84 From My Garden, June 2023
June 30, 2023
86 Pots for More Summer Beauty
July 28, 2023
Yamagami’s Garden Center
1361 S De Anza Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014 • (408) 252-3347
Website • Facebook • Instagram
Y ou know the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Don’t judge a nursery by its exterior either because you can’t always tell quality—or lack of—from the parking lot. You don’t know what you’re gonna’ find until ya’ go inside. But OH the anticipation as you walk toward that entrance! If you’re a hoper and a dreamer like me and AP, you imagine every so-so nursery entrance hides a paradise of amazing plant discoveries. Well Yamagami’s Garden Center is ALL THAT! One step into their main plant area, and OMG—you know you’re in a BTS nursery (better than sex). What a gem of a place!
AP has family near there and visits Yamagami’s several times a year. But we went together recently and it was my first time. I’ll share photos from both of us.
As per usual, to get to the good stuff—aka THE PLANTS—you have to wade through all the crap—aka knick-knack dust collectors.
And you have to hurry past the ever-present garden gnomes. (AP, we don’t need more photos!)
Once you reach the other end of the crap, it’s paradise all the way! Nothing but loveliness!
I rate Yamagami’s as in the top-five nurseries for excellent layout and display.
Ninety-nine percent of the plants are on tables and at the end of each row is a grouped display of like-minded plants.
You could literally buy a whole grouping and transfer it to your garden.
So well done!!
And you know how I love good signage….so I always know where I am 🙂
As in post 83, I had a in-and-out-of-my-cart battle at Yamagami’s over this plant…
Acer palmatum ‘Koto-no-ito’
I jumped online and did a search at a reputable nursery website, and I learned that ‘Koto-no-ito’ means harp strings. That’s due to its narrow leaves and deeply divided leaf lobes along a twiggy branch structure that works like a harp frame.
I’ve written before that sometimes I shop for the right plant to put in a particular spot I need to fill in a garden. But in most cases when I buy for myself, I don’t have a place in mind. That comes later after I stare at the plant in my holding area for a year or more and figure out what it likes and how it presents itself season to season.
‘Koto-no-ito’ ended up OUT of my cart because for $69.95 in just a 1-gallon pot, I better be damn sure it will even survive for a year in my holding area. After reading about it online, I felt damn sure it would be happier in Cupertino, so I left it there.
Here’s another plant I wanted. Can you guess why?
Canna ‘Cleopatra’
You’re right! It has variegated leaves of green and burgundy which attracted my foliage-gal heart. But it didn’t come home with me.
Who needs ANOTHER CANNA?!
Here’s a photo AP took during a solo visit, but I know for a fact she didn’t buy it. She does NOT have room for it in her yard!
Ceratopetalum gummiferum ‘Fairley’s Coral’ (Festival Bush)
Festival Bush can grow up to 16-feet tall and 8-feet wide. I’d have room for it at my place but it’s hardy only to 25-30-degrees which knocks me out of the running.
It’s pretty though, don’t you think? Sigh.
Okay. Pots. Go big or go home! I especially love the pots in the middle here with the uneven rims…
Well that’s your small peek into Yamagami’s plant paradise. If you need a better reason to drive to Cupertino, take a clue from AP and adopt some family there!
Speaking of AP…you know we drive my work van now on all our trips. You’d think AP would be used to it by now. But no, she still has “issues”—like exhausting herself climbing up into the cab or into the back where the potty is. Or leaving her wallet on the back bumper because—I don’t know—it’s like a shelf and it’s convenient? But then she suddenly remembers it while I’m in the middle of backing out of a parking space and I have to block traffic while I jump out and get it for her. Good Lord, Aunt Patti, get it together already!
Love that woman but she can test my patience almost as much as my hardiness zone.
