Last weekend, the
South Bay Bromeliad Associates (SBBA) held their annual show and sale at
Rainforest Flora in nearby Torrance. As I've been slowly adding to my collection of these often pricey plants, I had to check it out.
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| Rainforest Flora's interior sales area |
I checked out the SBBA show first. Held in Rainforest's warehouse area, the surroundings aren't as attractive as the plants.
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| Panoramic view of the show area. Hey, I warned you it wasn't fancy. |
The plants were grouped by genus. Here's a selection of my favorites:
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| Billbergia saundersii |
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| I've been looking for Quesnelia marmorata for well over a year now. The one on the left is 'Rafael Olivera' and the one on the right is 'Tim Plowman'. |
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| Dyckias, clockwise from the top: 'South Bay', 'First Cousin' and 'Carol Wajick' |
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| Hechtia 'Baker's Beauty' |
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| Tillandsias, clockwise from the upper left: T. capitata 'Peach', T, capitata 'Variegata', T. durantii var saxatilis, mixed Tillandsia wreath, and T. hybrid (maybe 'Silver Trinket') |
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| Vriesea ospinae var. gruberi (left) and V. 'Splendide' (right) |
Unfortunately, even though I arrived within just a couple hours of the show's opening, the varieties offered by the SBBA sale didn't reflect the range of plants on display in the show area. I bought just one plant.
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| This is Billbergia 'Boracho' trying out a spot between my succulent and bromeliad beds in the front garden. I was concerned that the morning sun might be too strong here but it seems to be holding up just fine. |
So I took a stroll through Rainforest Flora, which was offering 20% off on all bromeliads.
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| The official greeter was lying down on the job. To be fair, it was very warm. |
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| I considered the lovely Tillandsia kimosthenes (left) and a variety of Vriesea (right) |
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| Instead, I bought Tillandsia 'Isaac Jogues', on sale for nearly twice the cost of the prior options |
I'd hoped to find more bromeliads to fill in empty spaces in the
pocket garden area I created last year. It's a good that I had a back-up plan. I'd placed an order with
Plant Delights for 3 new
x mangaves. Those arrived Wednesday afternoon so I'm now eyeing the available space in the bromeliad garden for at least 2 of them.
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| From left to right, the new plants are Agave-Manfreda hybrids 'Spotty Dotty', 'Bad Hair Day', and 'Kaleidoscope'. The latter arrived a bit battered but it looks like it pups readily so I trust it'll outgrow the damage. |
I'd planned to get the
Billbergia and
mangaves planted this week but an extension of the excessive heat warning had me putting that task off. With monsoonal moisture blowing in from the east, the temperature should come down so hopefully I can tackle planting this coming weekend. Do you have plans to work in your garden this weekend?
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
