Category Archives: plant nurseries
Bloom Day April 2014
A day late for the Bloom Day report, with the above photo of the back garden taken this overcast morning and most of the closeups taken the past couple days. It’s all shockingly rumpled and disheveled already, but I still … Continue reading
Posted in Bloom Day, journal, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Albizia 'Summer Chocolate', Arundo donax 'Golden Chain, Baltic parsley Cenolophium denudatum, Coprosma 'Plum Hussy', Derry Watkins Special Plants Nursery, Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame', Euphorbia lambii, Far Reaches Farm, Gladiolus papillio, Kniphofia thompsonii, Lavandula multifida, Linaria reticulata, Melanoselinum decipiens, Olearia virgata v. lineata 'Dartonii, Orlaya grandiflora, Papaver setigerum, Pelargonium caffrum X 'Diana', Priory Plants, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', Robin Parer's Geraniaceae plant nursery, Salvia curviflora, Salvia pulchella x involucratya, Senecio leucostachys (vira-vira), Stipa gigantea, Sue Mann, Tom Stuart-Smith's exotic meadow, Verbena bonariensis
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Alstroemeria ‘Rock & Roll’ (consider yourself warned)
A mind-numbing, eye-hemorrhaging, variegated alstroemeria has been unleashed at Southern California nurseries this spring. I reached for the camera phone when I saw big displays at two nurseries over the weekend. Alstroemeria ‘Rock & Roll.’ The tag predicts that it … Continue reading
Australian Native Plants Nursery
For just a two-hour drive up the coast, we ended up covering a lot of continents on Tuesday, botanically speaking, of course. Australia and especially South Africa were well represented. This was a much-anticipated trip to Jo O’Connell’s Australian Native … Continue reading
Hardenbergia violaceae, the Happy Wanderer
This smallish evergreen vine, also known as the Happy Wanderer, is in bloom around town, always a surprising sight for February. It’s a tough little number in the pea family from eastern Australia that lays low all year, unnoticed, in … Continue reading
Asparagus virgatus
There’s not a lot of fern action in my dry, sunny garden, much to my regret, but in the front garden on the north side of the house, planted in the parched gloom at the foundation line, a fern is … Continue reading
Kalanchoe ‘Oak Leaf’
Wonderful architectural bloom trusses on this 5-gallon kalanchoe at Lincoln Avenue Nursery in Pasadena. Was this a Kalanchoe beharensis in flower? The leaves at the base of the plant were difficult to see without disturbing the careful display. The San … Continue reading
tropical leaf under glass
Cleaning up the tropicals for their winter rest in early November, there remained an absolutely perfect leaf on Colocasia ‘Blue Hawaii.’ I cut it for a vase, and when the water had evaporated and the leaf was still in good … Continue reading
so cold that plants are turning purple
The cold weather is coaxing some fine seasonal coloration out of plants, especially those whose names hint to a destiny with the color purple anyway. Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’ deeply plummy mid ribs on the leaves of Melianthus ‘Purple Haze’ Yucca … Continue reading
Posted in Occasional Daily Weather Report, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents
Tagged "Umbrella Group: why not make room for a Schefflera?" by Robbie Blackhall-Miles, Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea', Crug Farm Plants, hardy scheffleras, Melianthus 'Purple Haze', Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea'
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the colors of Bilbergia nutans
The first bloom of the common Queen’s Tears bromeliad, Bilbergia nutans, is just so very startling when it arrives, especially if you’ve only seen it in photos before. Like drop-your-coffee-cup startling. As though David Hockney was in the garden overnight … Continue reading
Posted in design, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
Tagged Bilbergia nutans, bromeliads, Euphorbia mauritanica, Euphorbia rigida, Gomphrena 'Fireworks', Huntington Botanical Gardens, Lavandula multifida, Lavandula pinnata var. buchii, Pelargonium crispum 'Variegatum', Tanacetum vulgare 'Isla Gold', Western Hills Nursery and Garden
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