nature-inspired goods for indoor and outdoor settings.
From there, we headed to
Seaside Gardens, also in Carpinteria. Seaside is one of my favorite nurseries. In addition to a fabulous collection of plants, they have an extensive demonstration garden featuring mature specimens of many of the plants they sell. I took fewer photos than usual because the sunlight was intense but you can find photos of a previous fall trip to Seaside
here.
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| View of the pond with a mass of pink and white Japanese anemones visible in the distance |
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| The grassland area |
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| Clockwise from the left: Russelia equisetiformis, which I don't think I've even seen not in bloom at Seaside; another view of the Japanese anemones; Gaura lindheimeri gone wild; a Banksia; and a beautiful silver shrub/tree for which I have no ID |
Our final stop before heading homeward was Terra Sol in Goleta.
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Piper auritum (aka Mexican pepperleaf), which I wish I'd bought; Aloe polyphylla, which I may buy someday if it ever comes down in price; Echinocactus grusonii, which IS coming down in price; a pretty orange mum; a flowering Tillandsia; and Halloween-themed pottery |
The next day we headed to the
South Coast Botanic Garden, which is about 5 miles from my home. The botanic garden has discontinued its annual fall plant sale in favor of smaller "shop local" events. After checking out the plants for sale, we did an abbreviated walk through the garden.
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| More Japanese anemones here surrounding a tree-like Senna, possibly S. bicapsularis |
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| Dracaena draco (aka dragon tree), shown here with close-ups of the developing berries and bark |
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| From the left: A monarch butterfly enjoying Salvia leucantha, a clump of Agave 'Blue Glow', and a sprawling mass of asters of some kind |
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| A tree I can't identify in full flower |
So what did I bring home? I featured my succulent plant purchases in an
earlier post but here are the rest:
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| Grevillea sericea (left), purchased from Australian Native Plant Nursery, and Echium handiense, purchased from the South Coast Botanic Garden |
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| Clockwise from the top left: Crowea 'Parry's Hybrid', Leonotis leonurus, Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', and Trichostema 'Midnight Magic' (all except the Crowea add to specimens of species I already have growing in my garden) |
After getting some rain earlier this week, the Santa Ana winds turned the heat up again here but temperatures are expected to drop once more this weekend. I'm already anticipating another plant shopping run. How about you? Have you picked up any new plants?
All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
