Berkeley Arboretum Sale trip

Yesterday John and I went to the Berkeley Arboretum sale and silent auction. We got there 15 minutes before the members-only time opened, and the line was already huge. When the gates opened it was mayhem!

We scurried in and picked out some plants (Agave ovatifolia, Aloe speciosa and a Dudleya for me), then looked at the silent aution items. They had several impressive, rare specimens up for bid,a nd it was very hard for me to stop myself bidding on a Yucca "Bright Star" that ended up going for $85 and a Dendroseris litoralis (Cabbage Tree - photo above) that went for $63... but I managed to stay sane.

I felt the prices on most plants were comparable to retail - some a good bit higher though. On the whole I think it's good to support the Arboretum though, so that's OK with me.

After the sale we drove to the CVS Pharmacy in Oakland that John said had some nice plants... and he was right! Oddly labelled, oddly priced, and many of them looking like they'd been dropped on their heads, but I got an Aloe polyphylla and another Dudleya (unnamed). I somewhat regret leaving behind some nice Agaves there though...

Next we went in search of some Aloe "Goliath" plants reputed to be at the Piedmont ACE hardware. They ended up only having the more-desireable (to me) Aloe "Hercules" but it was a 10 gallon plant in poor shape, for $80... so I skipped it (think about it - coulda had a much rarer plant for less at Berkeley Arboretum!).

We went home via Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (grabbed some large pots for the garden) and so ended our plant shopping odyssey. Good times. Second pic shows the middle back bed this morning, looking lovely with all the flowers.

Read more ...

Shopping spree

Today Emily, her mum and I went to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and Annie's Annuals.

Annie's was having a 20% off sale. Berkeley Hort is darn expensive but they have loads of nice plants. Between the two places we bought a lot of stuff!

Berkeley Hort:
4 Convolvulus cneorum (Bush Morning Glory)
2 Asclepias curassavica (Butterfly Weed) "Silky Gold"

Annie's:
2 Knautia macedonia
1 Lupinus perennis (Sundial Lupine)
3 Scabiosa atropurpurea "Ace of Spades"
3 Pericallis lanata
1 Crassula coccinea
1 Aeonium nobile
1 Agastache pallida x rugosa "Globetrotter"
1 Aquilegia chyrsantha "Yellow Queen"
1 Nicotiana alta x sanderae "Crimson Bedder" (Emily's impulse buy)

We also got free pots at Berkeley Hort ;)

So we all retired to our homes to eat, then Matt and I went out to do some garden work. We did about 3 hours of work:

Deadheaded Gazanias, Arctotis, Nicotiana, Kniphofia, Aloe.
Watered as much as possible.
Planted 4 Convolvulus cneorum (Bush Morning Glory) by the steps.
Planted 3 Oenothera stricta and 2 Asclepias curassavica (Butterfly Weed) "Silky Gold" in the left bed.
Staked up the Verbascum olympicum.
Divided up an Aloe maculata.

Didn't get any photos cos it got pretty dark when we were done around 9pm.

Read more ...