salvias at Fullerton

Tomorrow is the salvia sale at Fullerton....I really, really hate to drive up there, but I really, really need to see what ones they have that I don't have....lol...and you know I gotta get there early, wish I could just leave now and get it over with and sleep in the car...lol. I don't think the DH will get to go because he doesn't quite get the 'urgency' of it.....and I have a friend who would like to go, but unfortunately, she would be dead weight...she needs to take her time and think slowly about where she's going to plant each plant and she doesn't quite get the urgency of it either..this is not a reconnaisance run, this is the 'get there first, get 'em quick run.....

This message was edited Sep 11, 2009 8:21 PM

Ah, DH has a meeting in the morning and wants to come, so we will be going in the afternoon. Leave some small to medium (potential size that is) ones for me, Sherry!

~'spin!~

Oh, 'spin.....I hope there's stuff left by then...you're a good person to wait for him. I told jer I would be leaving at 7:30 and that was all he needed to hear...lol...

Well it *is* a two-day affair, I suppose they have SOME plants in stock! Plus remember I have a handkerchief for a lot and most of it is already planted to Lady In Red, S.scabra, and nine other salvias, not counting the cooking sage... that's down in number of different kinds, because I decided two years ago, to try the impact-gardening thing (mass-planting) so I lined our sidewalk with a flat of LIR and did one side of the front with SIX of your S.scabra (which have filled in between since).

Let's compare notes when we're done!

~'s!~

I'm sure they'll be putting things out all day and tomorrow as things sell and they have room, so there should be a good selection...perhaps I need to stay all day and go back tomorrow...lol..I do wish they'd had a listing of what's available though....

So let us know what you come home with!

Well, in the first hour there were a lot of people and the plants were being wiped out rather quickly, but I did see that they had two trailers being brought out to replenish that were the same as the plants that were already sitting out. Cool that they also had 4" pots which one doesn't find often in the salvias, so if you go, check them first to see if you can get in 4" if you want to save money. Gallon sized were $6.50-6.75 which is good, most of these found around down here are $8-9, 4" were $4.
There were some that I don't currently have and which I grabbed:
purpurea 'Lavender Lace'
sl 411 (as yet un-named)
Dara's Choice
miltiorrhiza
leucantha 'Emerald'
leucantha 'Delilah'
interrupta
tubiflora
disermas
dolomitica
lycioides x greggii 'San Isidro'
Scarlet Spires
Rio Bamba
more sagittata and Purple Majesty (which I've managed to kill twice,but it gets one more chance)
I think I should have stayed to see what else might have been put out, but it was hot by then. My friend who takes too long to decide was there and missed out on a gallon size corkscrew vine...took me back to ask about it and found that by then it was already on someone else's cart. I haven't seen them offered anywhere else in gallon size, usually in 5's for $25-35. Told her if she sees something she thinks she may want and there's only one, to grab it, put it on her cart and then decide....lol....I saw another coleonema in-ground that had the golden coloring...I think it was named 'Sweet Girl'....Rodica was nuts for the coleonema 'Sunset Gold'

This message was edited Sep 12, 2009 1:07 PM

This message was edited Sep 23, 2009 4:03 PM

We went after lunch at about 2. Things did look a little picked over (!) with tables 1/2 or less full. I only got one gallon, an enormous Plectranthus Mona Lisa which I am going to put in the street-side corner of the S.scabra 'peninsula', removing three scabras (one of which just up and died and the others don't look real good. Have to see if I can figure out why (drainage pattern?) and fix it while planting the Mona Lisa, plus give her special attention for the first few months. The price was the same for some that looked like they'd just been moved from 4" to gallon, and of course that made the large one irresistable!

In the $4/four-inchers to replace herbs in the herb-bed, I bought:Salvias:
tubiflora
blepharophylla
elegans 'Golden Delicious'
lycioides
chamaedryoides (which I already have, but wanted something silver leafed to balance the lycioides)

I was surpirsed there were no S.nemorosa cultivars like Blue Hills or May Night. Those were the ones I was really thinking of for the [former] herb bed, having had them there before and knowing they would mind their manners.

I already have a green S.elegans there, so now there will be 4 red or red-orange bloomers in a row (all different kinds of foliage, though, a textural extravaganza), with a gray-leafed blue-flower (trailing?) salvia at each end.

It was SO nice at the Arboretum under the trees! Hot in the parking lot where the Salvias were, though, so I did make my decisions a bit speedier than if I'd been there with Blooms (or you, wc!). This is a good number to have to plant at a time, for me.

There was one I would have gotten if I could have thought of a place for it, it was labeled 'Rocky Mountain' but the description was neither reflexa or lanceolata: it had green slightly wavey (not crinkled) leaves and said "bi-color blooms, rose-tan and pink" and 3' tall. I thought of a space for it, after I got home, but not up for another run up there just for one plant. The spot for planting (behind the spigot in the front garden) will still be there next spring.

~'spin!~

What they had labeled as Rocky Mountain was lanceolata. There were very few nemerosa types....I heard one lady grab the rest of the May Nights when I was looking for them also. It was hot and muggy where the salvias were, that's why I left in a hurry also. I did not plan on covering the grounds today and so did not take my camera...big mistake. While pacing back and forth (back and forth, back and forth, back and forth), waiting for the door to open, I took a look at the plantings to the right of the path to the door (to the right and over a bit) and there was a wonderful coneflower that I'm not familiar with. Did you happen to see it? About 5-6' tall, yellow, very tall cones, pointed grey-green leathery looking leaves. There was no sign for it, of course (why is it that the ones you already know have signs and the ones you're really wanting to know what they are...no sign?). I've found one pic online that looks like the flowers, though cannot see the leaves and they don't list a name for it...was on someone's blog. I'm hoping that you happened to see it, and being as smart as I know you are...you'll know what it is...lol...I may have to go back tomorrow after all...I'd really like to grow that coneflower.
Is the Mona Lisa going in full sun? Will it take that there? I did see a passiflora quadrangularis that I really wanted to bring home, but reminded myself that that is where I got my last quadrangularis that never got planted because I had no suitable arbor for one that large and heavy...since I still don't have a spot for it, I was reasonable and talked myself out of it.

It is pretty full sun, do you think it won't like it? The last one was closer to our own garage and got afternoon shade (although hot from the pavement). It was a one-season wonder, and I would like this one to last longer. The trouble with both sides of the front sidewalk curb-gardens is that they are at the distant ends of the hose no matter which spigot I come from, so I think they get slighted when it comes to water. The S.scabra have done very well with this treatment, until this one turned brown... but their flowers/foliage don't really make the "statement" I would like for the front, not the curb appeal you might say. So I was thinking the contrast of the Mona Lisa would be effective. I will research, and appreciate your opinion.

I did not notice the coneflower, sorry (and composites are not my strong suit). There was a mounding groundcover with five pink petals I did not know, on the right coming out (near the waterfall) but it didn't look like something that would not like my dry clay and level of neglect anyhow.

~'s!~

I noticed how pretty the plec argentatus was as a large area, spreading groundcover as you first come in the entryway, in the shade, to the left and I have that plec, but nowhere to use it in the shade on a scale that large. I also noticed the pink penstemon in the area that I think you're talking about, but don't remember paying attention to whatever it was you saw. I love that 10 different people could walk the same path and each would probably focus on something different....I'm quite taken with the prairie look of grasses and coneflowers together and that one was huge, quite a statement. Is there a Mona Lisa plec, or did they have it mis-labeled? I have Mona Lavender, but had not heard of Mona Lisa. I'd not heard of salvia leucantha 'Emerald' before either, need to look that up and see what's different about it....

It is soooo worthwhile to visit the arboretums and see the mature plants in the ground..I have a bunch of potted s. repens and after seeing them in the ground, I can see where they will go and how they'll look when they've spread. I can see that my s. discolor will go out in full sun and look good planted in the ground instead of in a huge pot. Also, after checking Plant Files, the coneflower that I saw may be rudbeckia maxima...though it supposedly likes moist conditions and where it was planted at the arboretum was anything but....

I meant Mona Lavender, that's the one I got. You're right, the P.argentatus was growing and very happy in a lot more shade and moisture than where I previously had it (and the ML). The unknown pink flower that looked almost like pink Vinca major, but wasn't, was just to the right of that enormous clump of Silver Plectranthus; I didn't notice it until on the way out. Hmm, I just read Hazel's description of Mona Lavender in PF -- maybe if I kinda niche it into the S.scabra for some relief from the sun, and mulch it heavy, and make a concerted effort to give it a second watering per week, it will live at least until next summer's heat wave.

I hadn't heard of either of your named cultivars of S.leucantha. I have my Santa Barbara, which really isn't 5' tall (across, yes), but NOT what I was expecting of a "dwarf" either. It's nice and cool-looking out there now, I should at least go work on my lay-out plan if not actually planting. Oops, the Little Rocket Kitten has fallen asleep on my foot so now I can't go out!

I can't believe the very number of plants you purchased! I know it is a once a year event, but it would take me a month to plant all those! You got a good haul, though; that Dara's Choice is hard to go wrong with. The only reason I don't have it is that the S.africana-lutea ate it alive. You know, I could find a spot for a Dara's Choice next spring -- it's kind of an extension, linearly, from the chaparral bed, although we didn't prepare it to be as fast draining -- I had yellow squash and amaranth in there a few years ago, and subsequently let it go to Aptenia iceplant and other weeds. Best to leave some things for the future, though.

~'s!~

I read somewhere recently that plec ecklonii is the most tolerant of sun. Mine get a.m. sun. Yes, I got a lot, but the ones I got are not usually readily available and that's why I went. It will definitely mean more work gettting them planted, wire baskets and all....this next month...all year long I have stuff that I'm either trying to get planted before it's too hot, or after it's cooled off...lol...I'm both sad and glad that they didn't have more salvias that I needed. My Santa Barbara is not what I'd consider a dwarf, but then neither is Mystic Spires a compact version of Idigo Spires, or at least, mine isn't. I briefly checked on the leucantha 'Emerald' and didn't find a lot of info, but it was mentioned that it's supposed to be dwarf also...we'll see. The leucantha 'Delilah' was not as variegated as I'd expected, but it may show more as a mature plant and under different growing conditions also. My s. africana lutea flops a bit, but I'm really, really pleased with Kirstenbosch. In fact, I think I'd like to make a hedge of Kirstenbosch. Mine has gotten larger than it's alleged to also. ....about 4-5 ft tall....I've posted as looking for seeds of the rudbeckia maxima....



This message was edited Sep 12, 2009 10:24 PM

How much land do you HAVE, anyway?!!

The only Rudbeckia I have ever had was Irish Eyes... I planted it in the spot from H###, at the base of my white-painted fireplace/chimney, and it tried its mightiest before perishing. That might even be the only non-edible Composite I've ever planted; is that narrow-minded of me or what?

I really should have gotten an Agastache in place of that Plectranthus; I wonder if they would let me exchange tomorrow?

~'s!~

Anyone take any photos at the sale today?

Well, I tried, NO exchanges. They didn't have A.rugosa anyway. I may actually have seeds somewhere.

I looked but didn't see your cone flower. I think I didn't pace far enough to the right.

~'s!~

No, sorry, just made a quick "inquiry" stop. Arboretum with DH is way different from Arboretum with Blooms!

Nope...when one is busy grabbing plants there's not much time for photos and it was just a lot full of plants in pots...lol... Took photos of the ones I brought home.....the Arboretum itself would provide a lot of wonderful pics, but there seems to be a charge for taking photos...can this be true? What's our world coming to...perhaps they meant some kind of commercial shots. In any case, I wasn't there to stroll, but to grab salvias....

The fine print on the sign says "Posed, commercial photography" must have permit.

Thanks, I thought it must be something like that but I didn't stop to read the sign....my mind was otherwise occupied..."When will they open that door?!".