A bit of an understatement: this nursery offers a lot more than old fashioned plants!
As luck would have it, Jan and I dropped in on Desert Canyon Farm the last day of their nursery open season: this is not a conventional garden center: they sell plants in spring, but the nursery is an herb farm, an education center, a wholesale seed operation and more the rest of the year...and a wholesale plant nursery year around. But there are enough of us who make the drive from far away (and enough locals) that they find it worthwhile opening in the busy spring season--they have a lot of plants no one else does!
And they're certified organic--which ain't easy to do with lots of greenhouses and growing fields!
For basically a few weekends, their displays are pretty awesome for visitors! Almost all the greenhouses are open, and have plants for sale displayed nicely...
I was sorely tempted by these Sinningias! And I'm not one to grow gesneriads indoors...
Everything crisp and fresh...
All manner of herbs, unusual veggies...
and lots of Vygies (that's Afrikaans for ice plants!) for ME: here is D. ashtonii 'Peach Star'--a wonderful seed grown strain of a normally magenta species.
Anoher shot: you can tell I was smitten!
All sorts of gems here...several of which I was missing!
Here's D. obtusum, which I didn't have in this form...
Some of the customers were overweight and had to rest.
And there were cacti: which I love!
Where else can you buy patchouli in Colorado? This smell transports me instantly back to the 1970's and I can see a Maxfield Parish Poster of nymphs and pink cliffs clearly on my retina. Don't ask me to explain. Blended with the smell of weed...
Some more cool succulents!
And a tour of the expansive garden...It's always fun to listen to Tammi...
I believe this is a state-champion sized Fraxinus cuspidata...but I could be wrong!
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| Opuntia (likely an erinacea type) |
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| Phlox nana in the foreground |
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| A champion Stanleya pinnata |
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| Closer view |
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| A wonderfully naturalized mass of Casilleja |
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| Yucca rostrata |
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| Sedentary guest... |
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| There are gardens scattered here and there around the compound... |
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| Wonderful specimens of Penstemon superbus |
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| Tammi leading us on a tour... |
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| A long row of Sideritis taurica (aka S. syriaca) |
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| Penstemon superbus galore. |
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| A typically pale form of Linum lewisii |
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| Penstemon secundiflorus one of my faves~ |
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| Here the Salvia daghestanica is in bloom! |
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| Blew my mind. |
Tammi's most recent book (with a foreword by myself!)--which you can get for under $10 on Amazon!
Another of Tammi's books--a very useful introduction to herbs.
And yet another...
And this is her first one: I have them all. YOU should too!
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