Beauty At Local Nursery

 We took a drive Sunday morning to visit a favorite nursery and found plenty of beauty there.  

 Photos kindly and excellently taken by Beloved, while the blogger looked around.  

Orange Aechmea blanchetiana on the left, blue Agave attenuata 'Nova' on the right, palm decorated with epiphytes in the middle. 

What I always think of as a very San Diego style planting, heavy on palms and bromeliads.  San Juan Capistrano is close to San Diego county, where the weather is a little more mild than points north, so bromeliads and palms thrive. 
A good array of Cactus and Euphorbia:
Rose 'Climbing Eden' grows impressively in small holes in the asphalt. 

 Agapanthus 'Queen Mum' has a similar coloration to 'Twister'/'Indigo Frost', but the flower stalks appear to be taller and the flower heads fuller.  


 Happy bees:

Look one way...
Look the other way...lots to see.
We went early to avoid the worst of crowds and August heat.  It was a beautiful morning down close to the ocean in San Juan Capistrano.
 Can you spot the blogger?

There!
Leucospermum 'Spider'
A saturated orange Begonia shouts "Summer!" 
Rudbeckias say it in a more restrained tone:

A close up of the bromeliads, including Tillandsias, Epidendrum orchids, and Rhipsalis-type cactus, growing on a palm trunk.  I've got some Epidendrums--maybe I'll try securing a few in a tree to see how they do. 
There was a good selection of various native California milkweeds for sale, but the Monarchs were at A. curassavica. Our native milkweeds take some time to get going before they flower. They are a multi-year commitment.  A. curassavica flowers very quickly as a young plant and reseeds with abandon.   

The new plantings around the koi pond, maturing quickly, look great.  Libertia perigrines in the foreground is a grass-like plant that glows when back-lit.    Tried, it, killed it.  Twice.  I may have purchased  unhealthy plants.  Twice. 

 

Purple/magenta bromeliad for sale.  Very tempting. 
Our garden is too hot for Armeria--or at least it always dies when summer arrives, so I get my Armeria fix by admiring it here
Pink, blue, lavender, aqua...love the colors:
And what did I get?   Clockwise, from the top...
Ceanothus megacarpus, to either replace the somewhat weedy looking second Iochroma planted two years ago in the gully top terrace, or to grow in the space between two unhappy Pittosporums as a screening plant.  C. megacarpus feeds certain native butterflies and is native to this very area.  It may once have grown right around here.  Welcome back! 

Leucadendron 'Chief', supposedly quite a tall grower (10'/3 M), to act as a screening plant wherever the Ceanothus doesn't end up. 

Agapanthus (yes, one more!) 'Prunetucky Summer', a Monterey Bay introduction.  I'm trying several different kinds of Agapanthus--will keep the best, give away the rest.  The word "Prunetucky" is apparently a waggish term used locally in Monterey County.  

Back at home, it's not that bad--'Dynamite' is in flower.

Hot color for hot weather.


Comments

  1. Wow, beautiful plants and photos! And the hummingbird and the monarch melted my heart. :)

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  2. It's always fun to shop for plants. The Ceanothus sounds interesting. I need to look that up. And your crape myrtle! Hot color and dark foliage; what a great combo.

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    1. I love those crape myrtles. They are the beauty highlight of August.

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  3. What a kind Beloved. He has an eye for beauty. Must be why he chose you.

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  4. That's one nursery (probably among many to the south of here) that I haven't visited but need to get to. I thought Libertia required a lot of water but San Marcos Growers says "medium" so maybe I'll try it one day should I trip across it. I have a Leucadendron 'Chief' and it does indeed get very tall - I cut mine back by about a third at least once a year.

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    1. A nursery run PD (literally right off I-5) + north SD County nurseries and/or SD Botanic Garden in Encinitas makes a fun day long outing.

      I could not get Libertia going here, but bought poor specimens (because that's all that were for sale), so perhaps that was the problem.

      Yep, decided on 'Chief' because I read on your blog that it gets really tall--exactly what I need for a particular spot--thanks!

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  5. would love shop at a nursery like that. Everything here is shutting down for the season. Only the Mums and ornamental grasses for sale. I admire your restraint on not bringing home the Bromeliads. They would have been in my shopping cart in a heartbeat.

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    1. Nice place, knowledgeable employees, lots of variety, reasonable prices---those are the best.

      Shut down already?!! That's climate for you. Here they never shut down.

      The new rule is I have to have a specific place for it before I can buy it. I'm sticking to that as much as I can. Not easy!

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  6. Love that libertia but in my experience it's not long-lived and dwindles away. I get the same color from Carex testacea. This nursery wasn't on my radar until you took Gerhard there, and now I've visited a couple times. Very impressive selection!

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    1. The Libertia back-lights up better, though.

      Carex testacea has been a good plant here. Just enough seedlings to replace the old plants.

      I'm liking PD better than Roger's these days.

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  7. Gorgeous nursery for a visit! And I think I wouldn't have been able to refuse the purple bromeliad.

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  8. I've learned that Libertia grandiflora (which is all green) is a great plant for dry shade. Not that flashy orange of L. peregrinans perhaps, but the white flowers do glow in the dark. I love your Dynamite Crape Myrtles - they are fabulous!

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    1. White flowers in shade, just right. The 'Dynamite's--a joy!

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  9. The Orange Aechmea blanchetiana in the first photo knocked my socks off!
    I've killed Libertia perigrines as well... maybe my plants were also unhealthy...

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    1. Sockless here too--that was a particularly choice orange Aechmea. Looked like it was on fire.

      Those L. perigines at the nursery looked great. Should have asked them for growing advice.

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