GARDENING SUCCS
You say "obsession" like it's a bad thing.
  • Blog
  • Instagram
  • Store and Resource Guide

Stanford's Arizona Garden

3/31/2015

 
I love Stanford's Arizona garden.  Every time I go there, I notice something different.  It's possible that they're planting different things all the time...  and I suppose it's also possible that I'm only semi-observant.  Either way, I snapped some cool pictures.  Enjoy!
Picture
This agave parryi is going to bloom!
Picture
Picture
Cephalocereus senilis?
Picture
Picture
This agave "blue glow" is really thriving!
Picture
This agave attenuata is just starting to show little babies along its stalk! Cute, cute, cute.
Picture
I'm pretty sure that this lovely specimen is an agave salmiana var. ferox, also known as agave "green goblet."

Seriously gorgeous hybrids

3/31/2015

 
My dear succ-ers, I have been wanting to share these three plants with you for quite a while, but didn't get around to taking pictures of all of them until a couple of days ago (plus, I wanted to share them all in one go, so I had to wait for the second one to bloom).  

As some of you know, I have a bit of a pet interest in growing plants from seed, various propagation methods, and hybridization.  I also tried my hand at grafting, and some of the results have been awesome.  
Picture
The plant at left is one of my favorites.  It's so colorful and bizarre that it practically looks fake!  I took a variegated haworthia cymbiformis and sliced off the uppermost leaves with a scalpel.  Then I took an echinocereus rubispinus that I'd taken the roots off of due to root mealybug (which is basically impossible to get rid of, so you're best off just getting rid of the soil and affected roots).  But instead of rooting my gorgeous pink cactus in dry soil, I set it on the (dried) incision I'd made at the top of the haworthia.  Following the same procedures people use to graft cacti onto cacti, I used a piece of string to lightly secure the cactus onto the haworthia and left it for several weeks.  Then I cut off the string, tested the echinocereus, and--presto!--the roots had grown into the haworthia.  It's now been two and a half months and it's still going strong.  

Picture
I can't take credit for "making" this second plant, though.  I bought it a few months ago at a nursery in Half Moon Bay.  It was simply labeled "non-monocarpic agave, variegated."  I bought it--even at $30!--because I thought all agaves were monocarpic (meaning that they only bloom once, then die, like sempervivums do, leaving numerous baby succs in their wake), and I wanted to see what the blooms of a non-monocarpic agave looked like.  Well, yesterday I got to find out!  The blossoms are pink and look nothing like other agave blossoms.  In fact, they look more like echeveria blossoms.  I was assuming that it was an agave attenuata, given its shape and the lack of spines.  But the flowers make me think that maybe it's actually a yucca doing a really good agave impression.  Any ideas?  Is it a hybrid?  Does anyone else have one of these?

Picture
I've saved my favorite of the three for last.  I created this on a whim after successfully growing some haworthias, euphorbias, and agaves from seed two seasons ago.  Last season, I decided to try something a little more ambitious.  I pressed two seeds together in several different iterations to make what I call a "uni-seed."  It sounds biologically implausible, but after reading quite a bit about metallurgy online, I began wondering if the same principles might apply to plants.  At the very least, it seemed worth a shot.  I tried haworthia + euphorbia, crassula + echeveria, crassula + agave, and euphorbia + echeveria,   The only one of these that germinated was the last of these. Until February, it looked like a regular echeveria "fleur blanc," so I assumed that the whole "uni-seed" idea was kind of dumb.  But then a weird-shaped blossom began to sprout in the center of it.  And when it opened a few weeks ago, it wasn't a flower, but a euphorbia!  Is that cool or what??  I checked for roots, but didn't see any.  It's literally growing out of the center of the euphorbia just like a flower does.  

...And if you believed that these three wonderful succulent creations were real, you just got punked!  April Fool's, dear succ-ers!  I hope you had as much fun reading about these fake hybrids as I did writing them.  (And a special shout-out to my awesome partner, Liz, who not only cooked up the idea for the April Fool's joke, but created these great plants in Photoshop.)



Why is my agave "blue flame" sad?

3/28/2015

 
My blue flame agave isn't doing that well, I'm afraid.  There appear to be two issues.  
  1. Large-ish brown spots appear on random leaves, often at the base.  I suppose that overwatering could be the source of this, but I don't really water it it very often, the spots aren't especially mushy, and there are no other signs of rot.
  2. Unhealthy-looking yellow dots now adorn many of the leaves.  You can see a close-up in the last picture below.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Does anyone have any idea what might be going on with my blue flame?  I'd welcome any advice...

Raindrops on Sedums and Whiskers on Doggies...

3/28/2015

 
Ah, succ-ers.  As you know, I LOVE taking pics of my succulents after a nice rain.  Here are some that I took a few days ago.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Aren't those gorgeous?  I particularly love the collection of droplets on the spider web that some little critter wove near my Agave lophantha "Quadricolor."

You've seen our dog Maisie helping me garden, right?  Well, as of about six months ago, we have a second succulent dog as well: Dexter.  He helps a little less directly than Maisie does, but he definitely provides moral support.
Picture
Picture
 

Oregon Succs

3/26/2015

 
Don't you love running into succulents when you least expect them?  A few weeks ago, I ran a conference for work, which we held in Troutdale, Oregon at McMenamin's Edgefield.  The grounds were lovely, and included a golf course, spa, trails, breweries, restaurants, a pool hall, and more--definitely a great place for a conference.  But Kara Cactus notwithstanding, I don't think of Oregon as a place where succulents abound.  Happily, I was wrong!  Here are some pics I snapped on the Edgefield grounds as I was running hither and thither:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
<<Previous

    Subscribe by email:

    Picture
    Picture
    GS on Facebook
    GS on Instagram


    Other Succ-ers

    Danger Garden
    Debra Lee Baldwin
    ​Desert Plants of Avalon

    I Can Stop Tomorrow
    Rock Rose
    Sky Succulents

    Spiky Obsession
    Succulent Sundae
    Succulents and More

    Succulents Forever
    Succulent and Cactus Lady


    Categories

    All
    Adromischus
    Aeoniums
    Agaves
    Aloes
    Blogs And Blogging
    Cacti
    Crassulae
    Echeverias
    Euphorbia
    Events
    Fun And Games
    Guest Posts
    Haworthia
    Kalanchoe
    Nurseries
    Pets
    Photos
    Plant Health
    Projects
    Propagation
    Public Gardens
    Q&A
    References
    Sempervivums
    Wish List
    Zone 5


    Archives

    February 2021
    May 2019
    January 2018
    May 2017
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    RSS Feed