Succulents and More™

I can’t believe it’s been seven weeks since my trip to Arizona . Christmas and New Year’s have come and gone, and after weeks of arid weather—truly fitting for the desert—we’ve finally had some rain. Mind you, it was significantly less than an inch, but at this point I’ll take anything. I’ve blogged about all the public gardens I visited in Arizona except for one: the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) in Phoenix. The DBG is the heavyweight among them, certainly in terms of reputation. My expectations had been sky high, and the DBG meet them all—and then some. I took 800 photos at the DBG during my three visits. It took a while to go through them but here, finally, is my first post. Together with part 2, it will give you a general overview of the garden. I’ll also have a post about Las noches de las luminarias , as well as a dedicated post or two about agaves. “Desert Towers” by Dale Chihuly Vertical garden at entrance with poster announcing Dale Chihuly’s In the Garden exhibit

Let’s be honest: Does anybody actually enjoy yard cleanup? I don’t hate it, the way I hate going to the dentist, but I don’t find much thrill in it either. But it has to be done now and then to keep things reasonably orderly. Writing about yard cleanup is similar. It’s not the most enjoyable topic in the world, but when one keeps a visual diary of one’s gardening activities—like I do—it’s a necessary thing to keep track of progress in the yard. Since the weather has been nothing short of stunning lately and I have decided for myself that winter is over—possibly never to return, much like our rain —I decided to get cracking on cleaning up the front yard this past Sunday. My wife and two daughters helped, and we got quite a bit done in a short amount of time. My main focus was on cutting back the grasses and perennials inside and outside the front yard fence. Here are a few “before” photos: Miscanthus sinensis ‘ Gracillimus Nana’ next to Bambusa oldhamii

Almost a year ago, in March of 2013, I bought an Agave ‘Joe Hoak’ from Green Acres Nursery in Folsom, CA. I was very excited because I’d been looking for one for a long time. Click here to read my original post. Agave ‘Joe Hoak’ on March 16, 2013 ‘Joe Hoak’, a sport/hybrid/variety of Agave desmettiana , lived in a pot in the backyard for the rest of year. The rosette, which had originally been fairly flat, has already begun to assume its typical urn shape. This is what ‘Joe Hoak’ looked like yesterday morning (January 26, 2014): Agave ‘Joe Hoak’ on January 26, 2014 I knew its days in that pot were numbered, and yesterday was the day for it to be released from its ceramic prison.

Last Saturday I took a pottery workshop at the house of Donna and Keith Taylor in Fairfield, about 30 minutes from here. Keith Taylor is the president of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society (SCSS) and has taught pottery workshops to SCSS members for the last couple of years. He is an accomplished potter and his creations are sought after by bonsai and caudiciform collectors worldwide. Donna has been a potter most of her life and in recent years started to make a variety of objects out of recycled glass bottles. Visit her web site Melted-Bottle.com to see her wine bottle bowls, trays, and succulent containers. Candy and Gerhard (photo by Keith Taylor)

I love adding new plants to the family. While buying larger specimens provides instant gratification, there’s something even more special about young plants,barely out of seedlinghood. I think of them as the botanical equivalent of babies and toddlers—so full of life and promise, virtually all their life still ahead of them. Yesterday I received five young succulents I’d bought from a fellow collector on a Facebook group called Succulent Marketplace . He shipped them bare root, as is the custom with succulents. Regular gardeners are shocked when they see plants with their roots exposed like this, but it’s OK. Most of these roots are dead anyway.

My plant of the week is Crassula ovata , the good old jade plant. In mild-winter areas of California it is such a common garden or patio plant that many people snub it. I used to be in that camp, too, but over the last few years I’ve developed quite a fondness for the unassuming Crassula ovata . And this winter, my fondness has blossomed into true love. Just take a look and you’ll now why: None of my jade plants has ever bloomed like this before. Maybe it’s our crazy winter with no precipitation and preternaturally warm days. Yesterday our afternoon high was 75°F—on January 21!

We spent the weekend at my in-laws in Mount Shasta in far northern California. The town is nestled against the base of the eponymous mountain which, at 14,179 ft. (4,322 m) is the fifth highest peak in California—just 326 ft. lower than California’s tallest, Mount Whitney (14,505 ft.). In the winter, Mount Shasta is normally covered with snow, a blinding white beacon that can be seen for hundreds of miles. However, this year things are very different. This is what Mount Shasta looked like on Saturday: Mount Shasta from town Aside from a light dusting near the top, there is no snow. Here are two close-ups to show you how little there is: Mount Shasta (right) and Shastina (left) Mount Shasta summit close-up

At the end of December, my older daughter and I made our annual winter trek to the University of California (UC) Botanical Garden in Berkeley. This has become somewhat of a tradition, seeing how we did the same thing in 2011 ( here and here ) and 2012 ( here , here and here ). While it’s getting harder to discover something new—especially since I tend to visit the same sections every time—it’s still great visiting old friends. I love the Yucca rostrata in front of the entrance… …and the Mexican weeping bamboo ( Otatea acuminata ‘Aztecorum’) right inside

Yesterday I blogged about the plants I’m keeping inside for the winter. One of them is a small Duvalia corderoyi , which I won at a raffle at the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society . Duvalia corderoyi is a stapeliad, related to both Stapelia gigantea and Huernia zebrina , both of which bloomedfor me this past summer (see here and here ). Duvalia corderoyi has equally beautiful flowers, and I can’t wait for it to bloom. Duvalia corderoyi flower. Image source: Wikimedia Imagine how annoyed I was this morning when I discovered that my Duvalia corderoyi shows signs of mealybug infestation: