Water Wise Botanicals

OilMan and Rick spent the morning clearing the dead plants from the corner of the driveway which climbs steeply from the house up to the road. It's one hairpin bend is worthy of a Tour de France Alpine route. Although we got some relief from the drought this year, Southern California was not so lucky, particularly this part of San Diego County which would revert to desert if humans didn't plant things and water them.

In the afternoon we took a field trip to a nearby nursery called Water Wise Botanicals which, as it name implies, specializes in drought tolerant plants.
It was stunningly laid out and planted in mosaic-like patterns sweeping across the hill behind it, pieces of hollowed out driftwood planted with succulents, ponds with huge black koi hovering just below the surface of the water, and colorful purple and orange flowers that turned out to be orchids (see extra). It's a shame that a) it was 90 degrees with little shade and b) unlike many British garden centres, had no cafe with tea and scones because it would have been a lovely place to sit with a cup and contemplate all the unusual, colorful plants thriving in such a dry place.

One plant with a stunning purple flower and serious spiky thorns, pereskia grandiflora violacea caught my eye, and the ongoing 'discussion' with OilMan about whether to buy it on the spot began once again. He insisted that it was too too thorny to transport back to Santa Rosa in the car with Ozzie, and I had to admit he had a point (no pun intended). When he looked it up in the garden book, he learned that it is a primitive plant which grows up to twenty feet tall. I gracefully conceded that this time perhaps he was right.