Succulents and More™

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to check up on the aloes at the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley (UCBG). While it doesn’t have a particularly large aloe collection—certainly nothing that gets close to the Huntington —it’s a beautiful place to visit at any time of year, but particularly this winter when Berkeley has proven to be a more reliable sunny spot than Davis. After what seemed like weeks of non-stop fog and overcast skies at home, I was so happy to be wandering around in the sun. The first flower aloe I spotted was right at the entrance, a cat’s tail aloe ( Aloe castanea ). It was heavily frequented by bees. Cat’s tail aloe ( Aloe castanea ) I spotted an even larger clump behind the gift shop: Cat’s tail aloe ( Aloe castanea )

Winter in the Sacramento Valley (USDA hardiness zone 9b; Sunset zone 14) is aloe time. Most aloes are winter bloomers and they grace us with their flowers when little else is in bloom. Except this year my aloes are stuck in a state of suspended animation because of our weird weather. Usually our winters are sunny and bright (the occasional rain storm excepted). This January, though, has been anything but normal. We’ve had more fog than I can remember, and it’s been extremely dry. After an unusually wet December, January has been the driest on record. More proof that California’s drought is anything but over. As a consequence, many of our aloes have been in limbo, their flower stalks in arrested development. I need to turn on the sprinklers this weekend to give all our plants a good drink. Otherwise our aloes might continue to sulk and abort their flowers altogether. Here are some of the aloes I’m waiting for to come into their own: Unidentified Brian Kemble hybrid from the Ruth Ba...

It’s not unusual for us to have foggy nights and mornings, but this year the fog has been extreme. Right now the sun is out, but it’s been a rare sight in the past few weeks. I must admit, though, that I love what the fog does: It makes even familiar sights look mysterious, even unsettling, and it muffles all sound so the world is shrouded in a peculiar stillness. Trees across the street—morning Trees across the street—night

This post concludes my three-part series on the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) in Phoenix, Arizona. Part 1 is here and part 2 is here . We’re now at the spot indicated by the green arrow in the following trail map (borrowed from the DBG web site ) and will be exploring the paths inside the perimeter of the Desert Discovery Loop Trail, including Quail Run Path. Trail map © 2015 Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ Ferocactus pottsii

Part 1 of this three-part series on the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) in Phoenix, AZ ended at the Desert Portal, the fat red dot on the trail map below (borrowed from the DBG web site ). Trail map © 2015 Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ Let’s walk on to the Center for Desert Living Trail, the purple trail that takes offs to the right. In the words of the DBG, “this trail showcases ideas and strategies that demonstrate useful, sustainable and harmonious ways to work with nature in the desert environment.” I think of this section as a residential demonstration garden—things you can do and plants you can plant as a homeowner in a desert climate. There’s also an herb garden and an edible garden; they didn’t look all that attractive in late December so I didn’t photograph them. Following are a few snippets of things I found interesting in this corner of the garden. There’ll be more photos in my upcoming “agaves at the DBG” post. Aloe marlothii in Chinese pot

Even in a state full of natural treasures and scenic wonders, the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) in Phoenix, Arizona is a standout. Spanning 140 acres, the DBG features over 21,000 plants in more than 1,400 taxa . Cacti form the largest group, with 10,350 plants in 1,350 taxa. The DBG’s agave collection (subject of a future post) is significant as well, with 176 taxa represented. Several miles of trails allow you to get up close and personal with your favorite desert plants. On the edge of the parking lot Unlike the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) in Tucson, which is located miles outside of town and affords fairly pristine desert views, the Desert Botanical Garden is in the middle of the Phoenix metro area (east of Sky Harbor International Airport and north of Arizona State University, Tempe). This doesn’t diminish the experience for me, but the DBG feels a lot more “domesticated” to me than the ASDM. If I had to pick a favorite between the two, I really couldn’t. Both of them...

Yesterday’s post, ASDM: Agaves in the snow , prompted me to do a little bit of research into the cold tolerance of agaves. There’s a wealth of information available online and in books, but much of it is in bits and pieces. I attempted to compile a list that is as complete—and hence as useful—as possible. The tab “Sources” in the spreadsheet below lists the sources I relied on most; where they disagreed with regard to the cold hardiness of a given species or cultivar, I picked the mean value and rounded it up. Agave ovatifolia , the whale’s tongue agave, is one of the best choices for cold and wet winters My hope is that this list will be a useful reference for your own trials. Please bear in mind that cold hardiness depends on more than just temperature. For the majority of agave species, the most crucial factor aside from the absolute air temperature is how wet or dry the soil is when a cold spell hits. Completely dry soil allows agaves to withstand colder temperatures than they ...

New Year’s Day in Tucson started out with a bang: a dusting of snow in the foothills and mountains! I will never forget driving over Gates Pass that morning: There was less snow at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM), but still enough to make a place I’m fairly familiar with look new and different. In my previous post I showed you how the Desert Museum protects its tender cacti. This post is all about agaves—agaves in the snow. I think agaves are great at any time of year, but a coating of that white stuff from the sky makes them look extra special. Octopus agave ( Agave vilmoriniana )

When I woke up in my downtown Tucson hotel room on New Year’s Day, I saw a slight dusting of snow on the cars in the parking lot. An hour later I was in the Tucson Mountains snapping one photo after another: The mountains had become a winter wonderland , and even the locals seemed giddy with excitement. When I arrived at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) on the western edge of the Tucson Mountains, the air temperature had climbed into the high 30s and what little snow had fallen there was beginning to melt. Still, I was able to get many good pictures of the desert the way I’d never seen it before. The original car in which Hal Gras, the first public relations director of the Desert Museum, brought animals to schools, hospitals, etc. to spread the word about the the new institution

Bach’s Cactus Nursery (8602 North Thornydale Road, Tucson, AZ 85742) was my first stop in Tucson on my recent desert road trip . I’d visited this nursery in December 2013 and couldn’t wait to go back. The weather was much different this time: overcast, noticeably colder, with rain in the forecast (which arrived that afternoon and then turned to snow overnight). Frost cloth and other means of protection against the cold were a common sight throughout the nursery: