August SoCal trip

[BarryRice]

Hey!

I'm thinking of a trip to SoCal to see the August 17-18 Inter City Cactus & Succulent show at LA Arboretum. Continuing on to San Diego to visit a friend. Any cactus gardens or nurseries I must surely visit along the way? The Huntington?

[mg2007]

The Huntington for 100% sure! The L.A. County Arboretum is nearby and while not as spectacular is also worthwhile; if you are are willing to look at other plants that succulents, their begonia house is really remarkable! As is the epiphyte house. For commercial nurseries, also in that area, in Pasadena, is California Cactus Collection, not to be missed - both for the plants and for pots. Every thing from miniatures to landscape size.

Just north of SD is Quail Gardens, a botanical garden, much smaller. Worth a visit. A little hard to get around if you are disabled, though.

I am sure people in SoCal can recommend many more, these are just the ones I know of as a visitor.

In the L.A. area is a string of nurseries, Armstrong's. They usually have a decent selection of secculents and cacti. I'd give my right arm to have that good a selection where I live! Well, my left thumb, maybe.

[CoronaCactus]

Yup, the Huntington is a 'do not miss!'

Quail has been renamed San Diego Botanical Gardens.

Too many to list in the SD area! Most are wholesale though.

You are welcome to stop by our nursery, but might be a bit off your travel path. It's in a bit of disarray...just had our 2nd baby boy born

[Blair]

http://www.desertimagescacti.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Near Ojai. Has lots of succulents and a few cactus. Some big stuff if I remember right.

pretty neat place .

[BarryRice]

Hey All,

I'm back from a swing I made to SoCal. Some quick comments...

1) California Cactus Collection--very nice plants, but eeh gads a bit rich for my blood. I'm not saying they're overpriced...I'm just saying I buy small. Most of the plants STARTED at about $15.

2)InterCity Show was totally off the hook, as you'd expect. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and had to take off without looking at the LA County Arboretum that housed the InterCity show. Nor did I go to the legendary Huntington---I'll do both again on a longer trip in December, when I'll have my wife with me.

3) SD Botanical Garden (=Quail Gardens)--yes, their cactus and succulent display is rather small, but if you're a plant geek with wide ranging interests (like me), you'll love it. REALLY amazing is a large rock garden planting that they have, in which strangely shaped succulents are placed to make it all look like a coral reef. It's almost disorienting--you feel like you're snorkelling!

4) Grigsby Cactus Gardens--a lovely, homey establishment. Beautiful on-ground plantings. However, as nice as the folks there are, I deferred from buying any cacti because their mealy infestations were quite extensive. But I picked up some nice Aloe, Aeonium, etc. Great prices.

5) Corona Cactus--Darryl (well known on this forum) was kind enough to meet me at his extensive (and growing) set of greenhouses and shadehouses. A dizzying array of plants. I walked out with a couple of really nice cacti with really nice prices. Thanks, Darryl!

[BarryRice]

Another trip to SoCal, this time a lot of time spent at the Huntington.

Totally incredible!