Friday, November 9, 2018

More New Plants!

It's been 3 weeks since my last new plants report.  It's time for another!  Last Saturday, a friend and I drove north to visit some of our favorite plant nurseries as we do at least twice a year.  Our first stop was Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria.

We were greeted by this Gulf Fritillary upon our arrival


Unfortunately for my pocketbook, the nursery seemed especially well stocked

Pentas and Salvias on this table attracted bees, butterflies and feuding hummingbirds.  I tried to catch a photo of the hummers but they weren't accommodating.

I did get a shot of this Salvia semiatrata with its pink and purple flowers.  I exercised some restraint and did NOT add one of these to my cart.


I almost took home a new-to-me Phormium 'Golden Ray' (shown in the left front section of this stand) but I really couldn't think of anywhere I could put it


We toured the demonstration gardens too; however, I didn't take many photos because the light was harsh.

I was shooting into the sun here but, even if a little blurred, I still thought the scene was pretty enough to share

The grasses were abundant

And of course the Succulent Garden always looks good


I found this plant with its red grape-like fruit interesting.  We couldn't find a label but my friend remembered seeing it at The Huntington Gardens and said the fruits are poisonous.  After a little on-line digging, I identified it as Cyphostemma juttae.


After a quick stop at a garden center down the road, we went in search of lunch as we were starving and our usual haunt was closed for a private party.  Feeling sluggish after lunch and given that I'd already mostly filled my friend's car with plants from Seaside, we made just one more stop.

This is Terra Sol, located in Goleta (near Santa Barbara)


It was late in the afternoon when we got back to my friend's house and, facing close to a 2-hour drive south in traffic to my own home, I got on the road fairly quickly after loading up my trunk.

Here's what my car's trunk looked like before I unloaded it.  For the record, I've done worse - I didn't even have to lower the back seats to hold my purchases this time.

Here's a photo of my haul spread out in my cutting garden


I've done relatively well getting most of these plants in the ground so let me give you a closer look at those I'm most excited about.

This is Correa 'Sister Dawn', which looks remarkably like Correa 'Dawn in Santa Cruz', a plant I've been seeking for years

This is Grevillea nudiflora 'Medusa', a selection from Jo O'Connell's Australian Native Plants Nursery offered by Seaside.  As we weren't able to fit in a separate stop at ANPN, I was thrilled to find this and a couple of other of Jo's plants.  This one's a low-growing ground cover.

This one also came from Jo's nursery.  It's Isopogon anemonifolius.  It doesn't look like much here but you can find a photo of it in flower here.

This is Leucadendron 'Cloudbank Ginny', which produces attractive flower-like bracts (which you can see here).  I needed another Leucadendron, didn't I?  I think this makes 21 now.

I fell prey to a Fuchsia of all things, even though those I have in my shade house didn't do all that well this year.  This is Fuchsia 'Hawkshead', which supposedly can get by on a moderate amount of water.  I've tucked it into a mostly shaded area protected by our front hedge.

This was also an impromptu purchase, although that could perhaps be said for a large number of the plants I buy.  This is Hemizygia 'Candy Kisses', reputed to be a drought tolerant perennial ground cover in my area.

The 2 Lomandra hystrix 'Tropic Belle' on either side of Phormium 'Maori Queen' here came from Seaside.  I use a lot of Lomandra as a grass substitute,  mostly the 'Breeze' variety.  I had 2 'Lime Tuff' in this position previously but I was never happy with that cultivar.

This is one of the few plants I still need to get into the ground but I've selected its spot.  It's Senna artemisioides (aka Cassia artemisioides).


I'd like to say that's all the plants I've purchased this November but that would be a lie.  I got some recent mail order purchases planted in the last week as well.

The Heuchera 'Marmalade' here came from Annie's Annuals & Perennials.  It's supposed to hold up better to heat that most Heuchera.  We'll see!


At least planting and puttering in my garden provides a temporary distraction from the daily news feed, which has become essential to my sanity.  I hope you manage to find pleasant distractions to take your mind off things this weekend.  Best wishes.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

24 comments:

  1. Oh, now that's exciting! You're right: The scenes are lovely, despite the bright sun. It's so fun to see your car loaded up with your new purchases. :)

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    1. Fall is peak planting season here, Beth, and I have to take advantage of that, even if there's no rain in the near-term forecast and the Santa Ana winds continue to plague us. At least the nights are cool and the marine layer is making periodic appearances.

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  2. I hope you are safely away from the fires?

    Your car full of plants reminds me of us coming home from the annual Kirstenbosch sale. It is less fun, but better for gardening, that we have indigenous plants across garden nurseries now.

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    1. The nearest fires are about 50 miles away and they're blowing west toward the ocean rather than south where we are. The smell of smoke was more apparent this morning. The air quality is terrible but at least we haven't seen any falling ash. Last week's trip would be impossible now as the fire has closed the main highway up that way at periodic intervals. The last I heard the 2 Southern California fires are still wholly uncontained but hopefully things will improve overnight.

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  3. Nothing is as exciting as a trunk full of plant purchases. I love that feeling! Looks like you had a good haul. Looking forward to viewing the resulting blooms.

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  4. That looks like a nice haul to me. You found some good plants. I love fuchsias. I think it is wonderful that you get to grow them year round. I will be watching for snowflakes this weekend. It is cold and windy here.

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    1. Snowflakes! It's warm and windy here, and unfortunately smoky as well. Fires to the north of us have led to another round of mass evacuations. This seems to be the "new normal."

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  5. There always seems to be room in your garden for another leucadendron, and I think you could have found a spot for that phormium if you really concentrated ;) I'm hoping that isopogon thrives for you so I can pay it regular visits!

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    1. I actually spent a good hour plus digging out an old, tired group of Agapanthus to make room for that Leucadendron, Denise. As to the Isogogon, that was a leap of faith. And luckily one of my Santolina died to make room for it.

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  6. Oh I think you did well Kris ! I'm interested in the Hemizygia and will look it up.I plan an all gardening weekend , but the smoke from the Butte fire is awful today. No rain on the horizon, but maybe frost.

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    1. I can vaguely recall trying Hemizgyia once before but I gave up on it before it bloomed. Now I'm wishing I bought more of them. The stems are somewhat brittle but the blooms are pretty and the foliage reminds me of certain variegated Pelargoniums.

      Sorry to hear the smoke is bad up your way. I have a message into my SIL to check how she's doing in Grass Valley as she's sensitive to that kind of pollution. Our air is bad but the smoke here isn't as evident tonight as it was this morning.

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  7. Yay! Glad you’re doing your part to keep the nurseries in business. Love all your choices, especially the Correa and the Senna. I think I might have bought the Senna when we visited Jo’s nursery. Sadly it’s gone now...

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    1. The sulphur butterflies love Senna so I had to get another one to give them a reason for spending more time here.

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  8. Your nurseries are so full of tempting plants! I'm impressed by the restraint you showed. (Are you feeling okay? There was still space in your car...) Fuchsia 'Hawkshead' grows huge in a very dry part of my garden where it only gets water once a month or so. Of course, we don't have the summer heat that you do. Cyphostemma juttae looks gorgeous adorned with berries. I have a potted specimen that lives inside. It's bloomed but never produced fruit. The information from San Marcos has me thinking that it could maybe make it outside except in the coldest part of the year. Happy new plants!

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    1. The problem is we took my friend's car north and it can't hold as much as mine. Luckily for me, she didn't buy anything so I was able to pack her car. Although, I suppose I could have crowded some plants into the front seat with me...

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  9. I always love your plant-finding trips and do so wish I could come with you. How could you leave that lovely salvia behind? But what a wonderful haul, all quite unsuitable for my garden and many of them new to me. Except the fuchsia and heuchera of course. You and your leucadendrons, what a fabulous collection!

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    1. I wish you could come with me too, Chloris! Re the Salvia, I've had terrible luck with many of those from Central and South America (as opposed to those hailing from Africa) so I've become very wary of them, no matter how pretty they are. This one comes from Mexico.

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  10. Oh what a perfect way to spend a day Kris. You certainly came home with a good haul. I can recommend a motor home for plant hunting excursions :)

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    1. The idea of me driving a motor home would terrify most of my friends, Anna!

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  11. You did good!

    I have 'Cloudbank Ginny', quirky grower, stems can grow in odd directions for no apparent reason (reportedly that is what it does) but it's been easy to grow. 'Medusa' has been easy also, not a fast grower.

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    1. I thought I remembered that you had 'Cloudbank Ginny'. I'll keep her growth habit in mind so I don't take it personally if she throws her limbs around.

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  12. Your garden is still developing, just getting finer and finer !!!
    Get worried every time it appears on the television about all the big fires of yours.
    I'm worried you'll be affected.
    Fun to see you continue to report from your amazing garden as much.
    I have not been as good! using instagram nowadays.
    Best regards
    Mariana

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    1. We have smelled smoke carried by the wind but we are lucky that the nearest fire is 50 miles away. My brother is closer but the winds are blowing away from his area, which is good.

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