The UC Santa Cruz Arboretum will hold its annual Fall Plant Sale on Saturday, October 14, from noon to 4 p.m. It will take place at the Arboretum's Eucalyptus Grove on High Street near the intersection of Western Drive. Held in conjunction with the California Native Plant Society, the sale opens early (from 10 a.m. to noon) for members only. Memberships will be on sale at the gate.
Fall is a good time for planting because roots can establish themselves during the rainy season, which makes for a stronger and healthier plant to withstand the dry summer. The sale will highlight an unusual selection of native and nonnative species chosen to thrive in home gardens. A complete list will be available on the Arboretum's web site (http://arboretum.ucsc.edu) before the sale.
Featured plants include some lesser-known members of the protea family: Australian banksias with large, conelike flowers and South African leucadendrons with attractive foliage that can take on a yellow or burgundy-red color. There will also be a variety of manzanitas and other California natives.
The sale will also include a variety of South African succulents, perfect plants for dorm rooms as well as the home garden, according to Stephen McCabe, research and education coordinator at the Arboretum. Several species of Dudleya (live-forevers) from California and Baja California will be available, including Dudleya viscida, a California native succulent recently highlighted in an article by McCabe in the Rock Garden Quarterly (Summer 2006).
One of the more unusual plants available this year is Coreopsis gigantea, which is native to California's Channel Islands. This plant's bright yellow daisylike flowers and finely divided leaves sit atop a woody, semisucculent trunk that can be four inches wide and more than six feet high. Other plants at the sale include Salvia 'Phyllis' Fancy,' a selection introduced by the Arboretum and featured in the September issue of Horticulture magazine.
For more information, contact the UCSC Arboretum at (831) 427-2998. The Arboretum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Norrie's Gifts is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Images of plants available at the sale can be downloaded from the web at http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press/photos/
