Getting Your Chlorophyll
Two of the best parts about this season: an abundance of spring blooms and garden shows.
At these shows, gardeners can find rare and unusual plants, exchange ideas with other plant enthusiasts and attend informative horticultural talks.
One of the most popular shows, the 12th annual Southern California Spring Garden Show, runs through Sunday at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.
Expected to attract at least 80,000 visitors, it spotlights a variety of plant vendors, display gardens and well-known speakers.
“Not only can you find plants and information, but plenty of inspirational ideas,” said landscape architect Christine Mulligan of Mulligan Studios in Long Beach, which coordinates the show’s displays.
There are 100 vendors offering exotic plants that aren’t usually carried in nurseries but do well in our Mediterranean climate.
Here is a sample of vendors and their plants:
Gregg Davila of Tustin-based Organic Art Plants and Design will have Erysimum ‘Gold Shot’ at the show. Commonly called wallflower, this erysimum grows 12 to 18 inches tall with clusters of deep, mustard-yellow, fragrant flowers. It is easy to grow and blooms almost year round.
Also available through Davila is the chocolate cosmos (C. atrosanguineus). This unusual perennial has a dark brown bloom that appears black and smells like Hershey’s chocolate.
It is also easy to grow and blooms late spring through summer.
“It’s amazing how good the chocolate cosmos smells,” Davila said. “I had to pull one little boy back by the suspenders because he was about to take a bite out of the flower.”
Ted Mayeda of M&M; Nursery in Orange has two rare flowers: Three Birds Flying (Linaria triornithophora), which resembles birds in flight and is a “real head-turner,” Mayeda said. “It grows 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, and has 1-inch purple-and-yellow flowers that appear on upright stems above gray-green foliage from late spring through late summer.”
Mayeda also has a new variety of lisianthus known as ‘Dwarf Mariachi.’
“This plant has a full triple bloom and gets to about 8 inches high in full sun,” Mayeda said. “The flowers come in blue, rose-pink and white, and are excellent for cutting.”
Jo O’Connell of Australian Native Plants Nursery in Ventura will be speaking about growing Australian native plants on Sunday at 3 p.m. According to O’Connell, they’re actually easier to grow here than in their native habitat because they don’t have any natural predators. “They become especially beautiful specimens here.”
Two rare plants O’Connell has at the show include Grevillea ‘Long John.’ This large shrub grows 8 feet high and wide, and has large coral-colored spider flowers and lacy foliage that emits a pinelike aroma. A hummingbird favorite, it flowers nearly year-round, peaking in spring and summer.
The King protea (P. cynaroides) grows to 6 feet by 6 feet, and has large pink flowers that reach 8 inches across. It is the national flower of South Africa and does especially well in our climate.
At San Diego-based Big Island Plants’s display, there will be a variety of tropicals including various plumeria such as yellow varieties, which are the most fragrant and traditionally used to make Hawaiian leis.
The display will also have easy-to-grow tuberose. These plants have fragrant, white gladiola-like flower spikes that shoot up 2 to 3 feet.
At Native Sons Wholesale Nursery’s exhibit, you’ll find a selection of hard-to-find flowers, including the Italian bell-flower (Isophylla ‘Variegata’). This low-growing evergreen perennial has velvety-looking variegated foliage in rich blue with star-shaped blooms. It grows 6 inches tall and spreads up to 2 feet.
Blooms appear most heavily in summer, but it will flower throughout the year, especially along the coast.
The geranium harveyi is a finely textured perennial with brilliant silver foliage and small magenta flowers. It mounds to 12 inches with a 4-foot spread and is drought tolerant.
Resources:
* Mulligan Studios, (562) 427-7656.
* Organic Art Plants and Design, (714) 235-3098; https://www.organicart plants.com.
* M & M Nursery, (714) 538-8042; https://www.mmnursery.com.
* Australian Native Plants Nursery, (805) 649-3362.
* Big Island Plants, (619) 232-2600.
BE THERE
The 12th annual Southern California Spring Garden show continues through Sunday at South Coast Plaza, Crate and Barrel/Macy’s Home Store Wing, 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa. Parking and admission are free. Today, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Call (800) 782-8888 or go to https://www.south coastplaza.com.
