Shopping once again at OASIS, Altman Plants' retail outlet in San Diego County

Whenever I’m in San Diego, I try to make a stop at OASIS Water Efficient Gardens in Escondido. OASIS is part of Altman Plants, the largest commercial grower of ornamental plants in the US. Virtually all of the succulents you see in big box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot are from Altman. In recent years, the company has branched out beyond succulents into perennials, roses, tropicals, and now even proteas.

OASIS is Altman’s retail outlet, located on their Escondido growing grounds. As you can see in the photos below, it’s nothing fancy – in fact, it’s about as basic as it gets. But that doesn’t matter because it’s all about the plants. I’ve been to OASIS several times over the years, and every time I found a few special plants that aren’t available in the big box stores even though they’re propagated through tissue culture. Last year, a friend got me a couple of variegated agaves (‘Orca’ and ‘Orizaba’). Online, they still sell for over $100; at OASIS they were $20. This time, I found a variegated Aloe ‘Hercules’ and Agave victoriae-reginae ‘White Rhino’.

OASIS sells a large variety of Altman succulents at prices that are about 25% lower than at the big box stores. The retail area is bare bones: Small plants are on tables inside a tent, and larger plants (1 gallon and up) sit on the ground outside. You’re free to wander around without anybody breathing down your neck; the employees I saw were friendly and went about their own business.

Larger plants are outside on the ground; the tent in the back houses smaller succulents

Agaves and cacti

Agave schidigera ‘Shira Ito No Ohi’

Agave titanota ‘Lion’s Mane’, a very cool selection

Very popular monstrose Cereus peruvianus

12" golden barrels (Echinocactus grusonii) for $56

Instant impact

If you want a smaller size, 1 gallons are $8

Pachypodium lamerei at a great price – $25 for a 5 gallon

Drosanthemum ‘Bonfire Red’ looks like it would make a great low-growing landscape plant. I bought one to try.

Aloes and other succulents

The selection inside the tent, and just outside in the front, is impressively large: not just soft-leaved succulents like echeverias and aeoniums, but also cacti and a few aloes.

5" cacti for $11, not a bad price, but I think their smaller cacti are a better deal (see below)

Fancy aeoniums. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t make it through our hot summer.

Aeonium ‘Carnival’

Echeveria ‘Creampuff’ was tempting

Small aloes

Aloe ‘Christmas Sleigh’

Medusa head euphorbias

Variegated Euphorbia ammak, a great landscape succulent for Southern California. I’m trying a couple in my garden, seeing how our winters have become much milder thanks to global warming.

Perfect Astrophytum myriostigma (3") for $8

Lots of smaller cacti

2½" pots for $3.25, 9 cm (2½") pots for $4.25 – I have no idea why the 3½" pots are listed as 9 cm

I grabbed a few columnar cacti to be planted in containers on the front porch

Gymnocalycium saglionis is a cactus I’ve long wanted. How could I resist at $4.25!

The ever popular baseball plant (Euphorbia obesa) for $8. For some reason, this particular species has become noticeably more expensive in recent years.

1 gallon echeverias in a variety of textures and colors

I thought I’d photographed the labels...

...for these echeverias...

...but clearly...

...I did not

This Echeveria ‘Sea Dragon’ was the weirdest plant I saw. I showed this photo to a friend this morning, and she loves it. Me, I’m not sure. The bumps make me think of a brain tumor.

To my knowledge, Altman has released only three mangaves so far. This is ‘Tequila Fire’, which I had seen before.

This one, ‘Gypsy Freckles’, was new to me

It’s an OK plant, but I think Walters Gardens has released nicer mangaves over the years

Here are my special finds – the plants I’m most excited about. They’re only available in limited quantities and have yet to make it to the big box stores, if they ever will.

Variegated Aloe ‘Hercules’ has been a hot ticket item for a little while. I’d managed to resist – until now. I have just the place for it in the backyard.

They’re not cheap, even at OASIS: the 3½" size (above) is $50, 8" is $75

For many years, Agave victoriae-reginae ‘White Rhino’ has been one of the most sought-after succulents. Even a year ago, a plant like this would have sold for over $100. Now that ‘White Rhino’ is in tissue culture, prices have come way down: a 3½" specimen was $25 at OASIS.

It really is a beautiful plant

But it gets even better!

Is there a more beautiful word in the English than “clearance?” OK, “free” is even better.

When you see plants for $0.75 and $1.50, you realize that there are quite a few you suddenly need!

And finally a few photos of the landscaping in front of the sales area. Most of it looks quite recent.

Assorted echeverias, sedums, and hybrids of the two

Mangave ‘Tequila Fire’

If you ever find yourself in northern San Diego County, check out OASIS. They’re in the middle of the fields outside of Escondido at 10816 Reidy Canyon Trail (map). Their hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday; they’re closed on Sunday and Monday.

On my way home from San Diego, I stopped at the Home Depot in Temecula, just north of the San Diego County line. I wanted to see what kinds of succulents the big box stores might carry in an area where succulents are the perfect landscape plants. I was blown away – I had never seen such a large selection at any Home Depot garden center. And most, if not all, of them came from Altman.

Aloe ‘Red Neon’, a landscape-sized version of Kelly Griffin’s dwarf aloes, was a surprise find

Agave ‘Sunglow’

Even Furcraea mcdougallii, Agave montana, Agave mitis ‘Nova’, and Aloe ferox

I know that many people look at Altman Plants like they’re the devil. I get it – large growers flood the market with product and are able to undercut independent nurseries. I do buy plants at Home Depot and Lowe’s occasionally, but the bulk of my purchases is from small nurseries or home growers. Just for the record.

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My plant haul from OASIS. “CL” in the second column indicates that it was a clearance item. The sum total for all clearance items was a whopping $12.

Aloe 'Hercules' (variegated)	8"
Crassula multicava 'Bleeding Heart'	3½"   (CL)
Drosanthemum 'Bonfire Red'	1 gal
Echeveria 'Dark Moon'	2"      (CL)
Echeveria 'Pink Diamond'	3½"   (CL)
Echeveria 'Sahara'	1 gal
Espostoa mirabilis	3½"
Espostoa senilis	3½"
Ferocactus latispinus	3½"
Graptopetalum paraguyense 'Jester'	3½"    (CL)
Graptopetalum pentandrum subsp. superbum	1 gal
Gymnocalycium saglionis	3½"
Kalanchoe luciae	3½"    (CL)
Pachyveria 'Powder Puff'	2"       (CL)
Pilosocereus azureus	2"
Ruschia pulvinaris	1 gal
Sedum 'Donkey Tail Burrito' (2x)	3½"    (CL)

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