4/30/09

What's for sale at the San Francisco Botanical Garden plant sale this weekend?

I helped a little bit with set-up for the big sale this year. The members' preview sale is Friday night, May 1, from 5 to 9 p.m. You don't have to be a member to attend. You just have to be a member to buy, and I believe you can even buy a membership when you buy your plants. The sale opens to the public on Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will still be plenty of plants on Saturday, so don't worry about that. Many people think the Saturday sale is a lot mellower too. Some of the members can get a little hot under the collar when you put a bunch of plants in front of them.

Shop for perennials and natives under the blooming Shogetsu cherries...

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You can buy Gunnera, if you have room to plant it. These are just waking up from dormancy and will get, oh, 10 times bigger before the season ends.

Gunnera

My favorite ground-cover for dry shade: Omphalodes cappodocica in a 1-gallon pot for a mere $6!

Omphalodes cappodocica

Scroll over pictures for plant names...

Anchusa capensis

Geums

It's nice to see Restios available in 1-gallon pots; usually you have to buy them much larger. A whole slew of them.

Restionaceae

many grasses

Salvias

I'll bet these will go quickly:

Eryngium proteiflorum

California natives are a specialty, and they sell many obscure manzanitas.

Many manzanitas

Solanum xanti var. obispoense

They always have a lot of native iris, including the purple hybrid 'Joey'. (Sidenote: If you can be a passenger on a drive down highway 1 [or ride your bike?] to Santa Cruz, you can see an amazing Iris show right now.)

Iris douglasiana 'Joey'

This fern caught my eye. Sorry for the blurry picture.

Blechnum spicant ssp. nipponicum

Inside, they have a lot of vireyas for sale, in various sizes and prices. (And several tables full of regular rhodies, too.)

Vireyas

Many agaves and succulents in small pots--perfect for your fitting into your rock wall.

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They always have Crassula corymbulosa for sale.

Crassula corymbulosa

Kalanchoe beharensis--this is one my favorite succulents for container planting. These become quite remarkable after a few years.

Kalanchoe beharensis

Epiphyllum cuttings.

epiphyllums

Variegated kerria in 6" pots.

Kerria japonica 'variegata'

Abutilon city.

Abutilons

Begoniaville.

Begonias

I know almost nothing about begonias, but they've been on my mind ever since Lotusland. Begonia luxurians.

Begonia luxurians

There are at least a dozen different Clematis available, including 'Mrs. N. Thomson' here,

Clematis 'Mrs. N. Thomson'

Wigela florida 'Wine and Roses'

There are four tables of Protaceae, but the only picture that came out was Grevellia sericea.

Grevellia sericea

I have houseguests this weekend, so I won't be able to attend. Which is good, in a way.

Also for sale: a slew of fuchsias, cloud forest plants and shade shrubs, trees, vegetables, rock garden elements, bonsai, roses, vines...

4 comments:

Unknown said...

What amazing plants! Thats the best plant sale that I've seen! Wish I could have been there.

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

Wish I was going! I love succulents and that fern would want to go home with me too!
That is a beautiful clematis and one I don't have. I would grab that too!!!(-:
CiNdEeS' GaRdEn

Christopher C. NC said...

Very impressive, a plant nerds dream, not the usual run of the mill landscape plant material. I have been uninspired at the local Big Box this year and need to take the time to go to real nurseries.

Kerria has to be the most rank, worst suckering and ugliest stick shrub around. I have been removing it here. It is a waste of space even with all the space we have.

lisa said...

Wow....I could spend a lot of money there!