First 2012 plant sale at UC Davis Arboretum

Even in our mild winter climate, gardeners are eager for spring to arrive so they can get their hands dirty. That was evident yesterday at UC Davis Arboretum’s first plant sale of the year. The line was already many dozens long when the doors opened at 9 am, and when we checked out an hour later, each of the 12+ cashiers was busy ringing up sales.

Stunning cherry blossoms just outside of the UC Davis teaching nursery where the Arboretum plant sales are held

                                                                                                                                           

There were no plant tags so I don’t know what these trees are, but the blossoms were just magnificent

I go to most plant sales at UC Davis Arboretum so I have a good idea of what to expect. However, since this is the year of the Arboretum’s 75th anniversary, the number and variety of plants seems to be larger than ever before. Just take a look at the plant list for this sale: It’s 15 pages long.

Some of the many aisles of plants

Plant sizes range from 4” to 5 gallon containers

My first order of business was to check out the succulents. Sometimes their succulents are very small, such as the Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’ below.

Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’. Small plants in 4” pots.
These will take a long time to grow to a decent size.

However, the echeverias were a really nice size, especially these Echeveria ‘Afterglow’. I couldn’t leave without one.

Echeveria ‘Afterglow’

Echeveria ‘Afterglow’

They also had an aloe I’d never heard of before: Aloe ‘Estrella del Mar’. It must be a locally created hybrid because the only link I found on Google was to a UC Davis Arboretum page.

Aloe ‘Estrella del Mar

Aloe × spinosissima is a local favorite and it’s in bloom right now all over town. The Arboretum Terrace in downtown has particularly showy specimens.

Aloe × spinosissima

As always, the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory was represented with their own selection of plants. Checking out their sale tables is always a personal highlight, and I’ve bought quite a few unusual plants from them over the years. This time they had more agaves than before, including two standouts: Agave ‘Sharkskin’ (Agave ferdinandii-regis × Agave scabra) and an unnamed cross between Agave parrasana and Agave colorata.

Agave ‘Sharkskin’

Agave parrasana × colorata
Check out the beautiful bud imprints!

Lots of small cacti, most of them Echinopsis hybrids

Echinopsis ‘Johnson hybrid’

Graptopetalum amethystinum
I recently saw this fleshy succulent at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

The offerings at the Botanical Conservatory tables go beyond succulents. These are pitcher plants, carnivorous plants hardy enough to grow outside in our climate.

I was happy to find a tray full of Veltheimia bracteata, a South African bulb with flowers that resemble small kniphofias (see further down)

Back in the main sales area, I came across this striking foliage plant called Rumex sanguineus subsp. sanguineus. I had never seen it before and knew nothing about it. Apparently it’s native to Europe, northern Africa and southwest Asia and new leaves can be eaten like spinach. It’s considered invasive in some parts of the world but I still love the leaves. The Annie’s Annuals website has a beautiful photo of an adult specimen.

Bloody dock (Rumex sanguineus subsp. sanguineus)

The teaching nursery has quite a few demonstration beds and the plants are now coming into their own (they were planted about four years ago when the new facility opened). This Arbutus ‘Marina’ is a favorite of mine. It shares its smooth red bark with its relative, the Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii), a tree native to the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada. The flowers and fruit are similar to the Mediterranean strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), which is also a popular street tree in town.

Arbutus ‘Marina’
Click here to read the story behind ‘Marina’

Arbutus ‘Marina’

Deserving to be used more widely in landscaping, flowering currants are putting on quite a show at this time of year.

LEFT: Golden currant (Ribes aureum)
RIGHT: Chaparral currant (Ribes malvaceum), a California native

I’m not the biggest fan of rosemary as a landscaping shrub, but the selection displayed at the teaching nursery, called ‘Mozart’, is a much deeper blue than regular Rosmarinus officialis. It offset the California white sage (Salvia apiana) very nicely.

                                                                                                                                                 
 

Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Mozart’ and Salvia apiana

Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Mozart’

And finally, what would spring be without California lilac (Ceanothus). There are many choices selections on the market that combine the best of bloom color and growth habit. At the one end of the spectrum are low-growing groundcovers, at the other end large shrubs or even small trees as tall as 15 ft.

Unidentified low-growing ceanothus

                                                                                                                                                
 

Unidentified low-growing ceanothus, combined with autumn sage (Salvia greggii)

While I’ve become very selective when I got to plant sales, I still find plants that interest me. Here’s what came home with me yesterday:

Clockwise from bottom left:
Aloe ramossisima
Aloe arborescens ‘Variegata’
Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’
Veltheimia bracteata
Echeveria ‘Afterglow’

Aloe arborescens ‘Variegata’

Aloe arborescens ‘Variegata’
A particularly beautiful specimen of this shrubby aloe. I even have a spot in the ground for it!

Aloe ramossisima
A branching aloe to 6 ft in height, closely related to the quiver tree but with less of a central trunk (and smaller)

A much larger specimen of Aloe ramossisima photographed at Poot’s Cactus Nursery

Veltheimia bracteata

Veltheimia bracteata in flower
Photo source: Wikipedia

Many people all over the world have sansevierias as house plants. Their common names include snake plant and mother-in-law’s tongue. While it may seem a bit of a stretch, sansevierias are actually succulents and come from pretty inhospitable places in Africa. I had never owned a sansieviera before, and while I wasn’t exactly looking for one, I couldn’t pass up the specimen below. Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’ is a low-growing selection that forms tight rosettes of whitish leaves with green mottling. Very attractive, I think. As an added bonus, it tolerates low light levels, which makes it ideal for a dark corner on the front porch.

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’