Heirloom Expo Santa Rosa

Well, I made my first trip to the Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa this week and came away impressed. It's much more than heirloom seeds or even local growers. It was craftspeople, bookstores, all kinds of horticulture resources and of course food. Plus speakers on a wide variety of topics spread over 3 buildings. My friend and I spent a full 3 hours there and that only included one talk. I didn't go crazy on the picture taking but here are a few photos that give a flavor of the event.
Also, after a bit of an absence with all the garden or event visits, here are more photos from my garden.

Here's my friend in front of the now iconic mountain of squashes. 

This shot gives you an idea of how big the main hall was.

They had a cool mural on the back wall.

There were many tables like this devoted to one kind of veggie. Here it's corn varieties from Peru.

Here it's various kinds of peppers.

And here a collection of colorful tomatillos.

Found a man in the main pavilion who carves squashes of various kinds. The photo below is a closeup of some of his work.

These two photos are of a display where the person had repurposed some wooden pallets to make a tiered planter. 

And now my humble garden. Here's my Lobelia fulgida, with its burgundy leaves and deep red flowers.

Rudbeckia Autumn Colors. 

My Cuphea purpurea Firecracker is a blooming machine!

Ditto for my Petchoa, the cross between a Petunia and Calibrachoa.

I've observed that the bees just adore my Cunonia capensis flowers!

My little Calibrachoa Mini Famous Roe keeps on blooming.

Though there are dwarf, well-behaved varieties of Tecoma, my T. x smithii isn't one of them. As you can see it's climbed to the very top of a 20' high street tree.

Still waiting on my Sideritis cypria to bloom. Or rather for it to produce its showy lime-colored seedpods.

Teucrium aroanium. This little guy is a prolific bloomer and popular with the bees.

Here's my yellow Mirabilis (below) and Holy Smokes Calibrachoa.  They make a nice combo, don't you think?

There's a new series of Echinaceas called Sombrero. Here is the Sombrero Golden Yellow. Love that color!

Despite being hacked to the ground - twice - my Dicentra scandens is back to climbing the metal trellis and putting out a few last flowers.

My Crassula falcata, better known as the Airplane or Propeller plant due to its wide smooth leaves, is in full bloom. Bees love the flowers!

Here are two photos of my large Bird's Nest fern. The one below especially shows off the decorative dark ribs.

Finally there's my Nandina domestica (Heavenly bamboo). It's a force of nature. Thrives on benign neglect.