39 Hibiscus High
July 16, 2021
41 Miss Viola Rides
August 20, 2021
Cambria Nursery
2801 Eton Drive, Cambria, CA 93428 • (805) 927-4747
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F abulous!!! Cambria Nursery has everything we plant lovers wish for in a nursery: well-laid out, wide aisles, labeled plant category sections, pottery, garden art, this-and-that's, plus perfect weather—which means no sweaty waltzing. Simply wonderful!
After visiting nurseries in Santa Cruz and having lunch with a snoozing seal, Aunt Patti and I headed south down the coast for our next thrilling adventure. And—WOW! Cambria Nursery sure brought it.
When we enter a nursery, Aunt Patti waltzes one way and I waltz another. She flowers. I foliage. Eventually near the middle we bump into each other and tell one another what we found. I mean really—shopping with a compatible plant-loving partner is the best! In a nursery like this one, even better.
Cambria does not lay plants out in boring rows but in groupings and in display gardens throughout, which keeps your eyes interested and your imagination engaged. You can easily spend 2 hours there.
Doesn’t this make you want to jump in the car and go!
So GO!
I bought this sign there, painted it yellow and hung it over the door to my greenhouse. And it’s true...my plants and I grow happy in my greenhouse.
I also bought a Vitex there (unknown species) because one I grew from seed in 2012 needed siblings. But unfortunately—and no fault of Cambria Nursery—it died shortly afterwards.
Here's a shot of my grown-from-seed Vitex with a closeup of its blossoms.
Vitex negundo (Chinese Chaste Tree or Five Leaf Chaste Tree)
You probably won't find this particular Vitex in a nursery. Very rare. I ended up planting mine in the Perennial Garden at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden (SDG). Since I’ve never seen a mature specimen, I just watch it grow every year and figure out what to do with it.
It is a deciduous multi trunk, 6-feet tall and 7 wide but only from left to right not front to back. (Odd little thing.) It's weepy in nature and has small leaves that give it an airy feel.
In early summer it puts out loads of purple blossoms that grow 5 to 8-inches long.
It is cold hardy to Zone 7 with no die back. In colder zones it needs some shelter or you can just cut down to the ground and it will come back—as is true of all Chaste Trees.
Here's a different Vitex—more common in nurseries—growing in the SDG Butterfly Garden.
Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree)
It too is a multi trunk but can grow to 25-feet tall and 25-feet wide. It has an open display of branches with lilac blooms at the ends. Use this plant as a specimen or to shade smaller plants underneath.
Vitex agnus-castus ‘Shoal Creek’
Shoal Creek is a hit and miss in nurseries. We have it planted in the SDG Japanese Garden. It matures to a nice 12 by 12-foot shrub/tree. Its large lilac blossoms bloom July through August. Truly a magnet for pollinators!
Okay...see how one plant purchase can set me off on an All-Things-Plant sidetrack? This was just one of several that came to mind, so I'm very grateful to you wonderful readers/facilitators who allow me this outlet. LOL.
Now let's swing back to Cambria Nursery on a sidetrack to Christmas!
The nursery—in fact the whole town of Cambria—puts on a fantastic Christmas Market each year. Everything is decked out like a Winter Wonderland with millions of twinkling lights and colorful decor, with seasonal food and drink offerings and of course visits with Santa.
If you can’t wait for December, one of the nursery buildings houses Christmas ornaments and such all year long.
Whichever season you choose to visit, Cambria Nursery is well worth a coastal road trip that offers many California adventures along the way.
Photos courtesy Sheri Lynn Burke. All rights reserved.
