At the end of August, I visited one of my favorite plant places, Dragonfly Farms Nursery which is located just up the road from Heronswood, the garden and now defunct nursery created by Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones. Dragonfly is exceptional for it's vaired plant offerings and great garden art. Do check out their website
here.
A view of part of the sunny sales area. I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of the very large shade plant area. It's hard to take pictures when your hands are full of plants!
Heidi, the sole proprietress of this nursery, also lives and gardens on this property. Heidi is quite fond of garden art and whimsy.
I find myself being envious of her copious amount of garden space!
LOVE this exuberantly planted space!
Dipsacus fullonum, common teasel is a weed but I love it used in gardens!
The wide variety of evergreens that can be grown here allows us to have great foliage contrast year round!
The blue-green foliage of the tropaeolum tuberosum, the gold of the abies, and red blood grass are spectacular together. Oh to visit late in October when the tropaeolum is covered in orange blooms!
I forgot to ask which aralia this is but it was sure swell. Do you know?
Hey all you schefflera lovers, Heidi says that Monrovia will be releasing this schefflera macrophylla this coming spring - really! I'm so looking forward to the possibility of having one of these. On the other hand, they're not fully hardy here so they'd have to spend the winter inside but the leaves are so huge and beautiful with a cinnamon indumentum to die for.
A basket full of danger some of which still had their Heronswood tags. The little chubby opuntia came home with me.
Trevesia palmata 'Micholitzii' Dragonfly is where I got mine several years ago and is the only nursery in the state where I've seen it offered.
Phormiums and cordylines
One of several beautiful colonies of podophyllum pleianthum. This plant is quite entertaining when it emerges from the soil in the spring as it looks like little closed umbrellas pushing up through the soil and then opening.
O.K. so I love restios even though the fad seems to be over. This cannomois grandis is absolutely not hardy here but the scale of the plant is stunning.
One of my all time favorite combinations is eucalyptus and bamboo. The glaucous foliage of the eucalyptus and the yellow green foliage of the bamboo simply sing together!
There is so much to see at this great nursery and garden! I've only scratched the surface. If you're ever in the area, this is a place NOT to be missed.
"Hey, what about all that yard art and whimsical stuff this guy mentioned?" you may be asking yourself. Well friends, I've decided to save that for tomorrow's post so stay tuned for some fun!
I visited this nursery in July when I was out your way with a group of crazy garden friends taking in the horticultural sights. What a fabulous place and Heidi is a hoot! Sadly, I wasn't able to buy anything. Maybe next time.
ReplyDeleteHeidi is a hoot and her nursery is great! Hopefully you'll come back again soon and bring that other crazy friend of yours, Deanne, with you!
DeleteExcellent photos of Dragonfly (and especially the sexy Schefflera!), I just wish you'd captured one of Heidi too, maybe tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteAlso thanks for the mention of the Trevesia palmata 'Micholitzii' now I know where to look!
I drool over those Schefflera every time I visit! Heidi says that the price will be about the same as the schefflera taiwanianas that she has...I'll be haunting that place in the spring! Trevesia originally came from San Marcos Growers.
DeleteAmaaaaazing schefflera! I want! No, I need!
ReplyDeleteI too love the eucalyptus and bamboo combos. I've been lusting after some choice eucalyptus these last few weeks.
We all need that schefflera! Spring's coming & I bet Monrovia sells to some of yor favorite nurseries. Start nagging now!
DeleteI love it! I shall nagg away. And I love your sentiment about spring on its way. Lets just skip over winter
DeleteI love blood grass, its so beautiful up against conifers.
ReplyDeleteIt's spectacular in other people's gardens but it's one of those plants that I've never been able to make look good in my own garden.
DeleteI like those Podophyllum. You could use them as backdrop for a movie about dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteI love P.pleianthum... were there any large specimen plants when you visited? They tend to take forever to bulk up, but when they do!
ReplyDeleteYes, there were a couple. I had an amazig specimen of this in my own garden that I got from Heronswood years ago. It grew bigger with each year but for the last two, has dwindled in size. It's becme increasingly shady where the plant is living so that may be the problem. I've also had a hell of a time with weevils eating the leaves of other plants in that area & perhaps they're doing a number on the roots. I'll move it to a better location next year as I really miss the large glossy leaves!
Deletenever thought of gum trees and bamboo as possible neighbours, so thank you - takes an outlaw to think laterally and open up new combo possibilities! Looks like a wonderful garden and nursery, I look forward to the whimsy post. I'm with you re blood grass, love it but could never work out where it could go in my garden.
ReplyDeleteDragonfly is marvelous and Heidi is very knowledgeable about plants, funny, full of energy, and very entertaining to chat with. Hope you're enjoying spring. Today will be another drizzly one for us in the Northwest.
DeletePosts like this perk up a drizzly day.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when it's drizzling out, it's fun to remember that we did have a dry season once.
DeleteThat Schefflera macrophylla is very nice, I will have to look for it. However, what is the small one at the bottom left of the photo with the narrow leaves. That also looks like a Schefflera. I would like to find one of those also.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult as hen's teeth to find as it's very difficult to propagate. The smaller one is Schefflera taiwaniana which is now widely available in nurseries.
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