Visit to Resendiz Brothers Protea

This past week I was lucky enough to be invited to come out and visit one of the largest protea growers in California.  During the summer they are in their slow season since most of the flowers they grow bloom in the spring, but there was still plenty to see. 

To see what product they have available during the year check them out at

http://www.resendizbrothers.com/

They currently have 350 acres of which more than 200 is planted with South African and Australian plants such as Protea, Leucospermum, Leucadendron, Banksia, Anigozanthos, Grevillea, Serruria, Waratah, Berzelia, Leptospermum, Waxflowers, Boronia, and much more.

Here are a few pictures from my trip...

I was so impressed by this acasia. I have never seen it before and I am surprised I don’t see them since this could be a beautiful landscape plant. This is Acacia Mystery Mountain or Acacia podalyriaefolia. Its a definite addition to my plant wish list. 

For this tour I didn't go up into the larger growing fields but Mel gave me a tour of all the propagation areas.  Hopefully I will get to visit again in the spring so I can show everyone their fields. 

I loved all the color in these greenhouses. So many are attracted by protea flowers but I love seeing the huge variety of foliage textures and color. All the plants had just been watered in here so everything was covered in droplets of water that made all the plants sparkle. 

This is the processing area. In the mornings this place is a buzz of activity getting the flowers loaded on trucks to go out. 

Buckets of Protea Pink Ice. These usually flower August - January

Above: Eximia Foliage

Above: Australian Pine Adenanthos

Serruria Blushing Bride

Mel was kind enough to give me a small bucket of flowers he had cut off some stems he was grafting so I decided to play with all the fun little vases I had here at home. 

Leucospermum Spider

Protea Red Robyn

A great use for old candle holders that never get used

Red Robyn is a cute little flower around 2 inches tall with a rich color of red and soft to the touch. After taking the picture I gave a flower to my niece and she immediately put it up to her face like you would a soft rabbit. These also dry very lovely. So far the rest of the flowers have been out of water for more than two weeks and they still have the intense color and the petals have dried and curled very nicely. 

I thought the Serruria Blushing Bride looked great with this vintage vase. 

These would be great wedding colors.

AND... these were the new fun plants Mel gave me to take home! 

I think the front yard will be getting re-landscaped in the near future.

And finally proof that even dried protea are gorgeous...This is one of the flowers from my protea bouquet more than a month and a half ago. I love these amazing plants!