A friend and I made a trip up to Santa Barbara County last weekend to visit some of our favorite nurseries. It was a beautiful day, cool but comfortable with sunny skies. Our first stop was
Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria. By comparison to prior visits, I took remarkably few photos but I'll share some of the best ones of the demonstration gardens, most of which focused on the South African and succulent sections.
![]() |
| I was very taken with the mass display of Osteospermum here. While I use a lot of these plants in my own garden, this view had me thinking about planting them en masse like this. |
![]() |
| There's a nice clump of Phylica pubescens (aka Featherhead) in the middle of this shot. Seaside Gardens was the first place I saw this plant and where I bought my first one. I've killed a few of them since but I still haven't quite given up on them. |
![]() |
| The pink-flowered shrub shown here is apparently some variety of Erica. I've never grown these heaths in my own garden but they were used extensively in this demonstration garden, mixed in with Leucadendron and Osteospermum. Sandy soil like mine is said to be ideal for them if it's amended with organic matter and acid fertilizer so perhaps I'll have to try growing it. |
![]() |
| There were some Aloes in bloom in the succulent garden but I don't think the display has reached its peak yet |
![]() |
| The strong sunlight near mid-day made photo-taking difficult but the Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire' stood out brilliantly behind the ponytail palms (Beaucarnea recurvata) here |
![]() |
| The California poppies were just beginning to flower. I'm afraid there won't be any in my own garden this year despite the seed I've sown at intervals since November. There hasn't been enough rain and I haven't provided sufficient supplemental water to encourage germination. |
We stopped briefly at 2 nearby orchid outlets but, as neither offered much beyond
Cymbidium and
Phalaeonopsis, we didn't linger. One, Gallup & Stribling, clearly showed the impact of January's mudslides.
![]() |
| The piles of mud on either side of the driveway to the orchid showroom were roughly 5 feet high |
Island View, our next stop, less than half a mile away, seemed unaffected by the mudslides as far as we could see, even though it was also in the evacuation zone.
![]() |
| Maybe these dinosaurs near the entrance were fierce enough to hold back the mud (Photo courtesy of my friend) |
![]() |
| The nursery carries landscaping plants but its indoor plants are the main draw when we visit |
After lunch, we visited
Terra Sol in Santa Barbara. At this point, I was very focused on shopping and I took no photos whatsoever. After loading up my purchases, we headed south towards home. I had very little on my shopping list when we headed out, almost none of which I found, but I still ended up bringing home plants. Are you surprised?
![]() |
| Upper left: my take from Seaside, Boronia megastigma 'Lutea', Solanum hybrid 'Spring Frost', and 3 more Lotus 'Amazon Sunset' (to replace those something has eaten). Upper right: my take from Terra Sol, Phylica pubescens, Aquilegia 'Blue Barlow', Platystemon californicus, and a passionflower vine I can't remember the name of at the moment. Lower right, also from Terra Sol, my big purchase of the day, Leucospermum 'Spider Hybrid'. And, on the lower left, minus a Rex Begonia, my take from Island View, several small succulents and a flat-backed pot. |
Most, although not all, of my plant purchases have been tucked into the ground (or pots) in anticipation of our second rainstorm this week.
![]() |
| This is the unnamed Rex Begonia I found at Island view, sitting in the lath house |
![]() |
| For now, the cheetah pot is serving as a tool holder in the lath house |
![]() |
| A closer look at the Boronia megastigma in the back border. It has a lovely scent, strong but not cloying, which my friend and I enjoyed as we traveled to and fro on Saturday. |
![]() |
| And here's Phylica pubescens, in a spot I hope will be more to its liking than those I gave its now dead predecessors |
None of the rain forecast for here Thursday night showed up and, thus far, the rain this morning is only a slow drizzle, yet there are evacuations up north. If only the rain there could be lighter and the rain here heavier! There's another chance of very light rain in the forecast for the weekend after this one but nothing else at all in the extended forecast until mid-April and that isn't expected to be much either. Apparently, I need to learn some better raindances. I hope you enjoy a bright sunny weekend, wherever you are.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
