Last Saturday, a friend and I visited the "Fall Plant Boutique" at my local botanic garden. This event replaced a more robust fall plant sale the garden used to sponsor annually. Although I buy plants nearly year-round, fall is my peak planting season and I admit I usually go a little crazy. As summer hasn't entirely released its grip on us here, I haven't gone hog-wild yet. The botanic garden event seemed a way to ease in. Plants offered by the botanic garden are reasonably priced to start with and, as a member, I get a discount on top of that.
The
Barleria obtusa (bush violet) I'd hoped to find wasn't available but I still managed to find a few things to take home.
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| Clockwise from the upper left, my plant purchases included: Pelargonium peltatum 'Marble Sunset', Peperomia (labeled as P. rubella but it doesn't have the characteristic red stems and leaf undersides), Aeonium nobile, Centaurea gymnocarpa, Kalanchoe humilis, and Aeonium 'Lily Pad' |
We decided to stay for the glass pumpkin exhibit and sale, which the exhibitors were in the process of setting up when we strolled into the main garden area. We didn't have long to wait but I used the opportunity to take a peek around.
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| The botanic garden has been working on renovation of its rose garden since February. It's supposed to be completed sometime this fall but it looked far from complete to me. |
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| There were still some sunflowers in the Volunteers' Garden but what most interested my friend and me were the overturned plastic flats, which it appeared were being used to protect seedlings. Like my own garden, the botanic garden has problems with raccoons but it was hard for me to believe that the empty flats would prevent those critters from rummaging. But, it may be worth a try! |
We entered the glass exhibit when it opened. The designs all came from
Walker & Bowes glass studios in San Jose, California and are part of their annual Pumpkin Patch exhibits.
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| I fell in love with that yellow pumpkin in the photo on the upper left but they were all pretty. Prices varied from $88 to $528. |
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| I didn't even bother to look for prices on the glass bowls |
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| Sea shells are another Walker & Bowes specialty |
The glass creations were pricey for me and I left without buying anything at the exhibit. I did think about that yellow pumpkin after we left the garden but, luckily for my pocketbook, it was a one-day event. More money left to spend on plants!
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
