I paid a visit to an acquaintance the other day–that is, a garden center I had not shopped at in about 7 or 8 years. Sierra View Nursery on Academy Ave. is about as far east in Clovis as I am west in Fresno and almost requires me to take a canteen and pack a lunch! I had purchased a couple of Blue Point junipers there when we first started renovating our current garden but found nothing else compelling enough to make many return trips since then. After chatting about salvias with Adam Steinkraus who does our lawn weed control, his recommendation of the nursery prompted me to take another look.
The planted vintage pick up truck ‘driving’ through a sea of ground cover roses was worth the trip all by itself.
The grounds have changed immeasurably since I was there years ago. My recollection is of an open air space stocked with mostly shrubs and trees plus some edibles. They now have an extensive selection of perennials and natives and it appears they grow a fair amount of their own stock.
Yarrows, salvias, penstemons, oh my!
I recently saw this unusual foxglove on a garden tour and was excited to be able to put a name to it: Digitalis Foxlight™ Ruby Glow, apparently one of a series of exciting new foxgloves.
I also was excited to see a yarrow similar to one I had seen on my tour of Urban Adamah in Berkeley (Digging Deeper with Keeyla Meadows at Urban Adamah…) which Landscape Coordinator Emily had been momentarily unable to identify. Most of my yarrow experience has been with the ferny-leafed Achillea millefolium which is available in a number of pastel and hot color shadings. New to me is Achillea ptarmica. It is native to Europe and Asia and is a more erect plant having deep green, narrow finely toothed leaves. The flower heads are born singly rather than in the flat clusters of common yarrow and are larger at about 1/2″. I think the foliage will provide some contrast to the mostly gray green plants in the new lawn free front garden areas. Above you can see one of the two I added to those beds.
The Achillea ptarmica ‘Peter Cottontail’-ish button flower heads will add a bright white pop to my purple, blue, pink palette. Who could resist a plant which evokes the playful and whimsical feelings every cottage garden needs?
So, take time to visit someone whom you never got to know well enough to realize you have so many interests in common…even if you have to pack for a road trip.
Queen of the Dirt 
I like that vintage truck among the flowers. I love visiting nurseries and often take many photographs when I am there.
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The truck was charming and I have a weakness for vintage pickups. So sad for me that I have not taken advantage of this great nursery in so many years especially as my community has lost many of its independent garden centers in the last 5 years. I’m putting It back on my regular rounds.
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That does not even look like Achillea. The flowers look like English daisy. The foliage looks like Shasta daisy.
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I agree 100% which is why it caught my eye at Urban Adamah in Berkeley a few weeks ago. I was tickled to see it—I hadn’t really believed the speaker’s ID as that of a yarrow but there it was right on the label. Different foliage and huge flowers borne singly rather than in heads—also much clearer white which is right up your color alley. I’ll let you know how it fares through my hot summer.
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Thank you.
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