Like last December, my final post of the year is a month-by-month recap of what I blogged about in 2025. I didn’t travel beyond the borders of California (our massive siding project was expensive, so no big vacations), but I still managed to visit quite a few fantastic gardens, all of which provided inspiration. On the homefront, I continued tweaking and refining, completing the rock border around the individual beds both in the front and the back, and building a few new beds.
Above all, I wanted to thank you for letting me share my garden adventures with you. Reading your comments is always a highlight for me, so please keep them coming!
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| No trip to the desert for me in 2025, so I asked AI to bring my vision of a drive through a cactus- and agave-studded landscape to life |
January
Highlights: I updated you on my greenhouse, highlighted some pretty vignettes in our garden, and showed you how I gained an extra 40 sq.ft. in the front yard by moving the fence. I also gave you a peek at what I saw on my mid-January trip to Santa Barbara, including one final visit to much-loved San Marcos Growers, which closed their doors just before Christmas.
All January 2025 posts:
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| My greenhouse in January 2025 |
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| San Marcos Growers in Santa Barbara |
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| Mass planting of Aloe ‘Birds and Bees’ in an office park in Goleta/Santa Barbara |
February
Highlights: I continued my coverage of my January trip to Santa Barbara, including posts about Aloes in Wonderland and Taft Gardens. I also updated you on the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society’s demonstration garden and took you to the Ruth Bancroft Garden and John Miller’s aloe garden in Oakland. At home, I planted the newly gained space in the front yard.
All February 2025 posts:
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| Newly planted space along the sidewalk, mostly aloes |
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| Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society’s demonstration garden |
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| Aloes in Wonderland, Santa Barbara |
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| Taft Gardens, Ojai |
March
Highlights: I gave you a tour of the front yard, all nice and tidy for an early-March open garden, the sidewalk bed lined with ‘White Linen’ California poppies. I also visited Fred and Paul’s fantastic collectors’ garden in Sacramento and a great succulent nursery on the Central California coast.
All March 2025 posts:
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| ‘White Linen’ California poppies in front of Agave wocomahi |
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| My pot-bound cardón (Pachycereus pringlei) finally got grounded |
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| Fred and Paul in their backyard |
April
Highlights: Loree ‘danger garden’ Bohl visited at the end of March for a jam-packed weekend of Bay Area garden touring; I had four posts in April about some of the gardens we saw. I also took you to Kyle’s spectacular garden in Sacramento, showed you the first wave of cactus flowers, and gave you a sneak peek of what I saw on my trip to San Diego at the end of April.
All April 2025 posts:
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| A favorite vignette in our front yard |
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| Max and Justin’s front garden in Oakland |
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| Tracy’s backyard in Livermore |
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| Sea of California poppies in Kyle’s garden |
May
Highlights: Seven posts were about my April trip to San Diego for the 2025 Convention of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. I also posted updates on the Ruth Bancroft Garden and landscape designer Mat McGrath’s Bay Area garden.
All May 2025 posts:
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| Jim Bishop’s garden in San Diego |
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| Jody Visosky’s garden in San Diego County – the views! |
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| Jeremy Spath’s Hidden Agave Ranch in North San Diego County |
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| Brent Wigand’s garden in Riverside County |
June
Highlights: I wrapped up coverage of my Bay Area and San Diego trips, showed you some special plants at the San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society’s 2025 Succulent Expo, and took you to Curious Flora in Richmond, the former Annie’s Annuals. I also caught you up on the new(ish) succulent beds in the backyard and posted more pictures of cactus flowers than you ever wanted to see.
All June 2025 posts:
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| One of Ken Blackford’s “granite potato mounds” in San Diego |
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| Julian Duval’s jungle garden in North San Diego County |
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| Ann Nichol’s epic bromeliad garden in Oakland |
July
Highlights: I updated you on some recent garden projects, showed you more cactus flowers (there were so many!), featured two Sacramento area gardens (Mariel’s art garden and Tyler and Jessica’s succulent garden in front of their mid-century modern home), and visited two nurseries in Mount Shasta.
All July 2025 posts:
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| Echinopsis ‘Day Dream’ |
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| One of the succulent beds in the backyard |
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| Newly completed rock border |
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| Mariel’s garden in the Sacramento area |
August
Highlights: August was all about home renovation. We had the entire siding of our house replaced with Hardie fiber cement board, which will last forever and never need maintenance. This prompted several projects that resulted in some long overdue backyard upleveling. I also featured Marcia Donahue’s art garden in Berkeley, which I’d visited in March with Loree, and Edna’s backyard succulent nursery – a very special find.
All August 2025 posts:
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| New Hardie siding on the house. The Gray Slate color we chose creates a great backdrop for our plants. |
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| New planters in the backyard |
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| New (small) cactus bed in the backyard |
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| Edna’s very special backyard nursery in Richmond |
September
Highlights: September had some lows (the agave weevil strikes again) and highs (a longer overdue visit to Peacock Horticultural Nursery in Sebastopol). I also continued some smaller projects in the wake of the re-siding.
All September 2025 posts:
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| Agave weevil grubs |
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| Our house in relation to our neighbors |
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| Peacock Horticultural Nursery – the nursery grounds |
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| Peacock Horticultural Nursery – Marty and Robert’s private garden |
October
Highlights: I did a lot of cleaning for another open garden, visited Cricket Riley’s lush dry garden (also the title of her new book, written in collaboration with Alice Kitajima and Kier Holmes) and Kipp McMichael’s truly one-of-a-kind succulent garden in Berkeley, and got to go to the Ruth Bancroft Garden twice.
All October 2025 posts:
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| Cricket Riley’s garden in Walnut Creek |
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| Ruth Bancroft Garden |
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| Kipp McMichael’s garden in Berkeley |
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| Our front garden, walkway to the front door |
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| Our front garden in the mist |
November
Highlights: November saw me revisiting a few favorite gardens, including Max and Justin’s in Oakland, Mat McGrath’s in Rodeo, and Kyle’s in Sacramento. I also reviewed Gardens of Texas, the new book by Pam Penick, which, in spite of its title, has relevance far beyond the borders of the Lone Star State.
All November 2025 posts:
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| Max and Justin’s back garden in Oakland |
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| Mat McGrath’s front garden in Rodeo |
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| One of Kyle’s succulent beds in his garden in Sacramento |
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| Agave chazaroi, one of my favorite agave species |
December
Highlights: December was spent at home, but I did post a much-delayed profile of Jeff Moore of Arid Adaptations nursery in Tucson. The Central Valley was stuck under a tenacious layer of fog for three solid weeks, with temperatures below normal, which caused all plant growth to screech to a halt. But the sun did come out eventually, albeit briefly. I have no idea what 2026 will bring in terms of weather, but I’m hoping for a benign start to the new year, with temperatures as far from freezing as possible.
All December 2025 posts:
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| Dozens of Parodia erubescens at Arid Adaptations, Jeff Moore’s nursery in Tucson |
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| Agave ‘Sierra Azul’, a new find and one of my current favorites |
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| Aloe lukeana, one of my favorite aloe species; its flowers last for 3+ months |
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| Rain drops on cactus spines |
I hope that 2025 is ending on a high note for you and that 2026 will go easy on all of us. But no matter what happens in the world, we have our gardens to find comfort in.
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| This image is another product of my imagination, but I’d love to be in a place like this right about now |
Happy New Year, everybody! Look for new posts coming soon.
© Gerhard Bock, 2025. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
A nice recap, you did visit so many gardens. I'm going to revisit many of these posts- Santa Barbara, Kyle's garden and both your own garden posts on the fence change & backyard bed (at least). Cheers Gerhard!
ReplyDelete*I like both your AI photos.
DeleteYou've had a fantastic year. Thanks again for reviewing my book, and happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteYou covered a LOT of ground even while staying within our state borders, Gerhard! It's amazing that you got so much done in your own garden during the same period, especially given the disruptions caused by the work on the house. Best wishes for an equally productive new year in 2026!
ReplyDeleteSo many wonderful adventures and posts in 2025. Thank you so much for sharing! I love it all, but I must say the view of the Poppies with the Agave brought a smile. It's beautiful and hopeful! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too! Thanks for a year of information and inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all the 2025 garden inspo, Gerhard. I seriously don’t know how you manage to work full time, upkeep an awesome garden, do so many cool plant-related things and then have the time write about them!?! We are all so fortunate that you do!
ReplyDeleteElly
thank you for the recap and corralling all these excellent posts into monthly directories -- perfect for end-of-year binging!
ReplyDelete