Monday, February 9, 2015

Field-trip...destination: Cistus Nursery

It had been a long and tiresome week, so much so I thought I deserved a little treat. Why not take a Friday afternoon trip to Cistus? Why not indeed! En route I stopped to take a look at these Agave ovatifolia planted in front of the McMenamins in St. Johns.

It's a very busy intersection, and here are 5 beautiful agaves right out there for everyone to see. Love that.

Hmm, those are new (to me)...

Sort of a rusty, strappy agave/succulent sculpture, kinda thing.

I kid, they're a little odd, but I like them. I didn't try to budge one but I bet they're secured. Otherwise they'd be out in the street by now.

Looks like there is burlap keeping the soil in place along with dried moss?

*Sigh* I'd forgotten how much I loved my Euphorbia stygiana before Old Man Winter took it away. Perhaps I will plant another this spring...

Okay, now we're at Cistus! This amazing Garrya elliptica is in the border along the parking lot.

If this had been all I saw that day it would have been enough. But of course there was more...

Not normally my thing but how could this blooming patch of cyclamen not make me smile?

No matter the season this scene is always a favorite, it says summer!

Things look a touch less summery inside the nursery however.

This may be the first time I realized the chicken has green eyes!

Podocarpus falcatus, so cute, so little, for now (to 30 ft eventually).

A leucadendron!

So nice that I don't have to go to California...

Imagine that ^ planted with this...

Yes I see that USDA Zone 9 business, but just ignore it okay?

Also lovely, I think this is Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Atropurpureum' - touch hardier than the pseudopanax above.

Hakea lissosperma, of course I want this one too...

Oh! Look at that Schefflera delavayi...

And it's extra sexy leaves...

Leucadendron 'More Silver'...

And my favorite echium (in the back there, that insanely tall thing)...

I forgot to get the name of the blooming aloe. (update: its  Aloe 'Safari Sunset', thanks Alison)

And this blooming bromeliad too!

Finally, before I left I got a sneak peek at some opuntia cuttings Sean just brought back to the nursery. There is even more spiky goodness ahead...

Even more!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

30 comments:

  1. There was a Cistus post on Facebook a couple of days ago about that Aloe, it's called 'Safari Sunset.' I want one so bad. I think that enormous Echium is the same kind as the one I bought last year. It's doing really well in the greenhouse. Some day maybe mine will be big, but if it gets that big, it won't fit in the greenhouse any more. I wonder if it will root from cuttings.

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    1. You're right about that aloe! I'd seen that FB post too but thought it was a different one as there was another blooming in another part of the nursery. And yes you're right about the echium, it is the same. They grow so fast in the ground I've been treating mine as an expensive annual and planting it out each year (with the hope that we'll have a mild enough winter it lives on, which has yet to happen). Perhaps this year I'll plant on in a container and see if I can get a monster sized one going.

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  2. I've been pining for a trip out there too. I love Cistus, and every time I do make the short trek, I wonder why I don't go more often. (Well, the $$ thing, I suppose is a factor. No matter how often I claim "just a looking trip" never seems to be the case.) The weather is supposed to be decent in a couple days. I'm putting it on my list for this week. Thanks for the inspiration.

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    1. Oh you should! Like I mentioned that garrya alone is worth it but there is so much more!

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  3. Sigh, if only Cistus was near us we'd be there at least once a month...

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    1. I think instead of Crug Farm plants you should have been home to accept an international order from Cistus for your moment of TV fame, wouldn't that have been fun?

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  4. Thanks for the visit to Cistus. My trips there this summer were my first times and I already miss it terribly. I love Garrya. It's one of my favorites. I almost got one of those Leucodendron 'More Silver' this summer, but I already knew I was moving. It's on my wishlist (which I keep meaning to make a page for on my blog, but it's such a huge list). The angle and shadow of the eyelashes on that chicken give it an almost demure green-eyed gaze. I still prefer to think of it as a giant vampire duck of doom, complete with mouth cannon. So is it a chicken or a duck? Or a demon most fowl?

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    1. Hmm, I think you're right and it's a duck. For some reason I always think chicken. Make that wishlist page already!

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  5. ***sigh*** thanks for the Cistus tour. It's always a good day to go out there, putting together a list as we speak.

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    1. Now that our 4 days of steady rain is ending it's a great time to get out and stretch the legs and eyes a bit...

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  6. I keep falling in and out of love with Garrya elliptica but that does it. With this much space, who cares if it is rather nondescript most of the time? The tassle season more than compensates.

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  7. I really enjoyed this post as I'm bed bound! So glad you got out and enjoyed some fresh air at one of your favorite haunts. You're going to be very proud of me..I've got the first phase of my little 'hot patio' dug up in the front of my house. It's going to someday house my potted spiky plant collection. Your the inspiration!

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    1. Oh Jenni I hope you're feeling better soon and not just so you can get to work on the "hot patio" (which sounds marvelous!).

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  8. Ooh, I always forget that to help banish the winter blues, a trip to Cistus is always an excellent tonic!

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    1. It is indeed, especially when you get lucky like I did and hit it on a day with a blue sky.

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  9. Ohhh, I like it :). It looks different from summer but it is still interesting.

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  10. Thanks for the glimpse of early spring! I really enjoyed the blooming Cyclamen--the way you captured them with the oblique light hitting them. Also the red-tipped Sempervivum and the other succulents are yummy. I think I like the "rusty, strappy agave/succulent sculpture kinda thing" ... but I'm not sure. ;-)

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it! Perhaps the "rusty, strappy agave/succulent sculpture kinda thing" will get better with age?

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  11. I'm in love with the Garrya elliptica, which I don't think I'd ever seen until this winter and then only in blog posts. According to my Sunset guide, it's supposed to be suited to my area but I've yet to find it locally.

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    1. I see a really big plant order in your future Kris!

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  12. I love Cistus Nursery, every time I'm down there, I stop by. I'm like a kid in a candy store with all the plants they carry that I like. It is too bad their mail order site is so clumsy to order plants easily. But then maybe it is a good thing because if it was like many of the Internet nursery sites that use carts and take credit cards, I would empty out my checking account very fast. Thanks for the tour!
    John (Aberdeen)

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    1. Imagine living as close as I do, dangerous...and I have a feeling ordering online from Cistus is going to get easier soon. You've been warned - start saving your pennies!

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  13. You are lucky to live so close to this treasure! That pseudopanax discolor - YUM! Looking forward to visiting Cistus after Hortlandia!

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    1. One of those Pseudopanax discolor may be sitting in my backyard right now. Damn the addiction.

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  14. Perhaps you could add the cyclamen to your garden and cut off the flowers. They just distract from that handsome foliage.

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  15. Those are some serious spikes! Did you get anything?

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