My Texas plant haul

I'm sorry for not posting anything last week, but I was in Austin, TX for the 2018 Garden Bloggers Fling. This was the 10-year anniversary of this annual gathering of garden enthusiasts from the US, Canada and beyond. The first Fling was held in Austin in 2008, so returning to the capital of Texas after Chicago, Buffalo, Seattle, Asheville, San Francisco, Portland, Toronto, Minneapolis, and the DC Area made perfect sense.

I took close to 2,000 photos of the 15 gardens we toured, and I hope to start posting about them next week. In the meantime, let me know show you my plant haul. It came home with me in my suitcase:


I'd come to Austin well prepared, bringing bubble wrap and two small cardboard boxes as well as packing tape. All my supplies got put to good use.


The key to traveling with plants is to pack everything as tightly as possible to minimize movement. Dirty clothes are great for that.

Here are the two larger plants I bought: Texas beargrass (Nolina texana) on the left and a new Hesperaloe parviflora cultivar called 'Sandia Glow' on the right (also shown in the photo above).


'Sandia Glow' is a new introduction by Mountain States Wholesale Nursery. The flowers are the same true-red color as the popular 'Brakelight', but the plant is significantly larger than 'Brakelight'.

Hesperaloe parviflora 'Sandia Glow' at East Austin Succulents

Here are my remaining plants:


  • Aristolochia fimbriata: white-veined Dutchman's pipe, a vining groundcover from South America
  • Lavandula angustifolia 'Platinum Blonde': a variegated form of English lavender
  • Trachelospermum jasminoides 'Variegata': a variegated form of star jasmine
  • Unnamed Begonia rex-cultorum cultivar with small mottled leaves
  • Kalanchoe rhombopilosa: a small kalanchoe species with mottled silver leaves
All my plants survived the 1,800-mile flight intact. The same can't be said for one of three pots I bought at Articulture, a cool boutique and event space where we had our closing barbecue.


The pot that broke (into a surprising number of pieces, I might add) was very similar to the one on the left in the photo below:

The two pots that made it in one piece

I'll try to glue the broken pot together. The result might actually look interesting.

To give you a small teaser of things to come, here's a photo of writer Lucinda Hutson's house. Her garden celebrates the culture (and colors!) of Mexico. It was one of my favorite gardens, although (or because) I will never be able to pull off something like that myself. Lucinda has written two books about tequila, and the Fling's closing reception featured two of her tequila-based cocktails. They were tasty indeed; I know because I performed thorough testing!

Lucinda Hutson in the doorway of her purple house


© Gerhard Bock, 2018. No part of the materials available through www.succulentsandmore.com may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Gerhard Bock. Any other reproduction in any form without the permission of Gerhard Bock is prohibited. All materials contained on this site are protected by  United States and international copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Gerhard Bock. If you are reading this post on a website other than www.succulentsandmore.com, please be advised that that site is using my content without my permission. Any unauthorized use will be reported.

Comments

  1. Looking forward to your posts. I've seen Pam's posts on her blog about Lucinda's garden, so I'm going to be watching avidly to see what other bloggers focused on. I've always thought her garden looks fascinating. I love color too, but like you, I don't think I could pull it off. What a bummer about your pot.

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    1. Lucinda Hutson's garden made me feel good. That intangible quality is so important. You often don't know that unless it's missing.

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  2. Oh no, your pot! I agree it might look good glued back together though. And a nice plant haul also. It was great to meet you in person!

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    1. Pot gluing is my #1 project for the weekend. And I don't mean THAT kind of pot.

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  3. Great haul! You're an expert plant packer. Sorry about your pot but agree that it'll look interesting glued back together. Looking forward to your fling posts!

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  4. the downed Tillandsia you gave me had an easier journey than your pots, but I'm sure glad the spiky one was not the victim !

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    1. LOL. It's also squishable, which helps. My Tillandsia recurvata seem to be clean, i.e. no chiggers.

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  5. Nice plants! I have seen Aristolochia fimbriata in bloom and is definitely a strange one that I'd love to try as well! Looking forward to the upcoming posts!

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    1. I bought Aristolochia fimbriata because I like the mottle leaves AND they smell good. And somebody else at the nursery told me what a wonderful plant it is. I'm easy to convince!

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  6. So bummed about your pot, especially since it was half of a pair. It’s going to be weird not seeing you this coming weekend or the one after, since it’s been two in a row now!

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    1. I know! Two weekends in a row, that probably won't happen again for a while!

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  7. Followed the fling via FB, it looked so much fun! Great to see the plants arrived fine, shame about the pot but hopefully it will be fine once glued together.

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    1. You were missed. Your names came up more than once or twice :-).

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  8. So sorry about the pot! It was a treat to get a chance to talk with you more at this Fling. Look forward to seeing your plants in the garden (future posts).

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    1. I loved talking to you as well although there never seems to be enough time for that, considering how many people there are...

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  9. That little aristolochia has reseeded for me. I'd love to try it draping out of a pot in a more prominent place. Two out of three pots ain't bad!

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  11. Always smart to buy pots in pairs, just in case. ;)

    A vining groundcover, huh? You have room for that somewhere?

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  12. You and Hoover Boo bettered me by double in the photo category! I'm really impressed by that shot of Lucinda Hutson in her doorway with nary another blogger in sight - how did you manage that?! Sorry that the one pot didn't make it but you did well getting everything else home unscathed. Good to see you!

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    1. Lucinda Hutson: I waited until (almost) everyone was gone and asked Luncinda if she'd mind standing in her doorway. I'm glad I did. I got at least two really good photos of her.

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  13. It was fun spending time with you, Gerhard, and I look forward to seeing your pics of the Fling gardens when you have time to sort them out. I'm glad your plants made it home OK. Bummer about the pot.

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    1. I'm REALLY happy my new Hesperaloe made it. Thank you for leading me to the source :-).

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  14. Impressive haul! I’ve never tried to bring any plants home by plane but you’ve inspired me to try next time there’s a need.

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    1. I was very nervois the first time I did, but I've never had a bad experience traveling with plants. Now pottery, that's another story!

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  15. Always fun to come home with both new plants and good memories. Look forward to seeing your trip photos of Austin. It looks like there's really some interesting gardens there, and such a different palette than here in California.

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    1. I found Austin gardens very interesting. They have one foot in the Southwest (exeric plants) and another in the South and Southeast (lush, humidity-loving plants).

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  16. I'll need to use your method of dirty clothes to pack in plants. The real Nolina texana...that would be worth it alone. I thought my 750+ photos were alot.

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