Last weekend, a friend and I attended the
South Bay Cactus & Succulent Society Show and Sale held at the
South Coast Botanic Garden. Afterwards, we walked the garden, ending up in the Japanese Garden. We were initially pulled in by the
Wisteria blooms hanging from the adjacent arbor but the real draw was a colorful visitor hanging out next to the Koi pond.
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| A month ago, the arbor sported nothing but bare branches |
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| This colorful mallard was trying to take a peaceful nap next to the Koi pond despite the fact that people like my friend and I kept snapping his photograph. His eye kept popping open and I could almost hear him thinking "are they gone yet?" |
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| He didn't move anything other than his eye so he wasn't all that perturbed by our presence. Two weeks ago, I'd heard a rumor that a pair of ducks was nesting near the pond but I hadn't sighted them then. I didn't see his mate on this visit either, although I noticed a flutter in the bushes nearby and his vigilance suggests she 's probably close by. It'll be wonderful if the Koi pond hosts ducklings in a few weeks. In any case, the watchful duck is my Wednesday Vignette. For more, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum. |
I took photos of the succulent sale too but, as the lighting was poor, I'll share just a few of these.
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| There were fewer artistic displays than in prior years. This one featured succulents paired with driftwood. The arrangement in the left-hand corner was entitled "In the Forest of the Night." The one in the middle was called "Phoenix Rising" and the one in the right corner was called "Gone with the Wind." |
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| This table was my favorite display. Among other things, it featured (bottom row, left to right): Aeonium 'Berry Nice', Mammillaria parkinsonii, and Mangave 'Spotty Dotty'. |
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| Other specimens that caught my eye included these (clockwise from the upper left): Sansevieria 'Twisted Sister', Cleistocactus winterii crest, Copiapoa cinerea, Hydnophytum formicarum, Lithops lesliei, and Pachypodium brevicaule |
I'd hoped to locate some
Mangaves for sale but all I found were a few small specimens of
Mangave 'Bloodspot' and I already have one of those. Of course, I didn't walk away entirely empty-handed, although I was more restrained than usual with regard to my purchases.
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| My purchases included an earthstar (Cryptanthus, not shown in this photo), Boophone disticha, 2 Dudleya cymosa, and an Arctostaphylos 'Louis Edmunds'. The latter wasn't part of the CSS sale but rather one of the plants for sale in the botanic garden's courtyard. |
I haven't planted any of these except the
Cryptanthus but I've designated spots for each and, as soon as the temperature drops a bit, I'll get them planted. Monday's high temperature reached 95F here and Tuesday's was only nominally better. Cooler temperatures are forecast for the balance of the week but it remains to be seen whether that'll be the case. Have you noticed that weather forecasters seldom acknowledge the variations in their day-to-day predictions?
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
