One of my favorite features of the SF Garden Show is the Hot Plant Picks display. Every year various nurseries send their new introductions to this debutante party.

Here are this year’s show benches full of goodies:

Big plants from Annie’s Annuals: Ranunculus cortusifolius (L) (wrong tag) and Marcetella monquiniana (R)

Plant with beautiful leaf textures: Pelargonium denticulatum (L) and Acacia cognata ‘Cousin Itt’ (R)

Bergenia emeiensis ‘Moon Chimes’ (L) and Isopogon anthethifolius ‘Curra Moors’ (R)

Knowltonia capensis from San Francisco Botanical Garden: flower and leaf form

Dudleya brittonii Green Form” (L) and Arisaema taiwanense (R)

The last plant was among a group of exotics brought over by Martin Grantham from San Francisco State University. Most of his plants are not available in the trade so you have to go visit him or come to this garden show. One table was set up exclusively for his rare beauties. The plant with thick heart-shaped leaves in the front row is Protea cordata. It sort of reminded me of a Hakea petiolaris seedling.

If you want to see these plants and/or purchase some of them, you can come to the next meeting of the Western Horticultural Society on April 13, when a large portion of these will be sold through a silent auction process. Here is a web link.