Wordless Wednesday: Joy Creek Nursery

Summertime: The Snowbells are Ringing

Japanese Snowbell Tree, Styrax japonicus.

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." —Lao Tzu

Wordless Wednesday: Beauty and the Beast

Dragon Flower, Dracunculus vulgaris.

Persian Jewels, Nigella damascena.

My Friend's Houseplant Blooms

This past weekend I visited with one of my plant friends and I asked her if I could share some pictures of her blooms. We spent some time catching up and it was great to see how much her garden had grown. Gardening friends are great, right?

We purchased many of these plants together just over a year ago and it really is a lot of fun to watch them grow and bloom. Gesneriads are simply so amazing when in bloom and I recommend that everyone have at least one.

Unknown Chirita.

Unknown Streptocarpus.

Unknown Streptocarpus.

Thunbergia grandiflora.

Our Pilgrimage to Annie's Annuals in the Bay Area

If you are a gardener, you already know about Annie's Annuals, and like me, you regularly jump for joy whenever their catalog arrives in your mailbox. If you are new to gardening, you must order a catalog from them asap. Each edition is complete eye candy and the plant descriptions are really well written. It makes for amazing bedside reading, and it will fill you dreams with so many blooms you've not yet dreamt about, but you will...I promise. 

If anything during this last trip made me want to move to California, it was this nursery, along with all of the other amazing gardens and native plants we met along the way. That day we drove in from camping along the Sonoma Coast and though we were dirty and tired, both my husband and I wandered around the nursery in some kind of a floral daze. 

Many of the plants below are special native plants in California. Reading about them really blew me away and I hope that my husband can purchase some for the vineyard in the future. 

Uncinia uncinata 'Red' or 'Rubra with Sisyrinchium.

I don't think I have ever seen Sweet Peas as sweet (Lathyrus odoratus).

Lathyrus odoratus 'Senator'.

Grindelia hirsutula.

Mimulus aurantiacus 'Point Molate'.

Lotus formossisimus 'Western Trefoil'.

Lupinus succulentus 'Rodeo Rose'.

Mimulus pictus 'Calico Monkey Flower'.

Thistle Sage, Salvia carduacea.

Butterfly Mariposa Lily, Calochortus venustus.

Armeria.

Phacelia viscida.

Antirrhinum multiflorum 'Rose Snapdragon'.

Lathyrus vestitus.

Tufted California Poppy, Eschscholzia caespitosa.

I love the blue of this Anchusa azurea 'Alkanet'. 

It is safe to say that shopping that day at Annie's Annuals was like visiting plant nerd paradise. Oh how I love that I can't take plants into California, but I sure can bring them out of The Golden State!