Cloudforest plants of South America, Tree ferns like C. dealbata or C. medularis,many New Zealand plants,natives like Manzanita's. What you dont find are palms..cant remember seeing any of them. Not many cacti as you might think for such a cold summer climate botanical garden.

You should go on-line to the SF Botanic Garden web site and look at the plant sales listed by date, where they specialize in different categories of plants over the seasons, such as vines, shade plants, natives, etc. They will always have unusual or rare plants from their collections, but not everything will be available at each sale. I expect you already know that the two Passiflora species you mention aren't really hardy in a Sunset zone 15 location? Both of these species are also propagated for the UC Berkeley Botanic garden spring sale, and I think Richard at The Dry Garden Nursery in Oakland has some small, rooted cuttings of P. parritae that he will be selling if you have to have one now.

I've gotten many plants at their sales over the years, from both botanic gardens...

Hi Bahia,

Thanks for the info. I had seen the SF Botanical Garden site and seem to remember that even at the specialized sales there is a mix of plants. The one tomorrow is a general sale.

Actually, I don't intend to get those Passifloras for myself. I merely mentioned them because I am aware they are very hard to come by, which I believe makes it one of the few places to find those species. I understand they are a good source of Tacsonias in general. Personally I was having trouble keeping a young P. tripartita v. mollisima happy (it's OK at the moment). It was hard hit by our unprecedented heat last summer and a nasty spider mite infestation. That plant was unfazed by our 26 F morning last month. I'm not in the market for the more difficult species.

Thanks for the info on the P. parritae, though. I do know someone who might be interested. As an aside: I mentioned on a different thread that I picked up a Strelitzia juncea at the Dry Garden. Just out of curiosity--I recall that you are in the landscaping/design business. Why isn't this plant used more frequently? I've always found it to be stunning--surely I'm not the only one.

Regarding Passiflora antioquiensis, in case anyone is interested in tracking that species down. Grassy Knoll Exotics appears to still have the plant available for $15. Elizabeth Peters seems to have a policy of charging that price for essentially all of her 100+ Passifloras no matter how "rare" or "desirable". It's refreshing to see someone with an attitude like that. She guarantees tbe P. antioquiensis is the real thing. She also has its hybrid with P. tripartita v. mollissima: 'Exoniensis'.

Passiflora x exoniensis is also available from other growers such as Suncrest Wholesale Nursery in Watsonville at larger sizes, as I have gotten this from them in the past, and it is one of my favorite passion vines.

The Passiflora parritae seems to be as sensitive to too cold temperatures as it is to too hot, so may not be all that useful except in cooler summer locations that don't freeze, like San Francisco, Berkeley, Alameda and along the coast. Passiflora x exoniensis on the other hand, seems much more forgiving, and has been a very easy grower for me.

You are right about Strelitzia juncea being harder to find at nurseries, as well as less common in landscapes. I think it has to do with it being a more recent introduction into California, as well as the fact that it is a much slower growing species than the others, so is not easy to build up larger sizes/more quantities of this plant quickly. The fact that it doesn't have much in the way of leaves seems to really slow down the growth of the plant, but this may have as much to do with my cool growing conditions here in Berkeley, as the plant itself.

Hi Bahia,

They did have several P. exoniensis, and also P. antioquiensis, I *think* antioquiensis x parritae and also exoniensis x parritae. I bought the last one, in theory for a friend (we'll see...). All of these were $12-15 for nice one gallon sizes; I almost bought an exoniensis with a big bud. Just now I did a search for exoniensis, and instead of that, the first result was for the parritae vs. exoniensis cross (reverse order--I don't know if it's really the same). Anyway, the description says it's easier to grow than parritae, has flowers like exoniensis but larger (this I was told when I bought it) and it is easier to root than parritae. All good. The source (no date) adds "Recently introduced, it is still unknown in private cultivation."

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/passiflora_parritae_x_exoniensis.htm

Regarding Strelitzia juncea, when I bought the plant at the Dry Garden, the owner (I assume) told me that he bought the plants from a nursery (maybe in Vista?) where they grew the things at an unbelievable temperature and got phenomenal growth rates (I remember something like a leaf a day at 125 F--you'd have to check as that sounds too extreme). The S. juncea I'm most familiar with is at the Huntington, which certainly gets its share of heat. It's a monster, and has grown dramatically over the years.