My haul from Annie's Annuals (4/4/20)

As you might have read in my previous post, I went to Annie's Annuals in Richmond, CA last Saturday. Properly gloved and masked and observing social distancing protocols, I slowly wandered through the nursery, loading my cart with plants that were on my wish list as well as some others that caught my eye.

The Agave colorata in the photo below falls into the “caught my eye” category. I've had many Agave colorata over the years, but virtually all over them turned out to be rather generic-looking. The search for the perfect Agave colorata is ongoing: I'm looking for one that doesn't pup excessively, has a symmetrical rosette, and features pronounced banding. It exists; the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson had one a few years ago.

I picked out the Agave colorata seedling below from about three dozen because it has a symmetrical rosette, wide leaves, well-developed marginal teeth, and a twisted terminal spine. I'm hoping this will turn into a beautiful swan someday.

Agave colorata

Three more dudleyas came home with me. I've had more success with them in recent years, planting them on a slight slope and keeping them almost completely dry in the summer.

Dudleya caespitosa, Dudleya virens ssp. hassei, Dudleya farinosa (the splotches are from the rain)

Both my wife and I like old-fashioned lilacs. We had one for many years, but I removed it in December because it was on its last legs. I was thrilled to find this Korean dwarf at Annie's—look at the small leaves! And it's already flowering! According to the Annie's Annuals website, it grows to 6 ft. but can be kept to 3 ft. with regular pruning. I bought two of these Syringa meyeri 'Palibin'; we'll keep one and the other will go to my mother-in-law.

Syringa meyeri 'Palibin'

You can't ever have enough strappy-leaved plants:

Dianella ensifolia, Arthropodium cirratum

Mediterranean perennials for full sun:

Rudbeckia hirta 'Chim Chiminee', Sideritis oroteneriffae, Papaver atlanticum

Cotula lineariloba

Something for bright shade (i.e. backyard)—look at the awesome flowers in this photo on the Annie's Annuals website:

Corydalis flexuosa

I don't usually buy annuals because, well, they're dead by the end of the year and need to be replaced. But now's the time to change things up, so I'm adding annuals to temporarily fill bare spots:

Lupinus succulentus, Helipterum roseum 'Pierrot', Ursinia anthemoides

  

Heliophila longifolia, Orlaya grandiflora

No trip to Annie's would be complete without an out-of-left-field plant, something you never expected to find or some oddity you've never even heard of. Here's mine, Bossiaea linophylla or narrow-leaved waterbush:

Narrow-leaved waterbush (Bossiaea linophylla)

Look at the flowers on this Western Australian member of the pea family, “ultra-rare in the United States”! I don't know when Annie's first introduced this plant, but it's now listed as discontinued on their website. They still had a half dozen of them last Saturday.

Here are all my plant purchases in a handy list:

Agave colorata		Link
Arthropodium cirratum	Renga lily	Link
Bossiaea linophylla	Narrow-leaved waterbush	Link
Corydalis flexuosa 'Porcelain Blue'		Link
Cotula lineariloba	Big yellow moon	Link
Dianella ensifolia		Link
Dudleya caespistosa		Link
Dudleya farinosa	Powdery liveforever	Link
Dudleya virens ssp. hassei	Catalina Island liveforever	Link
Heliophila longifolia		Link
Helipterum roseum 'Pierrot'	Crisp everlasting	Link
Lupinus succulentus	Arroyo lupine	Link
Orlaya grandiflora	Minoan lace	Link
Papaver atlanticum	Flore Pleno poppy	Link
Rudbeckia hirta 'Chim Chininee'	Chim Chininee black-eyed susan	Link
Sideritis oroteneriffae	Canary Island white sage	Link
Syringa meyeri 'Palibin'	Dwarf Korean lilac	Link
Ursinia anthemoides	Solar fire	Link

This list is primarily meant as a reminder for myself because I will no doubt refer back to this post in a few years.


© Gerhard Bock, 2020. All rights reserved. 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.