I visited
Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar this week seeking plants and inspiration. Fall may be the best time to plant in Southern California but spring can't be beat for enticing gardeners outside. The garden center held an extended spring celebration earlier this month but I was unable to get there so, with a free day in front of me, I decided to pay a mid-week visit and I was lucky to arrange a meet-up with blogging friend, Hoover Boo of
Piece of Eden, too.
The skies were clear, the temperature was comfortably warm, and the garden center wasn't overly crowded on a weekday morning. As HB and I chatted about plants, one of garden center's unofficial greeters commanded our attention.
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| A fountain just outside my shot on the left was splashing water on the red flowers of this Martha Washington geranium (Pelargonium), which the hummingbird used as a perch |
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| He seemed to enjoy his light shower and paid no attention whatsoever to the 2 nearby bloggers who simultaneously raised their cameras for a rapid flurry of photos |
My main purpose was to check out the
new display gardens Roger's had set up in advance of their spring celebration. There are 7 of these, although I missed the one focused on edibles.
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| This is the Balcony Garden, designed as inspiration for people who don't have ground to plant in. It featured vertical planters constructed from pallets, a few edibles, and succulents. |
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| The Bird & Butterfly Garden was perhaps the largest of the display gardens |
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| I was pleased to note that many of the plants included in the garden's plant list are present in my own garden, including yarrow (Achillea), Ceanothus, Gaura, lavender, rosemary and Salvia clevelandii. The tall Leucadendron wasn't on Roger's official plant list but it looks stunning in the background. |
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| In contrast to the Bird & Butterfly Garden, the California Friendly Garden was relatively small, consisting of 2 identical raised planting beds, filled with a variety of plants suitable to our Mediterranean climate, arranged around pineapple guava trees (Acca sellowiana, formerly Feijoa) |
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| The Flower Garden near the front entrance features ornamental pottery and flowers mainly in shades of blue and white |
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| The foxgloves looked great with back lighting |
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| The Modern Garden was planted with sculptural succulents |
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| Although I love succulents, the colors used were a little too muted for my taste |
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| This is the Small Space Garden, designed to show people what they can create even with limited space. I loved the combination of the red kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos) with rose-pink Grevillea 'Penola', although I can tell you from personal experience that the Grevillea gets really big within a few years. |
The display gardens weren't the only attractions.
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| I'm not sure whether the circular metal structure shown on the left was intended as a bench or merely decoration. The Kokedama creation shown in close-up on the right (featuring what I think must be Colocasia, aka elephant ears) was huge! |
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| As always, the garden center had a range of succulent containers |
However, in my opinion, the best displays were in the parking lot.
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| This area featured Aloes in bloom, Sedum nussbaumerianum, and large specimens of Leucadendron 'Jester' |
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| In addition to the Aloes, there were lots of blooming pincushion proteas (Leucospermum sp.) |
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| I've noted that Leucospermums are becoming more widely available in prices that don't always require obtaining a second mortgage on your home and Roger's had a great selection |
Hoover Boo and I enjoyed a nice lunch and I came home with plants of course. I didn't take photos of my new acquisitions but they included: blue
Freesias to replace the bulbs that bloomed in unintended shades orange and pink in my garden; a butterfly and California-friendly
Scabiosa;
Salvia 'Love & Wishes', a plant HB has had great success with; a 6-pack of California poppies to make up for the fact that none of my poppy seeds germinated this year; and 2 6-packs of Lisianthus (
Eustoma grandiflorum) because I just can't help myself.
Best wishes for a beautiful Easter weekend.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
