NPA Study Weekend; Daniel Sparler and Jeff Schouten’s Garden of Exuberant Refuge

Last May the title of the newsletter was Playing Possum with Pseudopanax, where Daniel wrote about about a few of our favorite plants (even linking to one of my blog posts) that appear to be, well, dead. Naturally Pseudopanax crassifolius and P. ferox were the focus. If you're curious about these unusual plants you really should read the article.

I'll cut to the chaise here though and share that this nicely trunking 20-year old specimen has bloomed and produced fruit, which...

Has resulted in... seedlings! It's a bit of a mystery exactly how this came to be, as, in Daniels's words: "Pseudopanax is supposed to be dioecious, meaning separate male and female plants, which in theory requires at least two mature specimens to produce fertile seed. I have only one P. crassifolius. Hmmm."
He potted up and grew on several of those seedlings and had them displayed, along with allium blooms. on a table. See the one with the white tag? Guess whose name is on that tag! (squeee!!!!!)
In addition to the mature Pseudopanax crassifolius, there are three Pseudopanax ferox of varying sizes in the garden...

Including one that refused to grow and was shamed with the name Petulant Piker in Daniel's newsletter, which of course spurred it to action and it put on a nice spurt of growth in time for the next edition of the newsletter.
Okay, enough about the pseudopanax, how about some flowers? I crushed hard on this lovely Iris variegata. Isn't it simply perfect?
Ditto for the Grevillea rosmarinifolia.
Since the garden description specified that the several structures around the garden were built with their own hands, I'm assuming Daniel and Jeff poured the forms to make the many columns throughout the garden.
And I did a bit of a double take when I saw this structure! It's nearly a twin to our shade pavilion, only the roof angle tilts in the opposite direction.

This dreamy tiled pond had developed a leak and so wasn't filled with water during my visit.
A glass agave atop a column marks the location of a pair of real agaves.

Yep, I am spacing the name* of this fabulous foliage. I think it's the same plant I lusted after in Dan Hinkely's garden and asked about. Dan went hunting through his stock to see if he had one to sell me, but sadly came up empty handed. (*update, it's Olearia ilicifolia, thanks Sound Gardener)
Bromeliads! If I were to have a mental list of plants I check off when visiting a garden—kind of a test to see just what sort of gardener I'm dealing with—there definitely needs to be bromeliads. 
What else? Well agaves, of course.

And pyrrosia! The trifecta has been achieved.

Here I'm standing on the steps of a side entrance to the house and looking out at the back garden. That's the bloomed out Agave havardiana stalk and you can see a bit of the Pseudopanax crassifolius in the upper right corner.
Signage for anyone curious about the agave bloom (read about it here)
Love those flat-top Aeonium tabuliforme.
And the variegated Agave victoriae-reginae.
There were so many good looking aeoniums throughout the garden.



Have you been keeping track of just how many containers I've shared with you in this post? Are you wondering where the greenhouse is? 
Well, there is not a greenhouse. Something I that didn't occur to me as I was touring. It wasn't until going through my photos on a cold January day that it hit me—what does he do with all of these plants in the winter? So I sent off an email asking just that. In true Daniel form I got an excellent response with lists and photos. I have to share his reply but since this post is already 63 photos long there will be an appendix post tomorrow, Saturday. You won't want to miss it if you too struggle with over wintering plants in pots.
One last shot of the Pseudopanax crassifolius...
Before I share photo of the south side of the house where a planting of large specimen succulents is snuggled up against against a brick wall.
Pretty remarkable, am I right? 
I love how the spiky guy at the end is allowed to crowd the walkway. Visitors had better be careful!
One more spiky plant as this most excellent visit draws to a close, the lovely blood red thorns of Rosa sericea ssp. omeiensis f. pteracantha, the wingthorn rose. What a garden, thanks so much for the tour Daniel...
...and for the baby Pseudopanax crassifolius!