Plant Shopping Extravaganza

As mentioned in my last post, I did some serious plant shopping last weekend.  Although I visited more nurseries and garden centers in a single day on another occasion, I haven't bought as many plants - or spent as much money - in a single day as I did on this trip.  I left the house before 8am and didn't get home until after 6:30pm.  I was spurred on in part by my desire to find plants to fill the space left by the recent removal of a tree in the backyard border and in part by my ongoing search to find plants to fill the remaining blank spots created when we removed our front lawn.  I was also driven by a sense of urgency to get my spring planting done as soon as possible in light of the high temperatures we've already experienced this March.  The only things that kept my spending in check were time constraints and my friend's admonition that her car had only so much room.

Our first stop was Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria.  In addition to offering a great selection of California-friendly plants, it has wonderful demonstration gardens.  The first thing we saw when we got out of the car was a hummingbird flitting among the flowers of Grevillea 'Ned Kelly.'

The hummingbird was not at all intimidated by the fact that 2 women were standing 2 feet away aiming cameras in his direction 

A busload of ladies from the Red Hat Society arrived shortly after my friend and I so I didn't get many pictures of the demonstration gardens during this visit but you can find photos of my November visit to Seaside here.

Views from Seaside's various demonstration gardens

It looked to me as though our earlier heatwave may have already taken a toll on the California poppies' show

As we visited on the second day of spring, Seaside was especially well stocked.

There were some gorgeous plants up front that made my heart flutter but one look at their price tags nearly made my heart stop.  None of these plants came home with me.

Clockwise from upper left, all costing over $100 in nursery pots: large specimens of Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream,' Leucadendron 'Safari Goldstrike,' Leucospermum cordifolium, and a plant I didn't get the name of Leucospermum reflexum (thanks for the ID, Evan!)

I left with 9 plants but there were several others I've had some misgivings about leaving behind.

Clockwise from upper left: Veltheimia bracteata 'Yellow Comet,' Halimium lasianthum, Petrea volubilis, Lonicera japonica 'Mint Crisp,' Boronia megastigma, and Leucadendron 'Jester'

After lunch, we headed back south, getting off the freeway and turning east upon reaching Ventura.  About 15 minutes later in the town of Casita Springs, we found our next target: Australian Native Plants Nursery.  This nursery is generally open only by appointment but my friend had made arrangements for the stop earlier and the gate was open when we arrived.

My friend was immediately entranced by the beautiful purple-flowered shrub next to the entrance, which I recognized as a Prostanthera.

I initially thought this must be Prostanthera linearis but, after checking ANP's website, my guess is that it's the non-variegated form of P. ovalifolia

Meanwhile, I was attracted by a large Acacia on the other side of the gate, as an Acacia was on my list of prospects for my back border.

I didn't ask which Acacia this was as it was too tall for my needs

As this is a true nursery, there weren't many flashy plant displays but there were plants stacked on tables, plants lined up in rows, and plants in hoop houses, some of which were open to visitors and others which were not.

A number of plants caught my eye but were ultimately left behind, at least this time.

Left to right: Hakea petiolaris, Leucadendron discolor, and Grevillea rivularis

Jo, the owner, located all the plants I asked for.  As I was checking out with 5 plants, my friend and I heard a frog croaking at our feet.  We never did see the frog but we did see this:

Grevillea 'Pink Midget,' not currently available

After we squeezed this round of purchases into my friend's car, we were off again, headed to one of my favorite nurseries, Sperling, in Calabasas.  To my knowledge, the property is still for sale but on this early spring day, it was well-stocked and crowded with visitors.  As we'd gotten caught up in a hideous traffic jam on our way south and it was already late afternoon, I didn't linger to take more than a few photos before filling my cart with 21 more plants.

Metal goats appear to be popular!

The succulent in the photo on the far right is Euphorbia xantii (aka Cherry Blossom Euphorbia)

Here's a different view of my purchases.  I managed to get almost all of these in the ground before the current heatwave struck.

The photo on the left shows the entire collection of 35 plants.  The photo on the top right shows Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid,' Helleborus 'Anna's Red, and Leucospermum cordifolium (yellow form); the middle photo shows Ceanothus arboreus, Correa 'Wyn's Wonder,' Dianella tasmanica 'Tasred,' Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame,' Heuchera maxima, Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' and Phomium 'Ed Carmen' (which seems more yellow than the photos I see on-line, possibly due to its youth); and the bottom photo shows Argyranthemum frutescens, Centaurea 'Silver Feather' (which may require more water than the tag led me to believe), Gazania 'New Day Yellow,' Lagurus ovatus (Hare's Tail grass), and Osteosperum 'Zion Copper Amethyst.'  Somewhere in the collection is also a one-gallon container of Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' but even I can't pick it out in my photos (behind the Callistemon maybe).

Hopefully, if the heatwave passes within 2 days as expected, all will survive.  I'll show photos of the plants in the garden when I get a chance.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party