This is the last in a series of posts about my trip to California with Dan Heims, president of Terra Nova Nurseries. I wrote an article about the trip for the back page of the Jul./Aug. 2015 issue of Alabama Gardener. They only print one picture in the magazine, and I took over a thousand, so I’m posting some of the extras here.
That’s Dan’s excited face. In the article, I talk about seeing rare plants, and that was one of them. It was kinda like some of these next ones…only different.
I also talk about visiting with Dan’s friend, the Begonia Guy. This next picture is my favorite from the Begonia Guy’s garden.
Large shelves in the living room held more Begonias, and then there was the spare bedroom turned into the Begonia room. Most of the ones there were in fish tanks partially covered with glass.
The Begonia Guy enjoys mounting his begonias.
I liked the Begonia Guy. He said that I reminded him of his favorite aunt, which was a very nice thing to say to someone you just met.
We also visited Dan’s friend the Clivia Guy. I had no idea that there were so many different types.
Clivia tips: Don’t re-pot very often. They like crowded roots. And if you want them to bloom in spring, they need a cool, dry period. I’m moving mine into the garage for December and January.
Just down the street from the Clivia Guy was this yard.
I agree that it’s hideous, but there’s something about its attitude that I like. It says, “F you drought. And by the way neighbors, I don’t care what you think.”
In the article, I talk about visiting botanical gardens and nurseries, but some of the nurseries were like little botanical gardens. It’s a great concept. You see mature plants and examples of how you can use them in your garden. Then you can buy smaller plants to take home.
And when I said that we visited nurseries, I meant that we visited LOTS of nurseries.
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I saw some lovely creations, such as this succulent wreath.
One of coolest nurseries that we visited was California Cactus Center in Pasadena. Most of their container combinations were little pieces of art. I have dozens of great pictures and the business card of the nice lady who designs them.
In the article, I call Dan a “troublemaker” for talking me into buying so many plants, but I was just teasing. Truthfully, I’m loving my new treasures. I don’t remember which nursery we were at, but Dan talked to the Fuchsia Guy and picked out 6 to get for himself. Then Dan asked the Fuchsia Guy to pick out 2 for me that might take Alabama’s heat and humidity. I thought about arguing and saying there wasn’t room in my suitcase for anymore plants. Besides, I already found a Fuchsia that grows well for me. Fuchsia ‘Sanihanf’ was the subject of my Hot Plant article in the Jul./Aug. 2014 issue of Alabama Gardener. But arguing is more of a Real Peggy thing to do. Vacation Peggy bought the plants. Good thing too. I like ‘Mendonama Belle’ even better than ‘Sanihanf’.
Fuchsia ‘Mendonama Belle’
Fuchsia ‘Mendonama Belle’
So I think this post fills in the last of the pictures to go with the article and tells a few stories that didn’t fit. Before I end the series, I need to make a little confession. I usually don’t exaggerate or embellish when I write – real life seems interesting enough – but I fibbed when I wrote a recent blog post for Alabama Gardner. I said that I was “completely ignored” because I was traveling with Dan. That’s only the tiniest bit true, and if it sounded mean or snarky, I’m sorry, but it made for a cuter story. – OMG, my kids are right. I always add a “but” after “I’m sorry”. – Anyway, to make up for it, I will tell you five totally-true Dan Details: He’s the biggest plant geek I’ve ever met, which is endearing. He loves his family and has a huge, soft spot for his grandson. He once jammed on his harmonica onstage with Charlie Daniels. He likes to play Cards Against Humanity, a hilarious game if you enjoy crude humor. And driving a rental car is not one of his strengths.
If you haven’t seen the other posts in this series, you shouldn’t look at this next picture because it will ruin the beginning. The series starts with a fun game where I post pictures of plants, and you guess which ones came back from California in my suitcase. Here’s a link to ‘What’s in Peggy’s Suitcase?’. This next picture is the plants just before I packed them. Since it’s the last picture that I took while I was in California, it’s a good way to end this series.
I titled the article ‘Peggy’s Big Adventure’. At first I had ‘Dan and Peggy’s Big Adventure’, but the article is about what it was like for me to travel with one of the kings of horticulture, Dan Heims. Dan travels with himself all the time, so…
Maybe one day he’ll visit me in Alabama and have ‘Dan’s Big Adventure’.