Succulents and More™

While some plants prefer to lay low in the summer heat, others shift into high gear. Here are a few prime examples of the latter, all from our garden. The  Agave parrasana  next to the sidewalk has been busy pumping energy into its asparagus-like flower stalk. It's now taller the 6 ft. fence behind it. Aloe ferox (left),  Agave parrasana  (middle) and Aloidendron  'Hercules' (right) Agave parrasana  is native to the Parras Mountains in the southeast of the Mexican state of Coahuila, about 300 miles south of the Texas border, where it grows at 4,500 to 8,000 ft. Since the winters can be frigid, the flower stalk of  Agave parrasana  emerges during summer and early fall and then stops for the cold season. Thick bracts protect the immature flowers against freeze damage. The following spring, the inflorescence completes its growth, with flowers emerging from side branches off the stalk.

Prepare yourselves for a shocking confession: I've never met a plant (sale) I don't like. OK, you're probably not all that surprised to hear that. After all, I regularly write about my plant sale escapades. The saga continued this past weekend. On Saturday, the UC Davis Arboretum held its final plant sale of the season. Traditionally, this is a clearance sale where all remaining plants are 10% off. This year they went all out and upped the discount to 25%—with Arboretum members getting an additional 10% off, for a total of 35%. To sweeten the deal even more, many plants were marked down to $6. Take 35% off $6, and the final price for those plants was $3.90! Practically free! What could I do? I simply had to go. I met up with fellow blogger Kathy Stoner ( click here to visit her blog GardenBook) and we spent a intensely focused hour and half on the very serious business of plant shopping. Both of us had gone through the inventory list ahead of time and marked ...

Last week, one my favorite blogs, Piece of Eden , talked about Amaryllis vs. Hippeastrum  and showed a beautiful photo of  Hippeastrum papilio , the butterfly amaryllis. I left a comment saying that I planted a few bulbs years ago, and while the clump had gotten bigger, there had never been flowers. The next morning I happened to look at the mass of strappy leaves from my  Hippeastrum papilio , and this is what I found: You can imagine how surprised I was! This raised bed is tucked away off to the side of the front porch. It's been neglected for a while and I don't routinely look there for exciting plant discoveries.

Last week I wrote about four Lachenalia aloides I recently bought at the monthly meeting of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society (SCSS). Two are the straight species and two are variety quadricolor , which has petals in four colors: red, yellow, orange and green. The common name of this South African bulb is “cape cowslip.” I assume that means cow’s lip. Or is it cow slip? Personally, I haven’t seen too many cows wearing undergarments. Anyway, Dave Vitolo who follows my Facebook page told me that the South African section at the UC Davis Arboretum, small as it is, has a large clump of Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor that is in full bloom right now. I headed over there on Friday and took the photos you see in this post. Cape cowslips may not be large in size, but in full bloom, their impact is undeniable—especially en masse. I can’t wait for my small plants to multiply. I wonder if each bulb splits into two or whether it produces multiples? The aloe behind the cape c...

I continue to tinker with the succulent mounds that have replaced the front lawn. Most of the planting is done, but I’m waiting for the soil to dry a bit more after last week’s rain before planting out our big golden barrel cactus . It has been in a pot since 2011 and desperately wants to be set loose. The guest speaker at last night’s meeting of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society (SCSS) was Ernesto Sandoval, the director of the Botanical Conservatory at UC Davis . Ernesto gave a very informative presentation on how to keep succulents happy, both the parts above and below ground, and brought in a nice selection of plants for sale. Even thought I need new plants as much as I need a sharp stick in the eye, I couldn’t help myself. But instead of buying more succulents, I made an unexpected purchase: two Lachenalia aloides and two Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor . You don’t know what they are? Welcome to the club. But take a look and you’ll know why I had to have them: L...

While I’m not a collector of South African bulbs like Albuca, Brunsvigia, Boophane, Nerine , etc., I bought several veltheimias a few years ago—both Veltheimia capensis and Veltheimia bracteata , the only two species in the genus. None of them had ever bloomed. Until this week. My Veltheimia capensis finally sent up a flower stalk, and it’s so puuuurty. The inflorescence reminds me both of aloes and kniphofias.

On Labor Day I spent a couple of hours exploring the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden at the UC Davis Arboretum and I spotted several clumps of sea squill (I identified them as Urginea maritima in my post but since then I’ve found out they’ve been moved to a different genus and are now Drimia maritima ). Sea squill, also known as giant squill or sea onion, is a Mediterranean bulb of impressive size—up 12” wide at maturity. Eventually it splits in two, and over the years you end up with a large clump just like the ones at the UC Davis Arboretum. The flower stalks in the photos above were past their prime but you get the idea of what a clump looks like. In late fall, blue-green strappy leaves emerges from the bulbs to produce energy. The foliage then dies in late spring and new flower stalks burst forth. Naked ladies ( Amaryllis belladonna ) have the same growth habit.

If your garden is like mine, some plants always hog the stage while others recede into the background to the point where you forget you even have them. Until a momentous change occurs: maybe dramatic foliage color in the fall, or a vibrant burst of color in the spring. One such plant is Clivia miniata . We refer to it simply as “clivia,” but it also has several other common names, including Kaffir lily, Natal lily and bush lily. It’s an amaryllis relative from South Africa that in most parts of the world is grown as a house plant. In our climate it does just fine outside. I planted it in the ground behind one of our bay trees ca. 2006 and it’s one of the very few plants that has been able to hold its own against the thirsty, aggressive roots from the bay trees. While in South Africa it grows in damp woodland habitats, in our garden it has to make do with pathetically dry soil.

In spite of good intentions I never seem to make it to the UC Botanical Garden (UCBG) in Berkeley more than once or twice a year. But thanks to the lull in work between Christmas and New Year I was able to get away last Friday. It was a cold and gray day, a bit too gray to make for perfect photography conditions, but it was still better than the bright sunny weather I had encountered on previous visits . This post is about UCBG’s Southern African Collection. In separate posts I’ll take you to the New World Desert and Asian Collections . Most of the other garden sections aren’t that interesting in the winter so I skipped them. The garden entrance isn’t splashy, but the large Yucca rostrata with its spiky blue hairdo is a good indication that this is no ordinary place. Entrance at 200 Centennial Way Yucca rostrata

As the days are getting shorter, many plants are beginning to wind down for the year. However, there are others who spent the summer in dormancy and are now waking up. I have four of these summer sleepers sitting on the front porch and I’ve been watching for signs of activity. My patience has been rewarded as all four them are now showing new growth. It’s great seeing plants leaf out now when most others are doing the opposite. Let’s take a look at these four unusual plants. All four of them are from the southern hemisphere (South Africa in this case). The first one is Tylecodon dinteri , a succulent from South Africa. I bought it last fall at the Ruth Bancroft Garden when it was in full leaf. Tylecodon dinteri

Our climate is great for tomatoes, lavender, subtropical bamboos and of most cacti and succulents, but it sucks for those beloved harbingers of spring that once almost brought the Dutch economy to its knees : tulips. To get tulips to bloom at all, we need to chill them in the fridge or buy pre-chilled bulbs. Forget about them coming back the next year—our summer heat does them in. So it is with great envy that I look at photos of tulip fields in Holland or Washington State. Tulip field in the Netherlands Photo source: Wikipedia Tulip field in the Skagit Valley, Washington State Photo source: Wikipedia

The November meeting of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society featured a presentation by Nick Wilkinson of GROW Nursery on cold-hardy aloes and agaves. Nick also brought along a great selection of plants for sale, most of them hard to find in regular nurseries. I bought several, but the one I’m most excited about is this unusual looking specimen: It’s a Veltheimia capensis , and I must admit I had never heard of it before. It turns out it’s a flowering bulb from the western part of South Africa, its common name being “sand lily.” It grows and blooms in the fall and winter and goes completely dormant in the summer (its leaves dry up completely). It was attracted by its wavy leaves, shown to good effect in the following photo from Wikimedia (although my plant has much bluer leaves): For me, the leaves would be attraction enough, but the flowers are even more stunning. They look like a cross between the flowers of aloes and red hot pokers ( Kniphofia ). To see more flower photo...