Succulents and More™

Yucca ‘Bright Star’ is one of those plants that stop you in your tracks the first time you see them. It’s just that beautiful. I had one from 2017 to 2023 and have been looking for another one ever since. My original ‘Bright Star’ came from my friend Hoover Boo ( Piece of Eden ) in Southern California. After seeing hers ( here ), I knew I needed to have one. Fortunately, she had a source and was able to get me a 2-gallon plant. It bloomed for the first time in November 2022, producing a glorious display of bell-shaped flowers. November 2022 Yuccas are polycarpic, meaning they don’t die after flowering like most agaves do. Technically, I could have enjoyed this stunning spectacle every year from then on. Unfortunately, my ‘Bright Star’ split into multiple heads after flowering, ruining the beautiful symmetry of a single rosette. It got even worse when I noticed suckers popping up around the mother plant: I had visions of a messy clump — most definitely not the look I wanted. I knew I w...

Yucca rostrata , or the beaked yucca as they call it in its native Texas, is one of my favorite large landscape succulents. It’s easy to see why: Yucca rostrata at Tucson Botanical Garden Its thick trunk topped with one or more perfectly symmetrical pom-poms of silvery blue leaves makes it a stunning focal point. In addition, it’s super tough: It can withstand intense summer heat and survive temperatures as low as 0°F. Yucca rostrata at the Ruth Bancroft Garden (December 2021) Mature Yucca rostrata at Poots Cactus Nursery John Kuzma’s and Kathleen Halme’s garden in Portland Even smaller specimens with little visible trunk are highly architectural, as seen here in a commercial landscape in Irvine, California The only maddening thing about Yucca rostrata is its speed of growth. Or rather, lack of it. Even under ideal conditions — lots of heat and regular summer water — it takes 10+ years for it to reach its mature height of 10-15 feet. This also means that larger, more mature specim...

Part 1 of our tour of Ben’s garden in the Berkeley Hills ended with a photo of Ben standing in front of the beautiful bamboo you see below: Walking up the stairs, the first thing I noticed – after tearing myself away from the bamboo – were three trees in tall urns, two banksias and one Cussonia paniculata : The vertical effect is fantastic. As is the color of the wall. The stone art on the wall is by Glasgow stonemason Moray Henderson. Sobralia virginalis , a large terrestrial orchid from South America: On our way to the top of the hill, I stopped frequently to take in the views: Haitian metal art inlaid and Ancestral Pueblo pottery shards in the concrete walkway: Another octopus sighting: Potted Dudleya virens ssp. hassei : Poky yucca and its shadow: San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachinoi ) and Leucadendron ‘Ebony’: Aloidendron ‘Hercules’: Apart from the plants and the views, the rock work done by Ignacio Medina was my favorite feature: Every rock had to be hauled up the slope a...