Nursery Exploring

*updated with photos*

So last Friday I went shopping for the plants on my list (and naturally ended up with a few extras). It was a nice afternoon and I made time to visit two new (to me) nurseries.

First I hit up Sunflower Farms which was really cool! It is not like any other nursery in the Southbay. It is alot like what I image my nursery would look like if I ever ran one :9 You have to go there to understand, it's like someone's backyard forest jumble with plants loosely grouped into different areas. I love it. The lady on duty (I think Melissa?) was very helpful and pleasant to talk to. I showed her my plant list, she was sad they wouldn't have half of the items until spring, but had a guy from propagation go hunt down my echinacea. Here I found the coneflower "double decker" that I thought I'd have to order online, and the yarrow from my list. I also impulse bought two woolly thymes, a catnip and chocolate mint. I want to put the woolly thyme into wide low containers for my Felis catus to hang out on instead of plastering my flower pots again next spring..

Then I checked out Deep Roots Garden Center. It is nice, but I was sort of disappointed somehow. From their website info I think I was expecting something more California natives & xeriscape focused. It was way more upscale. They did have a nice patio with drought tolerants and natives, and a succulent section. But most of the their plant space was devoted to tropicals/indoor plants, and popular water-loving annuals. Inside was about 75% pottery and decor, a quarter fertilizers n' such. The soil & fertilizer choices were not bad, quite a few options, but not what I was looking for. Took home some petunias and succulents, but nothing from my Need list :/ I did see a shrub of which I already have a dwarf version but had forgotten the name of, I was happy to re-discover it (alas I have already forgotten its name again).

Finally I fell back on my 'safety' the International Garden Center. Plants here are often a bit more expensive than my usually nursery, but they always have a HUGE choice of all kinds of plants. I was super suprised to see their display of plants from Annie's Annuals, with good signage really giving good info about the plants. The guy (damn, I forgot his name and he was sooo helpful and patient that day!) told me that Annie's doesn't use growth inhibitors like most commercial growers, so their plants don't flower until after they are brought home and planted and grow - so they need awesome signs to show buyers how they will look. Nice touch. Guy also spent at least 20 minutes trying to track down if they could order the vanilla milkweed I have my heart set on. After a long catalog & online check he found none of their suppliers are carrying it :( but I was so appreciative that he tried. He also walked me out to check out their Clerodendrum ugandense - which was going by a common name that I've never heard for it before. I was interested because I haven't seen that plant since I bought two at a Home Depot about 10 years ago. I asked him how it was selling, etc. and he was surprised I was interested and happy to talk about how he'd been caring for them for the past year or so and was disappointed that they weren't selling. His explanation is that semi-deciduous is a bad word in our area :9 I did find a gorgeous bright blue delphinium that I'm going to use instead of a hollyhock. I also found the cottonseed meal and kelp meal I've been looking for.

So that is what I on a Friday. Next time the start of 2012 planting :)

2012 Front Yard Plan

Hey there. So I haven't been posting because I had my camera stolen and for some reason I don't like posting without pictures. My cruddy 8 year old backup camera doesn't take very good pictures anymore.

But I can scan stuff!

So for weeks I've had thoughts abut what to do to the front yard for 2012 stewing in my mind. The main themes: want natives, want hummingbirds, want butterflies (Archies!) and want perrennials. I did info lookups via Gardenswithwings.com and laspilitas.com and made a spreadsheet that really helped me narrow down what types of plants we should actually get.

Then I made scaled diagrams of the flower beds and scaled cutouts to represent the plants we have and what I want to see what will fit. Voila:

I realize the way I cropped it together some stuff is upside down, but that's the correct positioning :)

 The size of the circle is how much horizontal space each plant should need (larger gaps around plants I don't trust to stay within their listed spacing) and the numbers noted under the name is the average height (so tall doesn't end up in front of short).

With this I now have my shopping list ready! Also did a new soils test last month so I need some fertilizers as well.

Most of the very drought tolerant stuff is going the South Bed as I could, because that always suffers the most. Thing that need more moisture are going in the North Beds, because that's where I'm going to hook up a drip system this winter. The East Bed gets all the average water need plants.

I feel accomplished today :D

What am I gonna do with these Geese?!

When I visited Archie's Garden this past spring I was somehow talked into bringing home two geese (which started the Archie Jr. fiasco). Goose milkweed (Asclepias physocarpa )  that is ;9 haha. I vaguely remember asking them about pink milkweeds because my mom doesn't like hot orange/red flowers (doesn't like to be doubly reminded of the heat in summer) and she didn't have pink ones, but she had the white goose type seedlings.

Somehow one seedling from each little pot she gave me managed to survive the little jr.'s that ate every leaf up and had started on the stems :Z They rebounded very slowly though, it was just last month that I potted them up to slightly bigger containers from the square 4" ones they came in.

Last night I was trying to come up with a 2012 front yard garden plan. Want to eliminate some flowers that aren't working for us and move others to better suited spots. When I went over my list of what I've got in my propagation area and saw my Geese (yes, I shall enjoy calling these Green Children the Geese) on it - I realized I had no clue what size they grow to. Looked it up this morning and it turns out they have the potential to reach 7 FEET. Um, I think that will violate the 36" height limit truce currently in effect for new plants...

But they are Monarch magnets and have purty decorative seed pods....

photo: Wikipedia

So I ask: Anyone with any experience growing these? Is this a plant I can prune in a way to limit it's grow without sacrificing it's health? Any advice would be very appreciated!