I stopped by two nurseries in Berkeley and found some really cool plants, that I had to purchase.
From Westbrae Nursery:
– Meadow Foam (Limnathes douglasii)
– Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria)
– Sugar Snap Peas
From Berkeley Horticulutral Nursery:
– Broccoli Raab ‘Zamboni’
– Gai Lan ‘Green Lance’
– Leaf Broccoli ‘Getti di Naoli’
– Portuguese Kale ‘Galega da Folhas Lisas’
– Kale ‘Redbor’
– Tree Collard (Purple Stem)
– Snow Pea ‘Golden Podded Pea’
Went to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and purchased three new plants:
– Bay Laurel 
– Coleus ‘Defiance’
– Coleus (Unknown 2011-01 maybe Glennis)
Friday, July 1
Today was the start of my 5 day holiday weekend. I had a lot of errands to do so I was only able to do a little bit of maintenance gardening and everything is looking good.
My mom and I went to Mid City Nursery in American Canyon. Even though this nursery is less than 10 minutes away from my house, I’ve never been to it because it closes before I get home from work.
I was very impressed. They had a lot of plants that I normally don’t see in larger garden centers, including some Fuchsias, Coleus and Euphorbias that I liked. I ended up buying 4 plants (I’ll post photos later)
Euphorbia Mozambique
Fuchsia hybrid “Golden Marinka”
Fushsia triphylla “Firecracker”
Coleus “Velvet Lime”
Saturday-Monday, July 2-4
My friend Darwin and I are going to Reno to take a mini vacation and visit my friend Michael. Michael introduced me to Coleus last year and actually gave me my first cutting (unfortunately it didn’t survive). Michael is starting his “Garden Design and Installation” business and I was looking forward to seeing him and his work… So I packed some Coleus I rooted and brought it along with the business cards that I designed for him.
We visited several nurseries and I did buy some plants (I’ll post photos later):
Coleus “Pat Martin”
Coleus “Jade”
Coleus “New Orleans Red”
Coleus “Stained Glassworks Burgundy Wedding Train”
Coleus “Gay’s Delight”
Perilla “Magilla”
Michael also gave me a cute little hypertufa pot that he made planted with a succulent.
Tuesday, July 3
Since this was my last day of the long weekend I wanted to visit the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery again… just to see if they had any new Coleus…. and they did… so I ended up buying five more… I just couldn’t resist.
Coleus “Wild Lime”
Coleus “Wild Lime” (I think this one is mislabeled because it’s different than the previous “Wild Lime”)
Coleus “Exhinition Magma”
Coleus “Rustic Orange”
Coleus “Trailing Rose Frost”
I also noticed another nursery on the way home. So I checked it out and OMG they had a Coleus sale. Buy 3 get one free… So I got four more along with a Euphorbia species. The Coleus were old and already flowering, but I’ll just take cuttings of them and make new plants.
Coleus “Dragon Black”
Coleus “Tabasco”
Coleus “Sunshine Burgundy Sun”
Coleus “Kong Green”
With all these new plants, I stopped by a local store and got a couple of cheap 18 inch pots. I also got Mondo Grass Ophiopogon and “found” some detached baby succulents.
Once home, I did major potting. All in all, I potted 5 succulents, a hanging Fuchsia pot and 3 large pots with Coleus.
I’m sleepy, so that’s it for now… I’ll post some pictures soon…
[edited June 8, 2005: Added missing plant names]
Thursdays
After making those newspaper pots, I planted some Grand Rapids Leaf Lettuce, Correnta Hybrid Spinach, Lemon Basil and Miike Purple Giant Japanese Mustard.
I planted some William Guinness Columbine over a month ago and didn’t think the seeds germinated, so gave up on them… When I was looking for a place to put the newly planted seeds, I discovered 2 Columbine seedlings that sprouted plus another mystery plant. So I made 3 more newspaper pots and planted these 3 seedlings into them.
The Tendergreen Bush Beans are starting to sprout and they are just breaking ground. The newspaper mulch is really helping in keeping the ground from drying.
Friday
I didn’t do any gardening on Friday because I took 3 of my friends out to sushi (yumm!!!) for their birthdays… They all have birthdays within a one week period and they live together.
Saturday
I spent the night at my friends and later went to the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (see previous entry)
I was surprised to see that the Tendergreen Bush Beans that were just breaking ground on Thursday have 2 sets of leaves. Damn! they grew fast!
I also noticed that the bed without the newspaper bed were dry to about 1/2 inch, but the mulched ones were not, so I shredded more newspaper and mulched almost all my vegetables. I think this will help a lot.
Ready to harvest: Peas, White Icicle Radishes, 1 Eggplant, 4 Pepperocini Peppers, 2 Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Yesterday (Saturday), I made a trip to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery for the first time. It is the biggest nursery I’ve ever seen. They have wonderful plants, many that I never seen before. The staff is very helpful and friendly, and they had a lot of free literature for Bay Area planting.
Of course, I had to get some plants… and guess what most of them are… Yup, more Coleus. Below is a photo of my purchases.
(top left) Coleus “Palisandra Black”
(middle) Coleus “Pineapple”
(top right) Coleus “Copper Splash”
(bottom left) Fuchsia Hybrid “Autumnale”
(bottom right) Coleus “Peter Wonder”