Local rambles around town

My sister-in-law was here for a short visit last week.The last time she visited, we took her to the Getty Center but on this occasion we remained closer to home.  We took a long walk through South Coast Botanic Garden the first day.  The garden is in the process of transitioning from one set of events to another and I felt the emphasis on those rather than the beauty of nature and the garden itself, but I can't say that bothered my husband or my SIL, who don't have the same expectations of the garden as I do.  However, the weather was perfect and the walk itself was comfortable.

These are the only plant-related photos I took during this visit.  Construction of the new children's garden remains completely stalled and much of the garden is still cordoned off.  That may explain why the garden's administrators are leaning so hard into event traffic.

The biggest ongoing event is the "Magic of Jack O' Lanterns," which is a nighttime lights show and festival managed by a contractor.  It requires special tickets and ends on November 2nd.  

Dogtoberfest was open to dogs and their owners on Saturdays and Sundays during October.  I think it's officially closed now but some of the props were still in place.  

Astra Lumina, another light show, is returning to SCBG in November and is expected to run through the holiday season.  Although some features of that display were never removed, the contractor's staff was actively working on installation of the light connections when we visited.  You can find information on the contractor's site but, oddly, it isn't yet showing on SCBG's own site. 

The newest event, Dinosaurs Around the World, is scheduled to go live on November 1st, and continue until February 1st, 2026 but this was the only sign of it we came across during our visit.  Said to feature 13 animatronic dinosaurs, this one was half a dinosaur missing his electronic bits hanging out near some of the Jack O' Lanterns event stations.  However, on the way to a medical appointment on Monday, I saw plastic-wrapped dinosaurs being unloaded at the back of the garden.

The next day we decided to visit San Pedro, an area surrounding the Port of Los Angeles that we can see from our back garden.  I suggested stopping at the 25th Street mosaic mural.  I don't think my husband was impressed by the idea but he went with it as our first stop.  The only reason I was aware of the mural was that I answered a call for succulents to fill the hell strip that lines the street in front of the mural back in January 2024 when I happened upon an article on the effort in a local magazine.  I wrote a post about that, which you can find here.

I was even more impressed by the effort that went into the mural during this visit.  My husband and my SIL were impressed to.  I took more photos of the details this time but you can get the big picture in a video featuring Julie Bender, the woman who directed the project with the help of 600 volunteers from the local community (which you can find here).

Volunteers helped create individualized mosaic pieces.  These focused on boats, a big part of life in San Pedro, both past and present.

Houses, some containing family names and addresses

Snippets of memories and views on what it means to live in San Pedro were tucked in throughout the mural

The mural also included lots of historical highlights

San Pedro's former destination location was the Ports O' Call Village, a spot I can remember visiting as a child and at least once with my husband as an adult.  It was demolished in 2018.  My husband had the impression that the West Harbor development that's meant to replace it was further advanced than it is. It's intended to include restaurants, a famous fish market (temporarily relocated), retail shops, an open-air theater, and a three-acre pedestrian walkway. In fact, it's still under construction and isn't currently expected to open for business until 2026.  So we ended up at the Cabrillo Way Marina and walked there.

Lots and lots of boats, some qualifying as yachts in my view.  I spotted one paddle boarder and got a fuzzy photo.

Needless to say, I didn't get much done in my garden last week.  I did finish clearing the raised planters in my cutting garden but, as we've now got a bit of a heatwave going on - our temperature peaked at 90F/32C yesterday - I've held off on doing much in the way of replanting the beds or sowing seeds.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Nursery trip (part 2) and new plants

Our second nursery stop last Saturday was Terra Sol Garden Center in Santa Barbara County.  It's much smaller than Seaside Gardens and doesn't have any display gardens but I've always found it to be a great resource for new plants.  I don't think I've ever left that garden center empty-handed, often spending more there than I do at Seaside.  (You can view my earlier post on Seaside here.)

Views of plants for sale

I was surprised at how much this plant looked like the Acacia 'Cousin Itt' I grow in my garden.  It's 'Itts' bigger brother, Acacia cognata, aka river wattle.  The flowers are just like those currently peppering my "little river wattle".

Plants I noticed but didn't purchase included, clockwise from the upper left, Pilea peperomioides in flower, Pyrrosia (?) in a hanging basket, and Veltheimia.  I came very close to buying a Veltheimia as I've admired the flowering bulbs a neighbor has scattered through her street-side succulent bed but I planted 2 of these bulbs years ago and, even given this year's rain, they haven't bloomed in recent memory.

Terra Sol offers a lot of garden decor items and a many pots outfitted to serve as fountains

Statues, especially Buddhas, are plentiful, if pricey

 

The garden center has a well-rounded selection of small-to-large succulents, and it frequently has succulents you don't commonly see elsewhere.

This Hildewintera colademononis, aka monkey tail cactus, was one of the rarer specimens on display on this visit.  (You can see it in flower here.)

While Terra Sol doesn't have landscape displays, it has a lot of containers planted with succulents.  Some of these were for sale but the larger ones are provided as inspiration.  The bottom photos are 2 sides of the same fountain-style planter.

 

So what did I bring home from this trip?

This was my haul from Terra Sol, shown below in my garden

My biggest investment was the 2-gallon Leucosperum cordifolium 'California Sunshine' shown in the upper left, which currently looks very small in the spot I selected for it (formerly occupied by an 8-foot tall Duranta).  Clockwise from the top right are: Carex 'Feather Falls', Anemone coronaria 'Mistral Bordeaux', Gasteria morombe, and Sedum 'Cape Blanco'.

 

And, for the record, here's what I took home from Seaside Gardens.

Prior to planting

Top row: Lophomyrtus x ralphii 'Little Star', including foliage closeup
Bottom row: Leucadendron laxum (still unplanted), Cuphea 'Starlight' (also sold as 'Starfire Pink'), and Coprosma 'Evening Glow'

As it turned out, we timed our trip well.  The skies opened up once more on Wednesday and again on Thursday.  It was dry and sunny all afternoon yesterday even though gray storm clouds hovered in the background.  There's a slight chance of rain again on Monday but at present it looks like it'll pass us by.  Another forecasting agency suggests that there's currently a 58 percent chance of yet another storm a week from today but I'm not convinced of that prospect at present.

Yesterday morning's view of Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles, from my back garden

  

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend, in the garden or not.  I stopped by my local garden center Thursday afternoon to pick up things to fill in around recent plantings and serve as groundcovers in bare spots so I'll be busy for awhile at least.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

A long-delayed nursery trip (part 1)

A friend and I'd planned to visit our favorite nurseries in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties back in February.  We rescheduled several times when one atmospheric river after another interfered with our plans.  Last Saturday we finally got our chance to get on the road.  We only made it to two of our three usual stops this time (with a nice lunch break in between).  Our first stop was Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria.  I'll cover it in this post.

The attraction of Seaside is two-fold.  Not only does it have a great range of plants, many of which I've never found in the Los Angeles and Orange Counties garden centers I visit more often, but it also has a series of wonderful display gardens.  (You can view the map here.)

I spent more time in the display gardens than I spent in the nursery on this visit.  I'll share my tour, area by area.

Cottage Garden

Glare was an issue when taking photos all day but we enjoyed blue skies and sunshine.  It started out on the cool side but warmed up considerably during the course of the afternoon.  The Cottage Garden was mostly green but there were splashes of color here and there.

Clockwise from the upper left: what I think was a Dianella, a mass of Leucanthemum vulgare, Phlomis fruticosa just coming into bloom, Rosa banksiae 'Alba Plena' (including a closeup), and the Salvia collection just starting to produce buds

California Native Garden

A little wild but always a joy to see California poppies

Clockwise from the upper left: Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina' with poppies, more poppies, Plantago lanceolata (not actually native to California but naturalized all over the US), and Heuchera maxima.  The Ceanothus were in bloom too but I didn't get a good photo.

Grassland

Most of the grasses had been cut back

The area included a bench made from a tree and a few noID flowering shrubs

A gigantic mass of Echium candicans sits along one edge of the Grasslands area

Succulent Garden

One of my favorite views of the Succulent Garden

A mound of Aeonium behaving as it does in my garden when left to its own devices (left) and Portulacaria afra, aka elephant bush (right)

Clockwise from the left: noID Agaves in bloom, A. vilmoriniana, and noID Mangave

Most Aloes were done blooming with the Aloe ferox on the left being a notable exception

Xanthorrhoea preissii, aka Western Australian grass tree (left) and Cyphostemma juttae, aka wild grape, just breaking dormancy (right)

South African Garden

The first thing I noticed upon entering the South African Garden were the Leucospermums.  The red-orange one is 'Sunrise'.  The yellow one may be 'High Gold'.

Leucadendron 'Jester' on the left and 2 shots of L. 'Ebony' on the right

There was one fresh pink bloom on Protea 'Pick Ice' but even the dried blooms were attractive

The blooms of Dombeya wallichii (left) had also dried but remained in place.  Polygala fruticosa is shown with fresh blooms on the right.

Chondropetalum, aka Cape rush.  It looks bigger than the dwarf C. tectorum.

A restio, possibly Rhodocoma capensis.  I've mixed feelings about this plant but its stems were looking very flashy in the sun.

Central-South American Garden

Clockwise from the upper left: variegated Agave americana, a noID Dyckia, 2 other noID bromeliads, Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', and Fuchsia arborescens, aka tree fuchsia

Australian Garden

With time running out, I didn't give the Australian Garden its due.  Clockwise from the left: noID Acacias, noID shrub, and Prostanthera ovalifolia in bloom

Asian Garden

I always liked the fresh red foliage of Photina x fraseri but I'd never seen the plant in bloom.  I love it!

Of course I didn't ignore the nursery.

Views of the plants for sale in various areas

Some of the plants that drew my attention included, clockwise from the upper left: Asplenium antiquum 'Hurricane' (fern), Callistemon viminalis 'Red Alert', Leucadendron laxum, and Phormium 'Duet' and 'Sundowner'.

I brought home a Leucadendron laxum and three other plants from Seaside.  I'll show these and my purchases from our second stop, Terra Sol Garden Center, in my next post.  For now, here's a glance at the trunk of my car when I got home.

We had a great day but it took me over 2 hours just to get home from my friend's house in the San Fernando Valley.  LA freeways can be a nightmare.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party