Friday, July 8, 2022

A garden center's efforts to educate the public

Last Saturday, my husband and I paid a visit to Roger's Gardens in Orange County.  My husband doesn't generally accompany me to a garden center, at least not willingly.  The purpose of this visit was to meet up with our nephew, who now lives and works in San Diego County.  We'd booked a table at the on-site Farmhouse restaurant, which has comfortable outdoor seating.  My husband agreed to leave early for our restaurant reservation so that I could check out what was new in the garden center.  We arrived about 90 minutes early, which was just about perfect.

Roger's has declared it "Hummingbird Summer" and this emphasis was apparent as soon as we entered the property.

The photos on the left and upper right show segments of the demonstration garden near the entrance featuring plants that appeal to hummingbirds, like Agastache, Lantana, and various Salvias.  The photo on the lower right shows hummingbird plants for sale, including Hamelia patens, Pentas, and Salvia clevelandii.


In addition to educating customers about hummingbirds, selling plants that support them, and raising money for the Audubon Society as they did in 2021, Roger's is also boosting customer awareness of the plight of Monarch butterflies.

Roger's has been offering to swap any tropical milkweed brought in by customers for native milkweed free of charge for at least 2 years now for reasons described here.  They're also offering garden kits containing plants that support Monarch butterflies (not free).  In addition, people who make donations of $5 to the Xerces Society to support Monarch conservation can add a butterfly emblem to a wishing tree.

Roger's has an expansive bird and butterfly display garden in the middle of its property too.

Information on creating a bird and butterfly garden is provided by Roger's here

For more than a decade, the garden center has put tremendous effort into educating the public on sustainable gardening in our drought-plagued climate as well.  They sponsored a "California Friendly" Garden Contest for years until it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  (You can find photos and information on the 2018 contest here.)  They've also devoted a substantial amount of sale space to succulents and other drought-tolerant plants.  They've hosted presentations and online videos dealing with waterwise plants and landscaping.  And they've used such plants extensively in landscaping their own property.

This demonstration garden shows what can be created in a small space using a range of succulents and other drought tolerant plants

Two sides of a vertical garden planted entirely with succulents

This and the next 2 photos show the exterior area of Roger's Gardens on one corner with heavy auto traffic

Aloes and Agaves

Ornamental grasses and Leucadendrons

This slope facing the street shows what can be done with a simple palette of Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite', Leucadendrons, prostrate rosemary, and Westringia 'Morning Light'

Even the parking lot medians are dressed up with California friendly plants, including Cordyline, Leucadendron, Leucospermum, and a variety of succulents.  "California friendly" plants can be defined as natives and plants from other Mediterranean climates that are well adapted to local conditions.

Roger's offers a lot amount of information on their website to assist homeowners in dealing with California's severe drought and creating a California friendly garden that supports wildlife without wasting water.  You can find more information here and here.  Frankly, they're doing a lot more than my local botanic garden in calling attention to our water issues, providing useful reference material, and suggesting ways to manage with less water in the garden.  This is all the more important as California and six other southwestern states have been ordered to collaborate on a plan to dramatically cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado River before the federal government creates the plan for them.  This depressing topic is covered in detail here.  The clock is ticking.

My husband, nephew and I had a very nice lunch under an umbrella with lush planters separating us from other guests.  I was in love with the mix of plants surrounding us, which included blue Salvia 'Mystic Spires', white Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost', blue and white Bacopa, purple-leafed Heuchera, and lamb's ear, among other things, but I couldn't get a good photo without disturbing other diners.

Given that summer's heat is on, I shouldn't have bought any plants but of course I did.

I picked up 3 Catanache caerulea (aka cupid's dart) and 3 Stachys hybrid 'Lilac Falls'.  Both are said to get by on "moderate" water but I've killed off 'Lilac Falls' before so I'll try a different spot for it.  Getting both species established during the height of summer is the trickiest part.

I'll plant my Roger's purchases out this weekend but I'm taking a different tact with my most recent mail order purchases.  I had these plants on my wish list at Annie's Annuals & Perennials and, as I couldn't count on them being available in the fall, I went ahead with that purchase but I've transferred them from 4-inch pots into one-gallon containers to see them through the summer until fall's cooler temperatures arrive and I can plant them in the garden with a higher likelihood of success.

The 2 plants on the left are Agastache 'Black Adder' and the 2 on the right are Fabiana imbricata (aka false heather)

 

Best wishes for a peaceful weekend.  Between weather woes, politics, and, in the US, the never-ending misery perpetuated by gun violence, I expect we can all use a bit of peace wherever we can find it.


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

15 comments:

  1. Education is so very important. It’s nice to see a nursery taking the drought crisis so seriously. Although we had a lot of rain up here in western Oregon this spring, I’ve been slowly transitioning the garden to more water-wise plants. It’s scary when the skies are filled with smoke every summer. Hopefully we can all take steps to address this collectively.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think all most of us, regardless of location, can count on in the future is that there will be more extreme weather events of an unpredictable nature. It'll be very interesting to see if California and the 6 other states competing for water can come together to formulate a plan to share the smaller amount of water available from the Colorado River. They haven't shown the ability to compromise in the past :(

      Delete
  2. I forgot to say what a fantastic job Roger’s did (and to log in correctly on the comment above). I like your strategy of potting things up and waiting until fall to plant. The hard part for me is not to have so many potted plants that I can’t keep up with their care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm very impressed by Roger's work too, Jerry. Now if only my local botanic garden could do half as much to educate the public, especially when that's part of their charter.

      It can be hard to remember to water potted plants in a time manner! I tend to group mine in spots where I'll see them regularly, not that that's a full-proof strategy by any means.

      Delete
  3. It looks to have been a perfect outing: good food, blue sky, gorgeous surroundings... Roger's demonstration garden and green wall are inspirational, and kudos for the educational work they do for birds, butterflies and water wise plants. Your botanical garden should follow their example, sooner rather than later.
    I like how you outsmarted summer by up-sizing the pots till it's planting season.
    Chavli

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! I love how you characterized my decision to temporarily pot-up my recent mail order purchases, Chavli ;) My local botanic garden is almost entirely focused on entertainment at present. There are no resources relating to our drought on their website and garden-related classes have been limited. Right now, all they have to offer is a class on growing a "cocktail garden."

      Delete
  4. Had zero luck with Agastache. It was lovely the first year but didn't come back the next. Tried it again, same thing. Oh, well!

    Was just reading about Cantanache this morning--sounds like something that will color up summer a bit. Must try that sometime!

    Roger's "busy corner" area isn't nearly as good as it was. They seem to be putting less work into their display areas overall. Labor costs higher the issue, perhaps, along with lots of landscaping work--more money in that than in keeping the display gardens in a state of perfection.

    Do you get any butterflies at all on Pentas? The little native checkers, sulphurs, hairstreaks and such we get here go for the ugly Senecio mandraliscae flowers, or Limonium perezii and ignore the Pentas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or maybe just the streetside areas. The in-store area looks good.

      Delete
    2. I agree that Roger's corner doesn't look as good as it did but then it is summer. I wonder if they've also cut their water use in the exterior areas?

      I haven't had any any long-term luck with Agastache either, although I haven't tried this particular variety before. My best experience was with Agastache mexicana. However, I had it in my cutting garden where it got extra water - when I moved it into one of my main garden beds, it tanked. I haven't actually noticed any butterfly activity with Pentas but then the plants don't do well for me at all. I replaced the last one I had in a pot with an Alstroemeria.

      Delete
  5. I'm loving Roger's even more, seeing what they are doing 'being the change' your thirsty climate needs. Leading the charge! Eliza

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been critical of Roger's at times and some of their prices still make my eyes pop but they're WAY ahead of the curve in doing more to educate the public than even many botanic gardens, most of which include education among their core missions. Given the value of the land Roger's sits on, I can understand their pricing structure and the gift boutiques. Of course, I expect my local botanic garden needs to earn its keep too - I wouldn't want the County to sell that property to a developer either.

      Delete
  6. That looks like a wonderful garden centre. I wonder why more nurseries don’t provide informative signage for their displays? It seems like a win-win to me: customers learn about plants they may not of heard of and hopefully this encourages them to make more purchases also. I look forward to seeing the progress on your catananche.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many of the smaller nurseries probably can't afford the investment Roger's has made in their website, online videos, and onsite classes but I agree that putting some time into their displays and signage would benefit even smaller enterprises. I've grown a couple of Catananche for years - it seems to self-seed, albeit lightly. The rabbits knocked my existing plants back this year, though. I'll be protecting the new plants!

      Delete
  7. I always stop by Roger's when I'm in the area. Not to buy anything, necessarily, but to check out their displays.

    I've had good luck with Mexican agastaches, like Agastache aurantiaca and the 'Kudos' series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried Agastache in the Kudos series last summer (when they showed up in local garden centers) but they struggled. I'm finally accepting that planting almost anything (beyond succulents) after May is mostly a fool's errand. The plants that have had time to root more deeply handle both the dry conditions and the heat much better than recent transplants.

      Delete

I enjoy receiving your comments and suggestions! Google has turned on reCAPTCHA affecting some commentator IDs so, if you wish to identify yourself, please add your name to your comment.