Succulents and More™

Just a few days ago , I showed you photos of Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ in full bloom. Between two stems, there were 18 flowers. You can see most of them in this photo: Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ in all its glory After the peak, the flowers were fading fast, but everything was OK otherwise: Flowers fading fast You know where this is going, right? In a year of unpleasant surprises, here’s another one — and it’s one that hurts: What I found a couple of days after The tallest stem had snapped off towards the bottom, presumably because of the weight of the flowers. Not all is lost though. I made a clean cut and will re-root the top part. In warm weather, new roots should form within 4-6 weeks. With any luck, the re-rooted stem will flower normally next year. I’ll also leave the bottom part in the ground in hopes it will either branch or produce new offsets — more little ‘Flying Saucers’ to plant elsewhere in the garden or give away. And finally.... A quick update on the greenhouse rat sit...

For a while now, I’ve been noticing that the succulents in this planter are losing leaves at an alarming rate: What used to be a relatively lush grouping of sedums, aeoniums, and friends has become a place of sadness: My once proud Aeonium ‘Sunburst’ reduced to nubbins: I’d been putting the blame on rats because, well, because they’re my go-to scapegoats and always up to no good. But I was wrong. I finally caught the culprit in the act: Here it is, merrily chewing on a Senecio ‘Skyscraper’: It stopped momentarily when it saw me, but then it continued nibbling with no care in the world. Only when I got to within three feet did it scamper away. Here’s what’s left of Senecio ‘Skyscraper’: None of the succulents in this planter are irreplaceable so I’m letting the squirrels do their thing. I figure they need to fatten up now in preparation for winter. And I won’t apologize to the rats — I’m sure they’re responsible for something . © Gerhard Bock, 2025. All rights reserved. To receive a...

On my Santa Barbara trip last week , I bought some plants from Nick Deinhart , including this spectacular Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave ‘Blue Glow’ cross for my friend Kyle: Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave ‘Blue Glow’ when I picked it up from Nick Deinhart I loaded my new plants into the car on Friday afternoon when it was about 60°F and sunny. I spent the night in Pismo Beach , less than a mile from the ocean. Overnight, it cooled off to the mid-50s, and it was overcast and somewhat damp when I left on Saturday morning on my drive home. The weather remained cool and overcast for the next hour before the fog lifted and the sun came out. For the remainder of the trip, it was bright and sunny, the temperature climbing into the low 80s by mid-afternoon. I arrived home at around 3 p.m. I had the air conditioning in the car set to 68°F the entire time, except for two quick bathroom breaks when the engine was off, and the air in the car heated up into the 80s. I unloaded the plants right after I g...

I’ve been putting this off long enough, but now it’s time to face the music. I need to preface this post with a warning: Viewing these photos might be detrimental to your mental health. In California, this winter has been one for the record books, both in terms of snowfall in the mountains and rain elsewhere. Since the beginning of the 2023 water year on October 1, 2022, Davis has had 32 inches of rain. That’s almost twice of what we had in 2022, and three times the amount of 2021. In January and even in February, it was still easy to cling to the mantra “rainisgoodrainsigoodrainisgood,” but that became harder to do as one atmospheric river after another barreled through. (According to the National Weather Service , California was hit by 14 atmospheric rivers this winter, although two were fairly weak). Needless to say, this much precipitation did significant damage to many succulents in our garden; they’re simply not equipped to handle extended periods of cold and wet. While some—the...

As if the various trials and tribulations described in my previous post  weren't enough, slugs have started to ravage two of my favorite dudleyas, Dudleya brittonii ... Dudleya brittonii ...and Dudleya arizonica : Dudleya arizonica Normally these dudleyas are covered with a white waxy powder called farina (see below), but the torrential rains in December washed much of that off. Same Dudleya brittonii as above Maybe that lack of powder has made it easier for the slimy slugs to chew off the outer layer of skin? We've certainly have occasional slug damage on dudleyas before, but never to this extent. Slugs (and grubs, maggots, and the like) are my kryptonite, and the mere thought of picking them off by hand at night sends me into fits of revulsion. Fortunately, there's Sluggo , a pet- and wildlife-safe product that poisons slugs with iron phosphate, which occurs naturally in soil. I wonder what's next? A swarm of locusts? Frogs falling from the sky? In the meantime, whil...