Anyone know where I can find these?

Hi,
In the Spring I am planning a trip to Annies Annuals with Lisamr and am hoping that someone can tell me of any nurseries in that area that carry some plants I am trying to find.
I am looking for Rangoon Creeper (Quisqualis indica), Evergreen Wisteria (Millettia reticulata) & Vanilla Trumpet vine (Distictis laxiflora).
I would appreciate any help you can offer since we are not familiar enough with the bay area to know where to look.
Thanks!
Donna

Hi! Was just thinking about you!! Happy New Year! Drop Happenstance a line. Candy knows all of the best places up there.
Janice

For plants like the ones you're looking for I usually have the best luck at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery. However, I go there quite often and have never seen the Quisqualis or Milletia, but they are always getting new stuff so it doesn't mean they won't have them in the future. I actually ended up buying both of those plants online from Ecolage because I hadn't run across them at any local nurseries. The Distictis I've never looked for so can't provide much help there.

I'm dying to go back to Annie's Annuals again. I'll have to make a trip sometime in the spring too. It never worked out for me this fall.

The Berkeley Horticultural Nursery had a lot of wonderful things when I was there last summer. Maybe you should give them a call before your trip. Actually, some places will special order something ahead of time if they know someone wants it. I asked Summerwinds for a specific succulent that my mother wanted for Christmas. They contacted their succulent supplier and got the plant in stock in less than a week.

I think a lot of nurseries would do the same, as long as one of their regular suppliers sells that item.

Hi Janice! I will have to do that. Hope your Holidays were nice. :~)
Thanks ecrane, I will definitely check them out!
Lilystorm, I am completely addicted to Annies since I first went in the Fall. I can hardly wait to go back. I just got an email from her site saying they have a first time ever paper catalog coming out in February and the email also included a printable 15% off coupon good thru Jan 31 but I won't be using it so if anyone wants it just email me & I will send it along.
I am hoping that someone will see this thread and say OH! so & so carries those all the time & they are only a few blocks from Annies! LOLOL What a fantasy world I live in, huh? :~) I might as well add CHEAP to the fantasy while I'm at it, right? LOL

I'm addicted to Annie's too...fortunately (or unfortunately?) I live close enough that I can go almost whenever I want! So I have a rule that I'm never allowed to buy more plants than what'll fit in one wagon (no stacking pots on top of pots allowed either!) So far that's kept me from spending all my money. Bad news though is that they increased their prices by $0.25 per plant this year--still a bargain considering the quality of the plants and the selection but not quite as good a bargain as they used to be.

And Lilystorm is right about nurseries special ordering plants--only problem is it's hard to predict how long it'll take them to find the plant unless it's something really common, so you might want to have one of your local nurseries do it rather than one over here. I've found I've gotten my special order plants quicker if I'm able to go online and find a wholesale grower who sells it, and then pass that info along to the nursery, otherwise they have to spend a while searching for who has it and that holds things up a bit. I have a book "Source list of plants & seeds" that says Monrovia has the Milletia and I know pretty much every nursery I go to has plants from Monrovia so you should be able to get that one ordered for you pretty easy. No listings for your other two in the book though.

oh, LUCKY!!! I would be a regular if I lived closer! I can live with the quarter increase too, as long as the plants are good sized. Alot of the ones I got in the Fall were seedling size but with that discount she offered I was ok with it.
Sadly, we don't have the nurseries here like you have in the bay area. The few nurseries we DO have are really pathetic in my opinion. I can get things ordered from a nursery in Sacramento, but they are really high priced & I usually only drool when I go there, not buy. If I can't find these anywhere I can always buy them online, but that is not my first choice.

Hi Donna- Thanks for your welcome back on the Corkscrew vine thread! I lived in the Bay Area for years, but almost the whole time I was addicted to orchids [ worked at the old greenhouses at Rod McClellens in So.SF], so I'm not real familiar with alot of the nurseries there...
But I order all the plants at my Home Depot [ yep I'm a HD employee] and am pretty sure I've seen the wisteria on one of my vendors availability lists.I wrote down all your plants names and will check with my vendors.Sometimes I can get some cool stuff! The bosses at HD are sometimes not thrilled that I get unusual plants cus there is not a 'home' for it, but I gotta have some fun besides only ordering boxwood and the usual stuff! I'll let you know what I find out~Kim

Thanks Kim, I would really appreciate that! And getting to order plants for your work? PRICELESS! lolol Lucky girl you! :~)

Donna,

Although I'm not in your area, I also sought out distictis laxiflora a couple years ago. San Marcos Growers is a supplier I contacted (wholesale). They told me that it was unlikely that it would be stocked in nurseries except in the summer, when it is in bloom. But they are happy to do a special order through a distributor off-season. Look on www.smgrowers.com for distributors and mail order sources that will special order for you.

Thank you, I will do that. Did you end up getting this vine & if so, are you happy with it?

If you can't find the rangoon creeper, i bought one (4" pot)from Almost Eden online last fall. It hasn't done much growing, but I expect it will do better once I put it in the ground.

Thank you shovelmonkey, I have bookmarked their site. Was the plant in the 4in pot good sized?

It was about 4" tall, very healthy looking. I transplanted it into a 1 gallon pot and it is now about 8-10" tall. I only buy online what I can't find at the local nurseries. I like the thrill of the hunt, but i really wanted to root the Creeper before spring.

I just saw on Top Tropicals website that they have available the single flower variety of Rangoon creeper (3gal pot for $39.95) and double flower variety (1 gal for $29.95). The prices may be a little higher than you were hoping for, but I've always had good luck with their plants and they tend to be MUCH bigger than what you get from the majority of mail order places so if you don't have luck finding this one at local nurseries you might want to give them a try.
http://www.toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi

Hello:

You can ask whomever your local nursery is to order the Millettia reticulata from Monrovia Growers. They currently are showing Millettia taiwanensis (Chinese Evergreen Wisteria; smaller and shrubbier in habit than the reticulata) but they do grow, and often have available, the M. reticulata as well.

As for the Distictis, there are a number of wholesale growers that offer this plant. Your retail nursery could order it from San Marcos Growers, Monterey Bay, Hines, or Suncrest. All four ship regularily into the Bay Area and Central California. Perhaps you could even ask Annie's Annuals to order it for you. I actually got mine at a Target. Hines supplies most of the plants worth buying to all of the Targets and there are often some really choice items if you have the patience to wade through all of the Pittosporum 'Wheeler's Dwarf' and Euonymus.

As for the Quisqualis indica - there is only one small speacilaty grower that I know of who is currently growing this in Southern California and all of their material is FOB Vista. I bought mine from an on-line grower out of Florida. It is very frost tender and a bit of a whimpy grower without alot of heat.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. I will probably just have to try my hand at the bay area stores. When I have tried to special order in the past, the few nurseries that we have in our area have met my request with confusion, denial or outrageous costs. LOL

Hey Donna!

I have nurseries here that will special order from Hines, Monrovia and others. We can spend a day "girlfriending" and get your plants ordered, then you can come back when they come in or I'll pick them up for you! Monterey Bay stopped shipping to our area several years ago, but I bet we can find what you want AND get a "buddy day" out of it!!!!!

Karen

Hey Karen,
sounds like a plan! I miss you! :~) I got a rangoon creeper so just looking for the other 2. I actually have a millettia that I started from seed a year ago and it is still only an inch tall. Don't think I will live long enough to see it bloom, so if I can find a big one at an affordable price I think I would get it. LOLOL But if I could find the vanilla trumpet vine I would be thrilled! San Marcos is the only place I can find it at and it will probably not be available until summer. Lisa & I are planning a Spring trip to Annies, you think you can go? Maybe we can take a side trip to Alden Lane nursery, they are listed as a retailer for San Marcos & it seems to me you were telling me that you have been there & like it. Am I remembering correctly?

I bet Alden Lane has it then, or at least they can get it. Spring, when the nurseries order weekly from their growers, is the best time to place a special order. In the mean time perhaps you can email them and see if they will be able to get it. We can order them ahead of time and swing by there to pick them up on our Annie's trip. One trip should do it, and yes, I simply must see what all the hub-bub regarding Annie's is all about!

K

LOL, you said hub-bub.
Yep, I emailed them earlier today. Will let you know what I hear back.

I'll be out of touch for a week, vacation time (about darn time). I'll call or email you when I get back and you can fill me in.

K

hub-bub, hub-bub, hub-bub!

LOL ok. Have fun!

Can't really help you with the plants you are looking for but wanted to ask you about the climbing shell plant (Vigna caracalla) that I read in another place that you had grown............have some clay soil in the Natomas area and not everything does well..............can this plant handle soil that doesn't drain so well? If not, do you know of any other vines that are not fussy about having wet feet in the winter..........Thanx!

Thanks, SW

I have heavy clay soil & it does well for me. :~)

Thanks ..............I will give it a shot.............I just hate to plant stuff I know will not make it.

Any other perennials that have enjoyed the clay?...........

I have had - Berkeley Horticultural Nursery , Reagans [ in Fremont ] and Navalets [ in Warm Spring/ Fremont ] order plants for me . I would call first - There is also Ohlone College in Warm Springs but it's a pain to find someone who will talk to you .

When you go to Annie's could you please let me know and I'll meet you there? Are you going on their spring opening weekend? I can't make the RU so would love to visit with all of you whenever I can!

Marilyn

Hi Marilyn, we may be going March 4th, still waiting to hear back. I will let you know as soon as I do. I think Lisa wants to go again in April, so if thats better for you, I will let you know the date when its set. :~)

UPDATE on my wants, I have managed to find all of them! So thank you everyone.

SW, I am bringing some corkscrew vine seedlings (Vigna Caracalla, the fragrant ones) to Roundup, so if you come, try to grab one.

Cool! Let me know. Love to see all of you!

Marilyn

Glad you got all of your wish list. I would love to join the group in March, but work calls.

Did you get one of Annie's new paper catalogs? If so, check out the credit for the photo of the 'White Cloud' Peony Poppy. That's me. I am sooooooo famous now.

George

Hey George, I got the email that a catalog was coming out in february, but still have not gotten one. congrats on the picture in there! I will look for it when & if I get the catalog. :~)
We may not be going on the 4th after all, Lisa is really sick. She called me this morning to let me know that she was still alive after 2 weeks of the bug she has. Maybe we can all go in April, after your work demands let up.

Donna - Did you get your catalogue yet? If not, I can pick one up for you. I just got mine the other day. PLMK

Marilyn

Nope, never got one. I will grab on at Annies when we go. Still not sure about tomorrow, Lisa said she wants to wait until Saturday morning to see if there is any rain. If there is, we will postpone.
I will dmail you as soon as I hear from her & let you know what we will be doing. Thanks for thinking of me! :~)

You're welcome! It's supposed to be nice here tomorrow - no rain. Annie's should be OK but windy as usual. Hanna1 (Annie) and I went there on Wednesday - I spent over $50! Look forward to hearing you'll be here tomorrow.

I will be thinking of you all enjoying yourself at Annie's. Unfortunately work calls. Be sure to check out page 13.
George

Cool George! You are famous! LOL
Annies has been postponed. We are both at the end of colds & decided to not spend the day outside in the cold. Now I see all this sunshine & wondering if we were fooled by the forecast! :~)

Well, I went to Annie's anyway, mostly because the power was out here and I couldnt' find out whether or not you guys were coming until about 11am. Sorry no one was able to make it. Hope you'll get there soon.

Marilyn

April 7,8 & 9!! Annie's Spring Party ~ never been there, but hoping to maybe make the trek down there. (I haven't done my taxes yet ~ that will be the determinant...) :o) Check out the Annies Annuals website.

http://www.anniesannuals.com/

Sanna

Hmmmm?
Do my taxes?
Go to Annie's?
Do my taxes?
Go to Annie's?
Do my taxes?
Go to Annie's?

Some of life's choices are easier than others!