5.17.2011

Plant Bonanza

(above is a very lovely planter I picked up last weekend while on a mini-vacation in Door County, Wisconsin. I planted some tiny Burrow's Tail sedum in it. I love it!)

I hope every one's Spring is well under way. I have been quite busy, although can't quite pinpoint what it is I've been doing! I'm happy to have some spare time to post about all the exciting plant things going on now that the weather is finally turning nice.


A few weeks ago, we got an invitation to visit a friend-of-a-friend's semi-public greenhouse in Monroe. Terri and his wife Nancy are moving to Hawaii very soon, and are trying to sell as many of their plants as possible. I personally think they are CRAZY--as beautiful as I'm sure Hawaii is, they have an absolutely wonderful home (I regret not taking more photos) and many spectacular plants they will not be taking with them.




Inside their greenhouses, we had our pick of nearly endless herbs and, not so plentiful, but equally great succulents. I love how these sedum look against the stark, back-lit walls of the greenhouse.








This rather large potted Opuntia was so lovely with its shades of green, red and grey.



Terri had many large Epiphytic cacti--several of which were in bloom.
I now have three succulent bonsai from Terri and Nancy. Where else can you get a beautiful bonsai for under $20? And they have loads of them!



This big aloe was really stunning.






My favorite part of the visit was seeing Terri and Nancy's home. As a modern architecture freak, I really loved their house. The photo below is of an unbelievably huge Staghorn Fern hanging above their living room. The above photo is looking down into the living room from the kitchen/dining area upstairs.



















My sister and her boyfriend have a much, much smaller Staghorn hanging on their living room wall. It looks so beautiful--a piece of art!





Among their other great plants is this really neat Chestnut Tree. I'm envious!





This photo was taken a few weeks ago in my Mom's garden, one of the very first flowers we saw this Spring! So beautiful!