Before we left for San Diego last month, I had a chance to ask local like-minded gardener friend
John Kuzma about nurseries he likes in the area, he mentioned
Walter Andersen (John has been known to make occasional buying trips). I'd visited this nursery on his recommendation
back in 2014, but didn't think I'd have time this go 'round. I was wrong.
Ten years after my first visit and I'm now a fan of mounted staghorn ferns,
I wasn't back then.
The selection was vast (if I organized my photos correctly this one was $75, which compared to the prices here in Portland was a HUGE deal)....
Of course I wasn't shopping, just curious and interested to see how they were growing.
After checking out the staghorns on the front wall of the nursery I turned to see a sign that promised even more, and bromeliads too!
Wowsa...
Even if I'd been driving and that thing was affordable there's no way I could have gotten it home.
Ginormous!
Definitely a different species from the common ones I'm acquainted with.
Such curly fronds.
These bad boys were off the charts cool.
Since seeing these plants I happened to watch a segment from Gardening Australia on YouTube called Iconic Stag Garden,
check it out here. It's amazing!
Moving on, I have no photos of the bromeliad section to share, there wasn't much going on there.
In an another part of the nursery this strangely sausage-like (worm-like?) cactus was working its way up a palm trunk.
I followed it down to the base of the palm and then kinda lost it in the shadows behind the pansy tables. There was another staghorn however...
And another!
And more of the variegated Euphorbia ammak that seem to be everywhere in San Diego.
I didn't recognize it at first (until I looked up), it's trunk was so woody.
Onward! To the shady bits...
Phlebodium aureum
Begonia luxurians
Farfugium japonicum
More staghorns! (babies being grown on maybe?)
So many cycads...
Leucospermum gueinzii
A group shot of some of the sun-loving characters.
I was shocked at the price tag on this bowl of Deuterocohnia brevifolia, $299.99. Maybe it was a price really meant to say "not for sale"? This is where I bought my small 4" pot of the same (
shown in this post), at a comparatively tiny price.
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I love those staghorns with the burgundy undersides in photos #14-19. I've only recently given staghorns a second look. I currently have one in my lath house but it's in a pot, which is how I bought it. One of my to-do items this year is to get it properly situated.
ReplyDeleteRemember that fabulous staghorn we saw at Kay's? (when we visited Hoov's garden) You really need to get a big one since you've got the climate for it.
Delete$299.99 for a Deuterocohnia brevifolia that size may seem shocking, but it's not really that outrageous. A clump this size is probably 15-20 years old. It's not a fast grower.
ReplyDeleteOh I know that (slow grower), but when you compared the size of that plant to the one I bought, it just seemed crazy out of whack. Also crazy that I've got one here that is at least the size of that $299 specimen.
DeleteI love how 10 years on, you came to appreciate mounted stag horn ferns. It's a testament to our evolution as gardeners.
ReplyDeleteThe Youtube video you linked to knocked me off my chair: a generational dedication to those epiphytes and the operation they've created is a cut above. I've watched it twice already, (slightly distracted by the charming Australian accent), and I can say I have a new appreciation for the species.
Your series of photos of the "bad boys... off the charts cool" is breath taking.
Chavli
Aren't they amazing? (the Austrailians and the ferns, ha) So glad you enjoyed the video.
DeleteOh I love a 2 for 1 post, and a video to boot! The staghorns are fabulous, the felty spore shots make me swoon. I had to laugh that you didn't like them. There are so many plants I've had no interest in or overlooked that I now obsess about - I have to be knocked over the head sometimes. Off to watch the video. I wonder if you're getting snow this morning?
ReplyDeleteSnow... yep. It's blowing around a lot (the wind has been fierce since last evening) but it's really piling up. Ugh. Your parents are in Troutdale, is that right? Must be nasty out there.
DeleteMy friend is near Troutdale, good memory! My folks still live at the 113th & Flanders house, although the neighborhood isn't what it used to be :(
Delete