Scenes from my visit to Joy Creek and Cistus nurseries

Today's post is a random look at things I saw while I was out shopping (plant shopping!) last week. First this breathtaking tree at Joy Creek Nursery. Sign says Manglietia insignis but we'll call it Magnolia insignis.

It's just gosh darn beautiful.

I have no idea what this charming grass might be, but I am intrigued.
I loved seeing their Dasylirion bloom still standing proud.
And finally (for Joy Creek), this fun sign near the check out area. If you're wondering that's a Clematis macropetala 'Mountaindale'.
We're at Cistus now and looking up, because you never know what interesting combinations you'll see up in the sky.
I've snapped this photo previously, because it's just so HOT. That mahonia is Mahonia nitens.
This stunner was part of a newly arrived shipment out front, labeled as Michelia crassipes.
I wanted to call it Magnolia laevifolia, but what do I know? 
Agave bracteosa!
Every once and awhile I get a bit of a flashback to the awe and wonder I felt the first time I ever visited Cistus Nursery. I got that here, as I entered this corner pavilion.
Tetrapanax! Everybody needs one.
Inside the big-top greenhouse now. 
And that's a cycad! Wowsa.
Mangave some somebody.
Agave filifera ssp. schidigera 'White Stripe'
Aeonium canariense
Echeveria lilacina
Well now. That's another AMAZING cycad (or three)...
Tuesday I shared photos of a new to me mahonia, M. lomariifolia ssp. tenuifolia I purchased at Cistus. Here's that same mahonia in a garden setting.
Speaking of garden settings. I can't visit Cistus and not share a few images of the rock garden island at Rancho Cistus. It just gets better and better.


This opuntia skeleton was laid out on a nearby rock, and with the heart shaped leaf too!
Before I left I tucked into a greenhouse with my friend Ann, the "seedstress" at Cistus, where I was greeted by no less then 10,000 aspidistra. No, that's not an official count. But seriously!
There were a lot of aspidistra.

And a few billbergia, you just never know what you'll find at Cistus.