Succulents and More™

My previous post about Peacock Horticultural Nursery in Sebastopol ended here: The gate at the end of the path in photo above leads to Robert and Marty’s private garden. When I last visited , in September 2021, the garden was only a few years old. Check out my post from then to get a baseline. Then compare to the photos below. As you can see, the garden has settled in very nicely. Lots of TLC and a mild climate have helped as well. The garden is full of the plants Robert and Marty love, ranging from cacti and succulents to flowering perennials and carnivorous plants. I even spotted a cycad or two. Robert, Marty, and I like pretty much the same plants. If this, by magic, ended being my garden, there’s very little I would change. Red, orange, purple, yellow: I love all these vibrant colors Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’ (back), Aster × frikartii ‘Monch’ (front) Pineapple lily ( Eucomis ) ×Mangave ‘Tooth Fairy’ (left) See how some of the terminal spines on this ×Mangave ‘Tooth Fairy’ ar...

Like so many other areas of commerce, the nursery business has seen a tremendous amount of consolidation and attrition. The big players have become bigger, and many smaller nurseries have fallen by the wayside. That’s why it’s so important to celebrate the independent nurseries that are still making a go of it. One such nursery is Peacock Horticultural Nursery on Gravenstein Highway (Highway 116) in Sebastopol — no, that’s not in Russia, it’s between Petaluma and Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. It’s been my favorite nursery since the first time I visited about 15 years ago. In fact, the very plant I bought from them, an Agave ‘Baccarat’, is still very much alive in the backyard. Sebastopol isn’t around the corner from where I live so unfortunately I don’t get to visit Peacock very often. In fact, I was a bit shocked when I realized that my last visit had been in September 2021 , so four years ago. (You can read about my other visits here: October 2013 , June 2014 , March 2018 .) When I r...