Wednesday, May 18, 2022

SCBG's plant sale returns

A friend and I turned up at South Coast Botanic Garden on Saturday morning to attend the garden's first plant sale since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.  On this occasion, the event was held in the upper meadow area, which is near the garden's entrance.  Although we arrived just 45 minutes after the sale opened, there were already people wheeling carts of plants to their cars but at least we had no problem with parking, which has been an issue in prior years.

View of the plant sale area from the entrance to the upper meadow just off the main promenade

The sale plants were widely spaced so there wasn't any of the elbow-to-elbow contact I've experienced at previous sales.  There were also a lot more plants in very large pots (with prices that matched their size).

In prior years, I'd say that the the majority of plants were propagated onsite by SCBG volunteers but the propagation team hasn't been reassembled since the volunteers were furloughed back in 2020.  I'm assuming that these "homegrown" plants were donated by volunteers doing their propagating at home.

There were plenty of succulents, many also in large pots.  As I generally prefer to buy plants in small pots (one-gallon or less), this was something of a disappointment.  The prices were lower than one would pay at local garden centers but not by a large margin.

They had a range of shrubs not commonly found in local garden centers, including Banksia, Cussonia, and Hakea.  I might have caved and taken home a Hakea laurina as I've been looking for that plant for ages but they were all gone!

There was a good supply of large Tillandsias, most unlabeled, but the prices on those ranged from $90-$100 and even my 10% SCBG member discount wouldn't have taken the sting out of that

I've always had a bit of a fascination with Deuterocohnia brevifolia but $25 for a very slow-growing plant in a small pot had me taking a pass

As my friend hadn't seen the garden's topiary menagerie exhibit, we made the rounds of the displays.  In the process we found the one display I missed on my prior visit.

The "Swarm of Butterflies" was of course located near the butterfly exhibit

My friend liked the flamingo display best.  I noted that a couple more flamingos had gotten names (in exchange for a donation to the garden) since my prior visit.  This one stood out.

We stopped by my local garden center to kill some time before heading to an early lunch at a nearby restaurant.  All in all, it was a pleasant day, warm but not broiling.  And I brought home four new plants, all of which I've already tucked into place.

I picked up 3 Mangave 'Pineapple Express', which I've planted in a relatively dry section of my back garden.  Although it's only mid-May, my garden is already very dry and plants in many areas are struggling so you can expect to see me planting more and more succulents.

I repotted the small Lepismium cruciforme, an epiphytic cactus, and I've added it to my lath house.  It's related to Rhipsalis and apparently appreciates protection from hot afternoon sun.

An SCBG representative told us that the garden plans to hold another plant sale in the fall.  I look forward to it but I hope they'll bring in a larger variety of plants in smaller sizes.  Some of my best plant "experiments" have been specimens I've picked up through SCBG sales but I'm unlikely to invest in large plants I've had no prior experience growing.  Experiments are best started small.


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

18 comments:

  1. Ooh a plant sale! Kind of forgotten what those are. The plants looked nice and healthy. Always fun to browse but not every time does something catch your eye or your budget. I have M. Pineapple Express in a pot and it pups like crazy so you should soon have a lot more.

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    1. That's interesting, Elaine. I purchased 2 'Pineapple Express' previously, one at SCBG's last pre-pandemic plant sale in 2019 and one by mail order in 2020. Both were dinky specimens and they're still relatively small with no signs of pups. Although the new ones came in 6-inch pots, they were relatively beefy so I hope they'll do better. Pupping in that spot would be welcome. I hope the rabbits ignore them...

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  2. Return of the plant sales is indeed a wonderful thing, I'm sorry you weren't more successful at purchasing though!

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    1. I was amazed to see they were selling Hakea, albeit in larger sizes than I prefer. They had 4 or 5 varieties but the only one I really wanted was sold out :( My friend even asked it they had more tucked away somewhere. Apparently, there must be more people out there fixated on this sea urchin shrub.

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  3. Too bad about the out-sized plants offered. I guess they were hoping for a big fundraiser, but sometimes lots of smalls make more that a few bigs. Hopefully, the fall will be better.
    I like the newbies. It seems wise to move towards more desert plants as the trend in your area seems to be heading that way, alas. Eliza

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    1. A greater range of plants and a better mix of sizes would be my vote for the next sale. Although I appreciate the splendor of the Mangaves in 3-gallon containers, I can't imagine buying one that size for my own garden. I also have one or more specimens of every Mangave they had for sale other than the SCBG's own cultivar. The climate crisis has me seriously thinking of moving north...

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    2. I can imagine you would. They say climate refugees are already on the move. The farm up the road just sold to a couple that are relocating from CA. I hope they are up for our winters!!

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    3. Your winters would make it a difficult trade-off, Eliza. I've talked about moving to the PNW on and off for years. Were we to do so, my husband's inclined to go further north than I'd banked on to the Puget Sound area - we have family on Vashon Island.

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  4. That sounds like a wonderful day! My neighbor and I are hosting our second annual plant sale on Sunday. It's been such a cold spring that several of the things I have to offer (bananas and cannas, for example) aren't even awake yet. I don't imagine anyone will want to take a chance on them, but we'll see. We might have a couple of nice days before then...

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    1. I hope it goes well, Anna! Part of the fun of plant sales is trying something new and different so you may be surprised by the interest in the bananas and cannas. Maybe you could post photos of what the plants look like when they're "awake" to entice interest.

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  5. Ooooh, Hakeas and Banksias and Cussonias! Did you happen to notice who the grower was? Sorry you didn't get a laurina. Seems like I saw one for sale recently (Armstrongs of all places) but no room at the moment.

    At least you were able to find something worth buying. I too prefer smaller size plants, 4 inchers my favorite. So much easier to carry, to plant, and less expensive, too.

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    1. Oddly, I didn't see labels identifying the growers on any of the plants included in the sale, although I also didn't actively look for them. In the past, some nurseries participated in the sales but I didn't see any sign of them this time either. I hesitate to plant any shrub from a pot that large, especially at the start of summer, just out of concern for the plant's ability to adjust. I also didn't look at the prices on those plants once I discovered the Hakea laurina wasn't available - that may have presented another concern.

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  6. Wow! Lots and lots to choose from, but I bet you already have every plant there. I've never seen a garden with the variety of plants you have and it always amazes me.
    I've noticed around here, more and more people are doing plant sales instead of yard sales, only they don't have yard sale prices.

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    1. Well, the prices associated with the plant sales here have risen significantly too. I guess I should take my own efforts at plant propagation a lot more seriously ;)

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  7. Plant sales = fun! Even if you didn’t end up getting much. Interesting about the large pot sizes. Here in Australia, you’d never find succulents in such large pots unless they were something truly special, like an advanced dragon tree or the like. Sorry you missed out on the pincushion hakea - I love that plant too.

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    1. The sheer number of large pots surprised me, Horticat. I expect that the supply of these may be attributable to whatever deal they struck to obtain plants as donations or at reduced cost from suppliers. The "homegrown" contingent was a small fraction of what the garden's propagation team used to provide. As to the Hakea, maybe their appearance at this sale signifies that they're going to become more more widely available in the future ;)

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  8. Oh that's exciting! The plants all look so healthy. And it's great to attend outdoor events because the risk of COVID spread is so much lower.

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    1. Yes, COVID is rearing its ugly head again in Los Angeles County, as well as other parts of California. The County is suggesting masking indoors but not pressing the matter, possibly because it would be another political nightmare.

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