Succulents and More™

Another week and weekend without rain. Isolated cells dropped some H₂O near us, but our part of Davis remained dry. However, downtown Sacramento's record of 212 consecutive days without measurable precipitation was broken, and that counts for something. A sunny and mild weekend meant I was able to get work done in relative comfort. Project #1 involved relocating the plant producing the mass of strappy green leaves you see in the photo below: Drimia maritima  (green leaves) and  Euphorbia characias  'Tasmanian Tiger' The wavy leaves belong to Drimia maritima , commonly known as giant sea squill, a bulb native to the Mediterranean basin. Its leaves emerge in the fall and die back in late spring. In mid-summer, it produces tall inflorescences with masses of small white flowers ( see photo here taken at the UC Davis Arboretum).  I don't know if Drimia maritima  is the largest bulb in the plant world, but it's got to be close. According to Wikipedia , Drimia maritima bu

In February 2021, I showed you a preview of what is destined to become the new go-to book about my favorite plant genus: Agaves: Species, Cultivars & Hybrids  by Jeremy Spath and Jeff Moore. I'm very happy to share that as of early October, the book is officially out and available for shipping from Jeremy and Jeff. I'll have more info on how to order at the bottom of this post. This new bible for agavephiles was co-written by Jeremy Spath, agave grower and hybridizer extraordinaire and owner of  Hidden Agave Ranch , and Jeff Moore, owner of  Solana Succulents , a small specialty nursery in northern San Diego County, and author of four other  books on succulents .  Like Jeff's earlier books,  Agaves  is self-published, giving Jeremy and Jeff complete creative freedom regarding the content as well as control over all aspects of production. The result is a sweeping survey of the genus that includes everything from the agaves everybody knows and loves to the most recently d

Another weekend, another bout of weekend warrioring. This time I went a bit easier on myself because of ongoing shoulder issues and some pain from a recent flu shot. Plus, I kept getting distracted by pretty sights like these: Guernsey lily ( Nerine sarniensis ) in full flower, set off beautifully by a backdrop of hechtias and agaves. Unfortunately, the flower stalk snapped off in yesterday's high winds. Multi-branched Aloe fosteri  inflorescence nearing its peak With its orange and yellow flowers, Aloe fosteri  is the perfect Halloween aloe ↴  Last weekend's main project involved a bunch of flagstone remnants I originally got at Urban Ore Ecopark in Berkeley: The goal was to build a raised planter in this spot along the sidewalk that had been empty since early May. It had been the former home of  Agave 'Crazy Horse' , which I removed because it had grown too large—and was producing too many pups on rather long runners. At the time, I wasn't sure which replacement