Succulents and More™

Visiting Taft Gardens was high on our priority list on our recent trip to Santa Barbara . Kyle had seen my previous posts about this spectacular garden tucked away in the hills outside of Ojai ( 2019 , 2024 and 2025 ), but he had never been there himself. Taft Gardens is a worthwhile destination year-round, but when the aloes are in bloom (December through February), it becomes a wonderland unlike any other in the U.S. You’ll see what I mean in a minute. The scenic drive from Santa Barbara is less than an hour. Highway 150 hugs the northern shore of Lake Casitas and affords beautiful views: View of Lake Casitas from Highway 150 Taft Gardens is located at the end of a private road. When you make reservations (required), you receive detailed directions and the gate code for the day. Without the directions you won’t know where to turn, and without the code you won’t be able to open the locked gates. The road to Taft Gardens is very steep in places After you check in for your allotted ...

On Saturday, after visiting Hans at Dry Oasis Plants in Half Moon Bay, Kyle and I checked in on our friend Tracy in Livermore. Tracy writes about her garden on her blog tz_garden . If you follow her blog, you know that she’s been making major changes to her front garden . In fact, she’s been completely transforming it, creating mounds, adding rocks (some massive), and planting hundreds of new plants, both succulents and South African and Australian shrubs. The last time Kyle and I were there , last May, it looked like this: Tracy’s front garden, May 2025 Tracy’s front garden, May 2025 Now, nine months later, it looks like this: February 2026 To say that things have changed would be the understatement of the year. Take a closer look at these photos. There is much to see. The standout at this time of year is Aloe ‘Tangerine’ with its signature orange flowers. As you’ll see, Tracy has at least five of them in the front and back. Tracy and Kyle in front of the massive 3,700 lb. boulder T...