Our next stop was at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, yes that’s me with a remarkable Agave guiengola (thanks to Gerhard for the photo).
Since I’d spotted a must-have plant (a dryland fern) in Gerhard’s garden, our next stop was a slight detour to East Bay Wilds, a native plant nursery in Oakland, it’s only open on Fridays! After that we drove down to Livermore, CA and visited our
fellow blogging friend, Tracy. Here she is with one of the ginormous staghorn ferns on her front porch.
Our first stop on Saturday morning was at Max and Justin’s Oakland garden (even better than I imagined it would be!) and then we were off to Ann Nichols’ Piedmont garden. I fist visited Ann’s garden during the Bay Area Fling in 2013 and I was thrilled to return. Here are Ann, Max and Justin in Ann’s garden…
Also in Ann’s garden, and . It turns out Kiamara (an expert on dryland ferns) was there in 2013 too, helping Ann manage the Fling crowd.
After a quick “drive-by” stop to see a cramscaped front garden, we then visited Marcia Donahue’s famous Berkeley garden. This was my third visit to Marcia’s garden and there were new things to see, she’s been busy.
Here Max and Gerhard are snapping images in Marcia’s inspiring garden.
Our final stop of the day (well, not counting another quick front garden drive-by) was garden, that’s David in the yellow and black, between Max and Marcia (Ann and Justin on the right). Funny I knew we were visiting the garden of a guy named David but I had no idea it was “” David who I follow and have conversed with on Instagram.
I couldn’t believe it, but Gerhard was willing to drive back down to Berkeley again on Sunday, so we met up with at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley. Here she is all smiles with Gerhard.
After a few hours spent touring the UC Berkeley garden we said goodbye to Janet and drove on to the Wave Garden (
another garden I first visited during 2013 Fling), and then made a quick stop at Curious Flora (formerly Annie’s Annuals) in Richmond before heading back to Gerhard’s home in Davis. WOWSA! I am so indebted to Gerhard for his willingness to host and adventure with me! He’s a great partner in plant crime, so to speak.
Here’s the rest of the haul…
Gerhard was kind enough to pass along this hanging (once I add wires) “plant supporting” piece of pottery he picked up in Portland a few years ago when we visited a collector who was downsizing.
Kiamara (mentioned above) generously shared sporelings of Asplenium ceterach she grew.
And Gerhard shared seed grown babies from his Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’…
Which was in bloom during my visit!
Such a beauty…
He also gave me a pair of
Oxalis palmifrons, bulbs that go dormant when things heat up. They’ve been in his greenhouse and are already dormant for the season.
Tracy sent both Gerhard and I home with a Platycerium grande (I doubt it will ever look as grand as the one on her front porch, but a girl can dream).
Next, Hechtia epigyna, a pup from Gerhard’s plant.
I neglected to take a photo of my plant itself (you can see it next to the hechtia in the haul photo), but I got a Tillandsia secunda from Ann, her plant was blooming and the bloom spike develops pups! That’s it on the left, leaning against the wooden support.
Here’s a photo I took of another Tillandsia secunda I saw in San Diego, so you can see how the pups develop.
Gerhard also sent me home with two agave pups, Agave impressa…
Mama plant
And Agave pintilla…
Mama plant
Ferns! This is the plant we sidetracked to East Bay Wilds to purchase, Pellaea mucronata. It’s native to much of California, and parts of Oregon, Nevada and Arizona, where it grows in various types of rocky habitat (
source).
Here it is in Gerhard’s garden.
Finally, a chunk of fern from David, a Pleopeltis sp. or hybrid whose true identity is a mystery as it was rescued from an abandoned container by a friend of his (who just happens to be Tracy’s daughter’s boyfriend, Ivan… it’s a small world!).
Here’s another piece of the same fern in David’s garden…
I know this was a long post, but I wanted to include the people and the plants together in the same post, they tell the story of what a warm and generous group I spent the weekend with. When I floated the idea of a visit to Gerhard I had no idea it would turn into such an extravaganza. Plant people are the best!
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