Last weekend, my friend Mariel Dennis, the former president of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society (SCSS), held another open house. She has been very generous about inviting people to her garden, and I appreciate the opportunity to see it evolve. As some of you may remember, I’ve blogged about her garden before (2017, 2020, and 2023).
Let’s take a look at what her garden looks like right now, i.e. at the beginning of July 2025.
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| Mariel Dennis |
Mariel’s home (and garden) has a name now: Solunare. It’s a combination of the Spanish words for sun and moon, “sol” and “luna.”
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| The open house was the day after the Fourth of July |
As you enter the backyard, you see racks upon racks of potted succulents on a covered patio. Mariel collects both plants and pots.
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| Many of Mariel’s pots have faces |
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| The latest addition to Mariel’s collection |
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| Looking back towards the covered patio |
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| The aeoniums are going dormant for the summer |
Exploring the northeastern corner of the garden:
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| This corner of the garden is dominated by a very tall Aloidendron ‘Hercules’ |
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| More face planters |
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| A lot more |
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| Dyckia hybrid |
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| Echeverias |
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| Deuterocohnia brevifolia |
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| Monadenium sp., now considered part of the massive genus Euphorbia |
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| Miniature gasteria |
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| Who says chairs are for people? |
Mariel has a number of dish gardens with different themes. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I realize that, but you can still appreciate the creativity and work that has gone into making them.
The garden area on the south side receives a great deal of sun. Mariel has a wide variety of succulents in the ground — they don’t mind the heat.
Her cactus, agave, and mangave collection is displayed on racks protected from the sun by a deep overhang.
In this part of the garden, there's also quite a collection of glass pieces, as you’ll see in the photos below.
I’m already looking forward to Mariel’s next open garden. I’m sure quite a few things will be different.
If you missed my earlier posts about Mariel’s garden, here they are:
© Gerhard Bock, 2025. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
Thanks for the tour! It looks like a fabulous garden, and her collections of pots and glass items are impressive. I love the teacups and saucers, and the metal flower like a Queen Anne's Lace bloom. The Yuccas and Agaves sure are impressive, too.
ReplyDeleteDoes she have someone to help with the maintenance of her garden? It is certainly wonderful. I love all the glass and pottery she collects, also. She doesn't have a big yard, but she sure makes the most of it!
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought my neighbor had a lot of succulents in pots! I'm impressed Mariel can keep track of all of them. A garden like that deserves a formal name. Thanks for sharing your visit!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun garden to explore, her playfulness shows through at every turn. You captured beautiful light coming through the Agave angustifolia ‘Marginata’. I like her shade cloths in the back? - nice break from the heat, for people & the plants.
ReplyDeleteA truly quirky and eclectic garden. Love Mariel's use of colourful art pieces and head planters. Almost like little conversation groups. Can you hear the faces discussing their 'hair' days? It must take Mariel hours to water all those containers. Good thing she doesn't need to bring them indoors for the winter. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI love that side house promenade with shade cloth overhead: very inviting space. It looks a bit like a market place, very well displayed, I could spend a long time exploring.
ReplyDeleteChavli