Succulents and More™

I recently caught up with my Bay Area friend Justin and want to show you what his garden looks like in early June 2022 (for comparison, here’s a post from June 2021 ). Justin grows many different varieties of cacti, and I missed the peak of the cactus flowering season by a few weeks. Because this was such a banner year, Justin and I are working on a post that will show some of the most spectacular flowers in his garden; check back next week for that. Right now, the biggest attraction in Justin’s garden is the asparagus-like flower stalk of his Agave parrasana : The entire plant looks like a Dr. Seuss creation. We estimated the height to be about 10 ft.—3 ft. for the rosette and 7 ft. for the inflorescence. If anything, the stalk on Justin’s Agave parrasana is even heftier than on mine, which flowered last year . When I arrived, Justin was working in the front yard. He has a good crop of California poppies ( Eschscholzia californica ) every year and lets them do their thing. They’ve ju...