Stanley Park

Summer is here in the PNW!! There is a change in the air. Not just being warmer, but in peoples spirit. Everyone has a look and sense of euphoria. I headed out to Stanley Park on the weekend to take in the sun, people watching, beach and great gardens!

Aeoniums were planted all over!

I love these black ones especially with the nice yucca gloriosa in the background.  These were taken in front of the restaurant at the Malkin Bowl.

Succulents anyone? I don't think I have ever seen more echeveria in my entire life.

 They almost look like a blanket of snow - the only kind of snow I like, blankets of pale icy blue echeveria!!!

Phormium surfer I believe....

Danger! I think I shrieked when I saw this pair of epic agave americana (you can faintly make out the one in the background).

This guy had been largely de-spiked... too bad.

I'm always amazed at how good the zone 8/9 plants looks at stanley park.... sigh.

What do you suppose this is supposed to be?

Succulent art of some kind.  I was enamoured by all these wonderful echeveria.

I'm thinking it's some kind of possessed clown.  It's creepy but a twisted side of me likes it.  If I envision the smily face to be mountains, the nose to be the sun, and the eyes/brows to be the clouds it almost becomes an even more epic landscape.  hmmm.. this could be a fun game.

I could literally spend hours exploring the gardens of Stanley Park.  Unfortunately we had some sort of schedule to keep.  Next time.

I absolutely need these!!! Prickly flowers... does it get any better?

Succulent wreath then and now

A few months ago I shared this "before" picture of my succulent wreath that I had just put together.  This was one of those things that I had seen in magazines, blog sites, and decided I needed to make.  That and I had come across some beautiful albeit VERY expensive ones at the nursery....

It took WAY longer for everything to get established than I initially thought it would.  Maybe the cold and rain had something to do with that.  Either way, I was out in the yard the other day and lifted it upright to see how snug everything was and much to my joy, nothing moved or fell out!!  Now the real question is what I'm actually going to do with it.

 I can say it looks far superior in the glow of the sunshine.  Everything does.  Today when I was out snapping this picture was the smell and the feel of a summer morning! SUMMER ACTUALLY CAME!

So I have to find a place to hang this.  It has been used as a wreath around candles out in the yard and I will say it looks quite nice that way... but I do indeed think I need to find a place to hang this.

Phoenix Perennials visit

I have found my new home. A few weeks ago I posted a few pictures from Phoenix Perennials at the Pacific Northwest Palm and Exotic Plant Society annual plant sale and I keep finding myself coming up with excuses to go back.  This weekend I had the most legitimate excuse yet, sun! The sun was apparently shining everywhere but at my house (a conspiracy I'm sure).  Not that I needed an excuse to visit a place this wonderful.  I actually find myself overwhelmed when I go.  I walk around aimlessly for hours holding different plants.

Every time I see this trochodendron aralioides I want to plant it at my neighbours house.  You see, I really don't have a home for this, but if it just so happened to land on the other side of the fence, I really would not complain.

This acacia pravissima on the other hand could always find a home in my yard.

And of course an object of plant lust... chamaerops humilis cerifera.

Pineapple guava is a plant that always attracts my attention.  I think its the silvery undersides of the leaves.  I have never grown one of these though I am told they do really well here in the PNW.

 Azara microphylla I believe.  This was a stunner!

Here's where I started to lose it.  I even had dreams about this plant.

aloe striatula

opuntias, yuccas and agaves... I think the owners of Phoenix Perennials are my people

oh but it gets even better...  dasylirion Wheeleri, yucca rigida, and dasylirion longissimum.  I sense a desert bed overhaul in my near future.  I first have to tackle a jungle of ivy and blackberries.

I almost grabbed another aloe polyphylla - apparently squirrels don't only like to hurt my aloe aristatas.  I found one of my beautiful aloe polyphylla desiccated and torn into hundreds of pieces not too long ago when I came home from work.  It wasn't pretty.

More plants to temp me with with.  I have long been an avid fan of eucalyptus trees and Phoenix Perennials has one of the best selections of these beauties around.

But more than anything, I lusted after this planter.  I know just where this belongs... with ME!

I actually felt like my head was spinning after a while.

And my head is still spinning looking back on these pictures.  I don't even know if I can say it, well type it (which theoretically should be easier) ... I didn't buy anything! WHAT?! I know, I don't know what happened. I was so very much overwhelmed.

Don't worry... I'm going back.  But first off I will tackle some ivy and work on the new planting space.