Brentwood Bay
Spring is in the air and you can feel the garden buzz in and around town. People are finally ready to leave their houses again and get their hands dirty. While I’ve been trying my best to show some discretion with my plant hoarding, the medatation seems fruitless and it’s a loosing battle. Like a nervous itch I leave the house in search of strange and wonderful rare plants. There I was camera and tripod in hand aimlessly wondering about Brentwood Bay Nurseries. While it’s still early in the season there was plenty to see. Large agaves, strange perennials and a rainbow of succulents unsurpassed anywhere on Vancouver Island. The rain clouds had passed and I ended up loosing track of time. It was an excellent place to blow a Saturday afternoon and check out some really cool succulents in the process. The lighting was just right and I think I walked away with some pretty good photos. Let’s take a little walk around shall we?
The view at the main tropical house.
The Calla lilies were already in bloom.
An interesting climbing Solanum was also blooming that afternoon.
Apparently somebodies been snagging agave pups. Shame on you!
Another rather nice Agave specimen.
Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ is still on my wish list.
I just couldn’t help slipping in a photo of these Euphorbia myrsinites, what an amazing texture.
They were also kind enough to let me wonder around back and snap some photos in their succulent propagation house.
There were many Aeoniums.
Standing proud on a sunny day
A long way from their home way out on the Canary Islands.
They had a couple large specimens of Crassula sarcocaulis. These make excellent bonsai specimens and are great plants for beginners. While I’ve often dreamed of being a bonsai master, I’m afraid I just don’t have the time to properly care for them. This species is a bit more forgiving, and lends well to selective pruning.
Interesting peeling skin.
The blooms of a large Lampranthus bicolor drew me over in a hurry.
The echeveria were looking incredible. This one had a menacing look to it.
Fresh flower buds spiraling out.
Orange flowering echeveria.
A field of Crassula gollum. It looks like coral.
This almost seems aquatic.
Look at how the water sits on the leaves, early aqueduct inspiration?
Tropical Sedum
Rainbow haworthia?
Faucaria in bloom
One of these Euphorbia mammillaris variegata might have followed me home.
For some reason these succulent euphorbias remind me of medusa. Notice the sideways barbs on the spines to make sure it teaches you a proper lesson if you choose to get too close.
I also might have convinced them to let me buy this little seed grown Yucca brevifolia (Joshua Tree). For a better idea of what it’ll turn into check out this wiki link
Another successful plant adventure. Be sure to have your own this upcoming sunny weekend. Visit Brentwood Bay Nursery for the strange and the exotic.
1395 Benvenuto Avenue Brentwood Bay, BC V0S 1A0 (250) 652-1507
It’s been well over a month since the winter solstice occurred and still I find myself sitting in the dark. While I often dance about gleefully on such occasions, the celebration is almost always premature. With February well on it’s way there’s no fooling anyone, it’s still dark before you know it. If I delay my trip home after work by even 20 minutes, I see little more then a twilight shadow as my car rolls into the parking lot. This weekend I was determined to get in the garden and begin the season. Unfortunately due to sunrise to sunset rain spatter I was forced to seek dryer conditions. It seemed as good a day as any for a quick nursery tour, so I got into the car and drove out to Saanich.
Earlier this season I had purchased a hardy palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) from Brentwood Bay Nurseries only to regret having not gotten more . The nursery shut down for the winter and I was left dreaming of palmy what ifs. A few months later I heard it was open by appointment and today I found myself inclined to take a visit. My family’s property on Salt Spring Island is beach side and has a remarkable micro-climate on it. Over the past couple years I’ve started a garden over there and I dream of loading it with palms. These trachycarpus will do just fine, for the moment I’ll pot them up and grow them on in the heat of the greenhouse.
The visit at Brentwood Bay was a nice break from my rainy backyard and as expected I had an excellent time in the “hot house”. Flowering aloes and giant agaves, this nursery doubles as a botanical garden some days. This city lacks in tropical paradises and on winters where I don’t make it to Mexico, this will have to do. Pairs of hummingbirds zipped about the winter flowering acacia trees, the silence and peacefulness was a welcome treat. Time to look was limited due to prior engagements but we made the most of our time. As usual Robin was hospitable and showed me a fine array of great specimens. In a town where petunias rule the scene rest assured Brentwood has the finest selection of your everyday exotic. Today a small family of Tracycarpus fortunei followed me home, as well as a tropical hebe, a plectocomia himalayana and a Phoenix canariensis. I might have also negotiated a Aeonium nobile, which I’ve been secretly lusting over for some time now. Plant collectors, what a strange bunch indeed.
I can’t express the feeling I get when I go on these adventures, it’s pretty much as happy as I can be. The shopping satisfies the hopeless consumer in me while the plants provide much needed stimulus to escape the monotony of life. While I’d love to be climbing mountain sides and exploring the veldt, the 21st century plant collector has centuries worth of plant hunting at the convenience of a corner store. A new plant is like a new movie, the kind that changes every time you watch it, and has more extras and deleted scenes then you’d ever have time to see. While I’ve recently become aware of the shortcomings of plant collecting (I.E the lack of quick escape) I’ve committed to this reality and I will have to adapt to become a more calculated , thought out individual. After all the rewards are many, only a 100 years ago kings were the only ones have such a fine array of plants from far off lands. Now a 26 year old petunia pusher can do it for less money than it takes to be a drunk. We live a good life out here on the west coast, while the world burns in shambles, there are some benefits here in the future.
Aeoniums lined up one by one
Terra Nova Cyclamen coem ‘Something Magic’ was in full bloom looking rather nice!
The hot house at Brentwood Bay Nurseries
