On the way to dropping off a holiday wreath at my mom’s on Sunday, I stopped for a walkabout at H&H nursery, located on Lakewood Blvd. in a power line easement near the 91 freeway.
I was hoping to find a Correa ‘Ivory Bells,’ or Australian fuchsia, which blooms all winter, a kind of holiday treat for the hummingbirds. The small grey leaves are somewhat similar to Pittosporum crassifolium or Feijoa sellowiana. I’m always attracted to the correas when I see them, but they’re usually in the pink form at nurseries. I can’t say when pink began to wear on me, but I’m still not ready to let much of it into the garden again. I foolishly passed up ‘Ivory Bells’ earlier in the week and was hoping it had been shipped widely to multiple nurseries (it hadn’t). With all garden space currently spoken for, it would have to go in a container, which is fine because I’ve been on a binge trying out shrubby characters like ozothamnus and westringia in containers and want to experiment with more. As with the latter two shrubs, these experiments usually do end up in the garden but are surprisingly easy to care for during extended periods in containers and are much less bother than, say, annuals or tender perennials. (If anyone is interested in correas, Joy Creek Nursery in Oregon has a nice list of them, including ‘Ivory Bells.’)
This photo from JJ De Sousa’s Portland garden shows how stunning shrubs can be in containers. I think this may be an ozothamnus with trailing Dichondra argentea.
I’ve grown the Ozothamnus ‘Sussex Silver’ variety.
At the nursery, no correas were to be found. Still in the C’s, though, I found some corokias, which I love, and very nearly brought home the wiry Corokia cotoneaster.
Another photo from a Portland, Oregon garden showing what looks to be this corokia.
Mostly I wanted to stretch my legs a bit, and this large nursery/grower is great for a stroll. And I couldn’t think of a better place to celebrate the coming rainstorm.
The tree aloes seem to be flooding the nurseries lately. These are ‘Hercules.’ In the last month or so I’ve found Aloe ‘Goliath’ and Aloe dichotoma.
My ‘Hercules’ came in a gallon. These big boys go for over $200.
Twice the Hercules, double-trunked.
The Agave ‘Blue Glows’ in gallons go for about $25.
A sea of aeoniums and agaves.
I didn’t check the price on the titanotas. Such a variable agave. These are much whiter than mine.
Every time I see a tree-like Kalanchoe beharensis I feel a pang for the loss of mine, a single-trunked plant that became too top heavy and snapped.
Lovely bowl of Notocactus magnificus. I still have vague plans to build a cactus bench/growing frame but it’s way too early to start collecting plants.
When I say “build,” what I really mean is transmit my vision to the builder, Marty, and convince him that the project is desperately important.
The Little Red Riding Hood aloe, ‘Rooikappie,’ bred by the South African plantswoman the late Cynthia Giddy.
Coincidentally, I recently brought an aloe home named for her.
Euphorbia pseudocactus. I really need to get busy planning that cactus bench. It’s becoming desperately important.
Thanks for the tour of H&H. I’ve been meaning to get out there again (I still have lots of space to fill in the front garden!) but now that may have to wait until after the holidays. Re the cactus bench, when I have something I “desperately need,” I often put it on by Christmas (or, depending upon the timing, b-day) wish list, which seems to work amazingly well. Just an idea…
Oh, I love the flowers on that Little Red Riding Hood Aloe, that’s fabulous. Hooray for more rain!
You’re so lucky to have so many great nurseries near you. A friend of mine has been looking for an Aloe ‘Hercules’ but there are none to be had in NoCal. That double-trunked specimen looks awesome!
I like correas too. Don’t know why I don’t have any…
@Kris, I live the way you think! We always make our projects list in fall, and it’s pretty full. A couple projects have been knocked off already so there may be some room…
@Alison, isn’t that one a beauty. The tag says almost year-round bloom but predominantly in fall. If our parkway wasn’t always stomped and trampled, I’d love to put some in there.
@Gerhard, I can’t remember ever seeing so many Hercules aloes as this fall. Or so many different kinds of aloes, for that matter. Unfortunately the only space left unplanted is the driveway!
Aloe Hercules is available as one gallons via both Succulent Gardens and Monterey Bay Wholesale Nursery here in northern California. I also fell for those Aloes by Cynthia Giddy, and have them both blooming here in Berkeley. You should get yourself an Aloe camperi and/or Aloe tomentosa too, my favorites. Good to see those Agave titanota becoming more widely available, they’re stunning when larger.
David, thanks for giving a NoCal source for Hercules. I’ve been admiring your photos of A. tomentosa on FB — maybe Annie’s will list it again soon.
San Marcos Growers Nursery also grows it, but go for the pure, not hybrid selections.