The Show

I went to the Garden Show yesterday. I knew that it was a garden show, and not a plant show, but the absence of the latter was still striking. Aside from orchids, the Garden Show is not so much designed for people interested in plants.

The high point was undoubtedly the California Garden Clubs, inc. “flower” arrangement display. How I wished Katharine White could have been there! I could not bear to linger after I was confronted with a CD and a single anthurium dangling from some rebar, but I did take a picture to share the joy.

There was, to be fair, a small section of nurseries of varying quality, but the market areas were dominated by people selling things like garden-themed jewelry and plastic "garden caddies,” whatever those are.

Check out the Chron's pictures if you want more details. Some of the landscapes were inoffensive, and I did see a few nice Leucospermums:

I should add that there were some interesting restios at the CalHort booth (also responsible for the Leucospermums above). Not something you see every day. The UCSC Arboretum also had a nice display, with many proteaceae.

I did discover one new plant that slots nicely into the question of the week: if you can grow something, does that mean you should? I ask because I can apparently grow an Amorphophallus, which is freaking me out. Anyway, behold: Crinum procerum "splendens", which is basically a five foot tall evergreen Amaryllis. Bonus lesson: one should not depend on photographs to judge a plant: it was really very attractive in person.