Succulents and More™

I went to the Ruth Bancroft Garden  (RBG) yesterday with a group of volunteers from the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery . The first thing I noticed was this wildflower meadow in the new bed along Bancroft Road. Poppies, phacelias, and all kinds of clarkias – all annuals native to California. I thought it looked fantastic paired with cacti, agaves, and the like. As it turns out, this carpet of wildflowers was not created by the RBG staff. Brian Kemble, the curator of the RBG, told me that somebody seed-bombed this bed in the fall. That would be easy to do, seeing how it’s located next to the sidewalk, outside the garden wall. The result, while completely unexpected, was very much appreciated. Brian said that they would let the flowers go to seed in hopes of a repeat performance next year. Seed bombing is a classic form of guerrilla gardening. Check out this article ; I had no idea there were that many different kinds of seed bombs! I wonder if the person responsible for the wild...

On my way home from San Diego I stopped in Wildomar near Lake Elsinore to check in with Brent Wigand, cactus grower and hybridizer extraordinaire. I’d had a great visit with Brent in June 2023 ( post here ) and we’d stayed in touch online. Brent lives on a beautiful 1¾-acre property outside of town where he has plenty of room to grow all kinds of wonderful succulents in the ground. As you can see, he has quite a collection of Aloidendron dichotomum , A. ramosissimum and A. ‘Hercules’, as well as various hybrids between them. I’d be happy to have just one of them! Brent Wigand next to an Aloidendron dichotomum These are planted along the street: I love the mama and baby A. dichotomum On the slope above Brent’s house and propagation area: Trunk on Aloidendron dichotomum (left) vs. Aloidendron ‘Hercules’ (right) Aloidendron dichotomum (left) and Aloidendron ‘Hercules’ (right) Soap yucca ( Yucca elata ) closeup Agave sobria ssp. frailensis , native to Baja California Sur. Easily t...