Agave update - danger made me do it!

Danger made me do it! That is, I was so inspired by the agave update on danger garden this morning that I thought I would do a much smaller version myself.  That is obviously because I don't have the epic collection like Loree - but its growing pretty fast!

I thought I'd start with agave ovatifolia 'frosty blue.' This one was planted out last fall and sailed through winter.  It had one arm amputation in early spring but has grown enough that you can't even tell.  I love this little agave.

Agave parryi var parryi was new to me this year.  I had wanted one of these for the longest time and kept telling myself next time .... and thankfully next time came.

And look, it has a baby!

Another agave ovatifolia 'frosty blue.'  This is my largest in ground agave.  It's hard to tell from pictures but this one is really starting to put on some size and gain that sense of agave presence in the garden.

This agave parryi truncata, however, has that cute baby agave look.  I understand the 'retro choke' tags that you often see on these ones.  But check out those wonderful pokes!

This agave bracteosa 'calamar' was a long time coming.  I have only talked and talked and talked about how much I have wanted one of these.  This summer I finally took the plunge... it was on clearance!!! That is such a good feeling when an object of absolute plant lust is sitting on the clearance table.

Another agave ovatifolia 'frosty blue' ... I kind of have a thing for these ones.  But truth be told, I don't think they are the best PNW agave.  Most agave growers up this way swear by agave parryi.

This is my mystery agave.  It has one sad arm but otherwise took everything last winter could throw at it in stride.  It was in part shade and really neglected.  So I thought I would change its conditions and moved it to full sun and super well drained soil.  I think it is an agave parryi of some sort.

Another agave addition was this agave parryi huachucensis.  It has two pups visible from this angle and another one just a few inches away! I think this is most gnarly looking of all the agave parryi.  It has that little extra dose of danger.

And here's a couple potted agaves just for good measure.

Lake Okanogan - Mission Hill Vineyard

What a long weekend! Monday was BC Day and so I decided to hit the road on Friday afternoon and celebrate a long weekend in BC's Okanogan.  Lots of people here refer to it as wine country, lake country, or simply by it's largest city Kelowna.  The area is much drier and much hotter than coastal BC and so it has long been the summer playground of Vancouverites.  During my time, I had the privilege of stopping by at Mission Hill Vineyards.  It is in one word exquisite. 

You can walk through some of the vineyards and see the grapes ...

These one's are the Pinot Noir grapes nestled against the sun drenched hillside.

The vineyard offers stunning outlooks of Lake Okanogan and the surrounding communities.

I could handle a nice diner down there! There's something so magical about places like this.  You know where you don't even want to leave.  If you could, you would suspend time for at least one more moment to try and soak it all up.

Mission Hill had a really impressive rose collection surrounding there parking lot.

But it was really the beautiful lavender and manicured boxwood that caught my eye.

Sunshine and lavender just screams warmth to me.

As I said goodbye I snapped one last picture of the roses. I even reached my nose in for a nice smell of this one.  So there you have it, sunshine, vineyards, and smellin' the roses!!! I looove summer!!!

Well here's part two of my adventure to Minter Gardens.  I'm afraid I'm all out of agaves today. They only had the ones near the entrance that I showed yesterday.  But, there are just so many treasures to be found around the gardens.

Here's some patriotism sportin' a massive Canadian flag.

They do have a rather large rose garden at Minter Gardens.  I'm sorry, I only took one picture here. It certainly smelled magnificent.

I love flax planters.  These ones have a traditional almost English look to them.

(notice the giant timber bamboo top left?)

I love how this serpentine pathway beckons you forward.

Ferns give it an almost enchanted feel.

hmmm.... Can I take this home with me?!

I absolutely love this!!!  It's almost needed in such a formal space.  I got a good laugh at least.

These bay laurel standards were really beautiful with slightly serrated edges.

And here's where things get interesting.... My beloved dicksonia antarctica.

They have so much presence and personality.

And I love the glow of their feathery fronds.

And here's a really inspired plant palate. The combination of all the green, whites, and orange/red is really stunning.

These sculptures really got my attention.  You obviously can't see it here but they moved so beautifully with the light breeze.  I have seen a few of these now around the coast.  They are absolutely stunning!

More plant art! This dragon was really cool!

Of course made better by the use of echeveria.

Well I hope you all enjoyed part two of the visit to Minter Gardens. If you find yourself "Wackward" in the Fraser Valley it's definitely worth a trip.