I received an email from Mark Gleason, who gardens in Costa Mesa, with the picture of a gorgeous plant that goes by the name of purple spur flower or Cape lilac (Plectranthus ecklonii).
However, the email was tinged with sadness since it reports on the closing of a special nursery: “A little less than a year ago you wrote about Plectranthus ecklonii,” Gleason’s email began. “My next-door neighbor had just built an awful block wall that tore up my garden on that side of my house. I wanted some big, showy plants to help cover the wall, so I immediately ordered some Plectranthus ecklonii from the late, great Annie’s Annuals. They look great. They attract hummingbirds, bees, and some fence lizards that hang out on the wall use them for cover. Too bad about Annie’s Annuals – they had everything.”
Annies Annuals, most of whose stock actually consisted of perennials, was a world-renowned nursery located in Richmond in the East Bay (near Berkeley). People would come from far and wide to buy plants from Annie and her selection of unusual plants was available by mail order as well.
For a horticultural learning experience second to none, I invite you to peruse Annie’s catalog at anniesannuals.com. Of the hundreds of pictured species, accompanied by a description of each, you will find only a handful you recognize since everything sold at Annie’s was off-the-beaten-track of typical nursery fare. Annie sold the nursery three years ago and the new owner developed health problems that compelled her to close the nursery last month.
A new owner is being sought and we can only hope that a buyer will emerge to continue to propagate and make available the unique collection of plants that made Annie’s unique.
As for Gleason’s Cape lilac, whose name references its South African, Cape province habitat, it was planted from a four-inch pot last fall and is now six feet tall, six feet wide, and is covered with numerous six-inch spikes of purple blooms. This is a species that can grow in any type of soil and will thrive in half-day sun or less, although it will benefit from moderate watering. It is remarkable that in its first year of growth, when plants are most sensitive to extreme temperatures, it appears to have weathered this year’s blistering heat without complaint.
If you want to acquire this plant you can do so through Accents for the Garden (accentsforthegarden.com), a mail-order nursery in Delaware. Prices are reasonable as purple spur, red spur, and white spur varieties of Plectranthus ecklonii are being offered for $5.95 in four-inch pots.
Two other epic nurseries will be closing in the near future so now would be the time to consider purchase of their plants while they are still available. One of these nurseries is San Marcos Growers (smgrowers.com) in Santa Barbara. It will close at the end of next year to make way for low-income housing. On the left side of the home page of the nursery’s website, click “Retail Locator” to find retail nurseries in your area that carry San Marcos Growers’ plants and could order them for you. San Marcos specializes in Mediterranean, South African, and Australian plants with special emphasis on Aloes, of which the nursery grows more than 200 species and varieties. A full catalog of their plants is available on their website.
Then there is Nuccio’s (nucciosnurseries.com) in Altadena. This nursery grows more than 500 varieties of camellias and azaleas. It was established 90 years ago by the grandparents of Tom and Jim Nuccio, the septuagenarian, third-generation owners. Together with adjacent, undeveloped acreage, the nursery has been sold to a private school which will utilize most of the land for environmental enrichment programs.
The nursery’s closing date has not been set. Still, you would be wise to visit there between January and March of next year when most azaleas and camellias are in bloom so as to view everything the nursery has to offer. While azaleas and camellias are not as drought tolerant as cacti, they are not water-needy either. I am familiar with several gardens where heavily mulched mature azaleas and camellias were soaked only once a week this past summer, despite the scorching heat, yet they did not display any signs of stress.
After writing about fig beetles in two recent columns, the saga of these clumsy, dive-bombing insects continues. Joanne Ludewig, who tends her plants in Garden Grove, dispatched fig beetles up close and personal after they invaded her lantana bushes. “I wasn’t sure how to eradicate them,” she wrote, “so I got out long-handled trimming shears and stealthily snipped them in half. I’m sure I easily snipped at least a hundred of these beetles between July and September. These bugs didn’t seem too interested in my apples, unless one had fallen and developed a soft rotten spot. Ditto for any tomatoes on the bush that had a soft rotten spot. Then it was a mass invasion on that spot, with four or five of them all sharing, head-to-head, and munching away. UGH! But I was most upset about them on my lantana. They appeared to gnaw on the blossoms, and then what was left was a dead brown bud base. My lantanas draw several different varieties of butterflies and hummingbirds to my yard, but these bugs destroy the flowers. . . I also have a pink butterfly bush (Buddleia) nearby; none of the beetles were drawn to its blossoms, but of course, the butterflies and hummers were. Just wanted to share this aspect of the beetle invasion since most people associate them with figs and other soft fruits.”
Ed Quo, who gardens in Fountain Valley, succeeded in controlling fig beetles using a biological control product. “I was beset by those green beetles in my backyard,” he confessed, “with an Osborne fig dominating the patio. One application of milky spore powder eliminated all the beetles with perfect results in my big backyard. Also, I haven’t seen a single grub larva anywhere since. I presume the occasional fig beetle comes from a neighbor. Milky spore is advertised as effective for years, and non-toxic to humans, pets, wildlife, plants, crops, and the water table.”
Milky spore is the name of a disease that is specifically meant to kill Japanese beetle grubs but is apparently effective on fig beetle grubs as well. The disease agent is a bacteria (Paenibacillaceae papillae) which is found in products sold as milky spore. Milky spore powder is dusted onto a lawn or over bare soil and watered in. When a grub ingests the bacteria, it dies. Then, as the grub decomposes, billions of bacterial spores are ejected into the soil. Once the bacteria has established itself 3-5 years following a single application of milky spore, grubs may be controlled for up to 15 years. Fall is the recommended season for application of this pesticide.
Miners lettuce Claytonia perfoliata (Photo by Ron Vanderhoff)
California native of the week: Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata), as its name implies, was eaten by miners in California who came here looking for gold in the 1800s. It was an excellent source of vitamin C in a diet that included a paucity of fruit and vegetables. The miners quickly learned that consumption of this plant prevented scurvy. Now is an excellent time to sow the seeds of miner’s lettuce which are widely available through online vendors. These annuals have a unique look as their leaves encircle their stems and flowers emerge from the center of the leaves. All plant parts are edible except for the roots. The leaves’ flavor is akin to that of lettuce and they may be eaten raw or cooked like spinach. Plants prefer damp soil and a shady exposure to flourish. Miner’s lettuce will not exceed 12 inches in height and displays a clumping growth habit. It also self-sows.
If you know of a nursery — whether local or mail order — more people should know about, please inform me of it in an email to Joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions, comments, gardening conundrums and success stories are always welcome.
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