Succulents and More™

Over the years, I’ve posted many photos of the silver torch cacti ( Cleistocactus strausii ) in the front yard. In the late afternoon and early evening, when they’re backlit by the sun, they positively glow: July 2025 But any containerized plant eventually gets too big and will need to be put in the ground or moved to a larger pot. My Cleistocactus strausii is no exception. Since things were in disarray already because of our recent siding project, this was as good a time as any to get this done. No room left in the pot New stems squished against the side of the pot Brand new Corten planter for my Cleistocactus strausii To make sure there’s enough room for years to come, I bought a Corten planter 25" long x 11" wide x 13" high. To fit the clump (round) into the planter (rectangular), I had to divide it. Read on to see what I did and how I did it. But some background first: January 2011 I bought these Cleistocactus straussii in January 2011 at UC Berkeley Botanical Gar...

My previous post was about one kind of agave-related affliction: edema caused by sudden changes in temperature and/or light level. This post is about another — one that is far more serious because it’s almost always fatal. I’m talking about the dreaded agave snout weevil. I wrote about it before: in a neighbor’s garden , and in my own . After my last encounter, back in December , I treated the agaves near the infested plant in my garden with imidacloprid, an insecticide that kills on contact and also works systemically. It was effective because I haven’t had any other problems in that bed. However (isn’t there always a however?), I didn’t go far enough. I should have treated all the agaves inside the front yard fence. Then my beloved Agave ‘Sun Glow’ in the bed next to the front door might still be alive. I noticed a while ago that ‘Sun Glow’ was leaning forward more than before. I have seen ‘Blue Glow’ (the non-variegated parent of ‘Sun Glow’) do that as the rosette gets heavier and...

A couple of weeks ago, I bought an Agave attenuata ‘Blue Fantastic’ at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery for the newly revamped front door bed: Agave attenuata ‘Blue Fantastic’ at UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery Before heading home, I made a brief stop at Trader Joe’s, no more than 20 minutes. While I was in the store, the agave was sitting in the car, with the windows slightly cracked. Imagine my frustration and annoyance when, just a few hours later, I discovered that several leaves were starting to show large brown spots: The next day, after I planted it in the ground Here’s a closer look: And a week later: 20 minutes in a closed car on a reasonably warm morning, that’s all it took. Fortunately, the damage is cosmetic, but still, it’ll take my agave until next summer to shed the blistered leaves. If you’ve ever transported agaves in a closed car on a warm day, you might have experienced this yourself. Some species seem to be more prone to this, especially those with thin...

I don’t know if “planterscape” is a word. But it is now, because that’s what I created in the small rectangle between the kitchen and bedroom sliders. It’s the area on the left in the photo below. The other strip, on the right, is featured in this post . This rectangular area is 4×6 ft. For many years, it was home to a Japanese maple that came with the house. It did OK for a long time, but last fall I cut it down because it had declined so much that it had more dead branches than anything else. I’m sure I have a photo of the entire tree somewhere, but this is the best I can do for now — better days in April 2011 This is what the spot looked like just before our siding project kicked off: And right after: Originally, I had wanted to create a raised bed much like the rock-lined mounds elsewhere in the backyard or the new cactus bed I showed you in my last post . After doing some brainstorming with my friend Kyle , however, I decided to try his idea and create a clustered assemblage of p...