Succulents and More™

Three weeks ago, we had a massive clump of timber bamboo ( Bambusa oldhamii ) removed in the front yard. This post ended with the bamboo gone, both the culms above ground and the woody mass below. The fence boards in the inset area were damaged from the accumulation of bamboo leaves and the stump grinder the tree service used to remove the woody base. Logically, the first thing I did was pop off the old fence boards, creating an opening that hadn’t existed since 2008. Since I had easy access to the remaining bamboo inside the fence ( Bambusa chungii ‘Barbellata’, a different species), I removed most of the accumulated leaf litter and other debris that had collected over the years. I also gave the Bambusa chungii a good trim, cutting out dead and deformed culms. Before long, I had a sizable pile in the street—just in time for the first yard waste pickup of the season (from mid-fall to late winter, the City of Davis picks up green waste deposited in the curb every two weeks). I liked ...

A local gardening friend told me her Mangave ‘Purple People Eater’ was flowering. I’d never seen one in bloom so I was eager to stop by. I was surprised by how yellow the flowers were—not creamy or pale yellow, but a deeply saturated warm yellow. The flowers are very agave-like, which isn’t a surprise considering that ‘Purple People Eater’ is ¾ Agave and only ¼ Manfreda . It’s a cross between Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ (itself a hybrid between Agave macroacantha and Manfreda maculosa ) and Agave pablocarrilloi , the species formerly known as Agave gypsophila . It was hard to get a good photo of the entire plant because it was in mottled shade, but in addition to the main flower spike, there were about six shorter ones. Strangely enough, they don’t come from offsets as I would have expected, but have emerged from in between the rows of leaves. The mangave was cool to see, but the main attraction was right next to it: a curved espalier with three ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate trees! The pomegranate...

Even though our current daytime temperatures might trick you into thinking it’s early or late summer, the warmth and angle of the light don’t lie: Fall is here. Other harbingers of the season include flowering muhly grasses and autumn sages. I saw plenty of them this morning on my walk with our dog Stella at the UC Davis Arboretum . Even though Stella didn’t really understand why I wanted to stop so often, she was a good sport and let me take the pictures you see in this post. There are plenty of Muhlenbergia grasses at the Arboretum, especially the native deer grass ( Muhlenbergia rigens ), but the real star right now is the muhly grass ( Muhlenbergia reverchonii ‘Undaunted’). When in full bloom, its airy flower stalks look like a mist of water frozen in mid-spray. Muhlenbergia reverchonii ‘Undaunted’ and Muhlenbergia rigens (back) Muhly grass looks particularly nice... ...when combined with autumn sages ( Salvia greggii ) I love the water mist effect More vigorous bloomers: Baja ...