A beautiful day - to shop for plants!

A friend and I spent a beautiful Saturday driving up the coast.  We stopped in Carpinteria to visit Seaside Gardens and had lunch on an outdoor patio at a nearby restaurant before driving up to Terra Sol Garden Center in Santa Barbara.  I can't honestly say I "needed" any new plants but when has that ever stopped a plant addict?

I try to get to Seaside Gardens at least twice a year, generally in spring and fall.  Seaside combines a well-stocked nursery with demonstration gardens featuring plants from different areas of the world.  The latter show visitors how certain plants can be combined to create a landscape, while also educating buyers on what they can expect as these plants mature.  Reading a plant tag prior to a purchase is always helpful but seeing a plant in a garden setting is a useful reality check.

Although it's feeling like spring in coastal Southern California, this visit in late February is earlier than most of my semi-annual visits.  Given that fact, as well as our low rainfall, the demonstration gardens weren't as colorful as they've been during previous spring visits but they were still nice to see.  Let me take you on an abbreviated tour, starting with the Cottage Garden and ending at the entrance to the Australian Garden.

Spring definitely wasn't yet in high gear in the Cottage Garden but this Rosa banksaie 'Alba Plena' was in full bloom

The Grasslands had received a good chop.  This prompted me to begin cutting back my own ornamental grasses this week.

I saw only a handful of California poppies in bloom but a Ceanothus and a western redbud (Cercis occidentalis) were flowering in the California Natives area

The Echiums were just starting to develop buds in the Mediterranean Garden

Some Aloes are were in bloom in the Succulent Garden but the area was relatively subdued

Another shot of the Succulent Garden

The South African Garden may have been the most colorful.  Clockwise from the upper left: Freesias, Leucospermum 'Sunrise' (much larger than my own specimen!), Leucadendron 'Jester', a huge mass of Polygala fruticosa, Osteospermum, and Leucadendron 'Ebony'.

This Fuchsia arborescens in the Central-South American Garden shows just how big this plant can get.  I have one in a large pot.  I've been told they can be grown in containers but seeing one this large suggests that could be more difficult than I assumed.

Acacia (noID) growing in the Australian Garden

Now, on to the nursery area.

There were a lot of possibilities to explore

Here are some plants I checked out but didn't buy:

Clockwise from the upper left: Begonia luxurians (I have one but it hasn't bloomed), noID Magnolia, noID Mammillaria, Penstemon 'Dark Towers', Pericallis 'Magic Salmon', pale yellow Ranunculus, Senna phyllodinea, and Yucca 'Bright Star'.   I keep looking for a deal on a Yucca to replace the one I lost but I don't consider $110 a deal.

After lunch, we headed sixteen miles further north to Terra Sol Garden Center.  I didn't take many photos, partly because it's much smaller than Seaside and partly because I'd forgotten to bring my regular camera with me on this trip.  All photos in this post were taken with my new phone, which I've only just begun to tinker with.  It's a substantial upgrade from my iPhone 5s, which I was forced to replace because my service carrier has phased out 3G coverage.

Terra Sol has a broad selection of succulents in a range of sizes.  I didn't see a label on the cactus on the upper right but I remembered that Loree of danger garden had commented on a similar plant in a post regarding her November visit, which aided me in identifying it as Hildewintera corademononis.  (The specimen Loree saw was $399.  This one was $470.)  The interesting plant on the lower right is Myrtillo geometrizans 'Crested Elite' (going for $35 in a 4-inch pot).

I spent more time than usual checking out the decorative garden art.  As much as I admired  the Buddhas, particularly the multi-faced one shown in the right column, they're priced well outside my budget.

I'd admired the face sculptures shown on the right during a prior trip but, when it comes down to it, I'd rather spend my disposable funds on plants

Despite the face that I didn't "need" any plants, here's what I came home with:

My Seaside haul included Ceanothus 'Carmel Creeper', Mangave 'Navajo Princess', 2 new-to-me Osteospermums in the '4D' series, and Philotheca myoporoides 'Profusion'

My Terra Sol purchases included Aeonium 'Mardi Gras', Echeveria agavoides, and Mangave 'Red Wing' (or at least those are my best guesses on IDs as all of them were unlabeled)

Before I headed home, my friend also gifted me with a selection of California native plants but I'll cover them in a separate post.  All in all, it was a very nice day, offering brief respite from the horror  of events unfolding in Ukraine.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party