Succulents and More™

Every plant in our garden is a favorite plant. That’s what I’d like to believe, although it isn’t entirely true. In reality, my preferences change constantly and favorites come and go. But this week, the plant I’ve been looking at more than any other is Hechtia lanata . I have two of them, and the larger one—the one in the ground—is approaching maturity: It has a beautiful fountain shape with leaves that curl under. Viewed from the top, there’s wonderful symmetry: Hechtia lanata knows how to defend itself: The barbed teeth grab you if you get too close. Below is Hechtia lanata next to Agave ‘Chisum’ (a cross between Agave colorata and Agave pablocarrilloi , the species previously known as Agave gypsophila ). This  Hechtia lanata isn’t large, about 13 inches across and 11 inches tall. It’s dwarfed by the agave, but visually it holds its own—and then some. Hechtia lanata is a terrestrial bromeliad native to the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It’s only found in a small area in sout...

Quite a few universities have an official botanical garden (like UC Berkeley ) or arboretum (like UC Davis ), but there’s only one I know where the entire campus is dedicated to plants: Pitzer College in the Southern California town of Claremont. Ocotillo ( Fouquieria splendens ) A private liberal arts college with about 1,100 students, Pitzer is part of the Claremont Colleges , a consortium of five undergraduate and two graduate schools all located on one integrated campus about 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The entire campus is about 1 square mile in size, so all the colleges are within walking distance of each other. Most of them have fairly traditional landscaping—lawn, shrubs and trees—but Pitzer is different. Very different. All of Pitzer is one giant succulent garden. Beautiful clump of Agave titanota next to Amazon lockers The person who made it all happen is Joe Clements. The former curator of the Desert Garden at the Huntington in San Marino 25 miles up the road w...