Succulents and More™

Most of the trips I write about are plant-focused. Often I go by myself because my family would be bored to tears. Last weekend, however, the whole family went on an outing to San Francisco. If traffic cooperates, the drive from Davis takes about 90 minutes. But traffic and parking in San Francisco can be brutal, so we opted to take the ferry from Richmond: Ferry terminal in Richmond We left our car at the Richmond ferry terminal. There’s plenty of parking, and it’s free – as in $0. The ride across San Francisco Bay takes about 35 minutes and costs $4.70 one way. Compare that to $35+ for parking in San Francisco plus $8 toll to cross the Oakland Bay Bridge. Route map © San Francisco Chronicle To my delight, one of the first things I saw after exiting the ferry terminal in San Francisco was this mass planting of Agave ‘Blue Flame’ and Agave attenuata ‘Ray of Light’: As we were walking over to the Ferry Building Marketplace for coffee, I spotted several wooden planters on wheels fille...

No road trip is complete without a plant haul. Here’s what I brought home from my recent trip to Santa Barbara : Cargo area of the Prius Back seat Backseat Of course I got a few agaves. It would be a crime not to bring home agaves from a plant-centric trip: Agave potatorum ‘Cherry Swizzle’, a San Marcos Growers introduction Agave pelona Agave desmetiana ‘Galactic Traveller’ Agave quiotepecensis , a close relative of Agave oteroi Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave oteroi , a Nick Deinhart hybrid (for a friend) However, the bulk of my haul are aloes to be planted out in our front yard. Most are hybrids, except for these: Aloe labworana , a beautiful species from Uganda Aloe fievetii  cutting. See what A. fievetii  flowers look like here , photographed at the Huntington. Aloe hybrids: Aloe  ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, a very cool Aloe dawei  hybrid originally found at the Huntington. More info here . Aloe ‘Hot Flash’, an Aloe aculeata hybrid originally discovered at Aloes in Wonde...

I just got back from a long weekend in Santa Barbara. This was an aloe-centric trip, with aloes in full bloom all over town. I’ll have detailed posts in the coming weeks. For now, here’s a teaser of where I went and what I saw. Aloe ‘Birds and Bees’ at a business park in Goleta San Marcos Growers, Santa Barbara As a wholesale nursery, San Marcos Growers doesn’t sell to the public, but many independent nurseries in California (especially Southern California) carry their plants. Under the leadership of Randy Baldwin, San Marcos has introduced countless cool plants over the last 40 years. Sadly, San Marcos will close their doors for good on January 1, 2026. I feel very lucky that I got to visit for what may be the last time. Plants destined for a garden in the Los Angeles area Outside the office building Aloe  ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Agave salmiana var. ferox ‘Medio Picta’ Agave ‘Thorny Warrior’ ( A. xylonacantha × pablocarrilloi ) Taft Gardens, Ojai When I visited Taft Gardens last Apr...