On April 18th after work, I drove up the road a few miles to attend a plant sale that I seldom miss. (Previous post here.) It's a delight to have a plant sale that's so close to home and work. Sorry for not posting about it until now but I kind of misplaced the pictures. Anyway, you've got a few months to plan to attend the fall sale in October!
Although the sale is a fundraiser for the RSG, there are all kinds of plants offered by a diverse group of growers. Of course there are rhododendrons present as well like this R. faithiae that caught everyone's eye with it's beautiful furry red new growth.
R. 'Ever Red' that also had a beautiful dark indumentum on the backs of the mature leaves.
A chorus of arisaema entertained the crowd.
The flowers of Fuchsia exorticata looked pretty swell to me.
Even more entertaining was Ian's informative label for the plant. "Guaranteed hardy until it freezes." Funny stuff!
There is a grower of hardy succulents whose offerings I always look forward to seeing as she has a great variety of well grown sempervivum, sedum, etc. I like this basket idea.
Nandina 'Tuscan Flame' demonstrating how it got it's name!
Most years someone has embothrium coccineum for sale. These grow quickly to 15 foot trees that are covered in early summer with amazingly orange flowers that hummingbirds reportedly love. Mine has grown from a seedling like this to 10 feet in the last couple of years but hasn't bloomed yet.
Golly, you never know who you'll run into! Actually Alison and I had planned on meeting at the sale. Here she's found another cardiocrinum giganteum to add to her growing grove of them. I look forward to seeing them all bloom; it will be an impressive sight!
I was delighted to meet Alison's charming gardening friend Annette who gardens about a 5 minute walk from where I work! Here they are admiring their carts. Alison, the dark glasses aren't fooling anyone! We can still see what's in your cart!
Viburnum x burkwoodii's fragrance won many admirers!
There was also a rare/unusual plant raffle with a whole lot of choices. One could buy tickets and place them in a receptacle next to the plants that (s)he wished to win.
Taraxacum officinale is rare - on Mars. It's all a matter of perspective.
There were some other plants in the raffle that are less common on our planet like this Paris (quadrifolia?)
And this Schefflera fengii.
Other than the Viburnum x burkwoodii, I found a couple more tropaeolum speciosum to continue trying to grow. For some reason, they last for a few years for me growing bigger and more beautiful each season and then disappear. I've heard that winter drainage is the key to keep the roots from rotting. Hmmm. There were a few other plants as well but I don't remember now what they were. What a great way to end a work week, a plant sale, meeting a new gardening friend, and coming home with a few plants. Who could ask for anything more?