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Ruth Bancroft Visit: Photos, Round 2

5/14/2014

 
I'm not going to pretend that my photos are as cool as Liz's, but I thought I'd share them nonetheless.  (And, hey, not bad for iPhone photos, eh?)  The Ruth Bancroft Garden is also featured, I just discovered, in a book that came out less than a year ago: Succulent Paradise.

Let's start with a few agaves, shall we?
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I went wild for this variegated agave parryi, which I *think* is synonymous with agave "excelsior." Can anyone confirm this? It was sprouting about a dozen pups! I only hope my excelsior will eventually do the same...
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Can someone please ID this for me?
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A baby agave victoria-reginae, nestled among rocks
Next, a few aloes.  It's tough to capture the grandeur of the aloes here.  There were really some amazing specimens, including huge aloe nobilis and aloe striata, of which I have no decent pictures.  My favorite aloe, though, was the one immediately below this text, and to the right.
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As regular readers of this blog are already aware, I am a bit of a haworthia geek.  I may or may not have squealed aloud with glee when I saw a whole bunch of gorgeous haworthia truncata of various types, shades, and sizes growing among the rocks in a shaded area.  Observe:
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This was the largest cluster. Nice, thick windows and lime-green coloration.
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Haworthia are so cool in "wild" settings.
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Also a truncata, but so different!
Although I wasn't always the world's biggest gasteria fan, I have to admit that they've grown on me more and more...  particularly en masse and variegated!
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And sempervivums (doesn't it seem like it should be "semperviva?") abounded:
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A veritable carpet of cobwebbed semps!
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This was labeled as an echeveria, which it is not.
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Scout, my succulent mutt and constant companion, looks up at me, ready for a water break.
Can we talk about terrestrial bromeliads for a moment?  ...Actually, I don't have much to say about them; I just love the phrase "terrestrial bromeliad"--though these dyckia look extraterrestrial to me.  I love the combinations of purples and greens.
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Onto echeverias.  Like (nearly) everything else in the Ruth Bancroft Garden, most of the echeverias weren't labeled.  Ruth Bancroft (who is alive and kicking at over 100 years old!) doesn't like the way labels can detract from plants in a garden, which I can understand.
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This echeveria was arrested during our visit because its colors were disturbing the peace.
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Echeveria "Wham-Ka-Zaam." (I am sufficiently chagrined by my inability to name everything that I have started making names up.)
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Okay, okay, echeverias. We GET it--you're gorgeous. But why do you have to keep flaunting it with your parades and your rainbow of colors?
Last but not least...  cacti!  The RBG is home to dozens, maybe hundreds, of cacti varieties.  It's a great time to visit the garden, because many of them are in bloom right now.  A few favorites:
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I believe that this is a silver torch cactus (Cleistocactus strausii). My mom pointed out that it looks like a fuzzy little bird from this angle!
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Mammilaria matudae (I think), waiting to get big enough that it can flop over and prowl the ground.
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Ferocactus something, I bet. (Hey, I never promised you a cactus garden.)
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A spectacular bloom!
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More spectacular blooms!
Bottom line: if you're anywhere in Northern California, it's worth the drive to Walnut Creek to check out the Ruth Bancroft Garden!  (Especially if you're meeting your awesome parents for sushi.)  And be sure to check out their nursery, too--they had several hard-to-find plants at pretty reasonable prices.  Ta ta for now, succ-ers!

A sign that I might be going crazy

4/18/2014

 
Do your succulents ever speak to you?  I woke up this morning, and this semp shouted, "Greetings, Earthling!  Take me to your leader!"
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My Latest Planting

3/16/2014

 
I put this planting outside a couple of days ago, and the color has just taken off!  Thought I'd share it with you.  And now...  I'm going to go outside and play with my plants!
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Pics galore

7/27/2013

 
First of all, I wanted to thank all the new readers who are following Gardening Succs!  I really appreciate it.  This blog has gone from zilch, zip, nada to about 200 visitors each day (with a high of 800!), and the Gardening Succs Facebook page has over 1000 "likes."  Thank you!

Next, a confession: I suffer from propag-addiction, one of the most common succulent ailments around (more info on specific ailments soon--I feel another infographic coming on...).  Sooo, following the growers at Lone Pine, I decided to start using flats for the plants I both (1) already have several of and (2) would like to grow more of.  But since I don't have enough of any one type to fill a flat, I used two different kinds to fill a flat:
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Another flat: sempervivum tectorum calcareum on the left, echeveria (glauca? secunda? imbricata?) on the right.
In the next flat I made, I used four different kinds.  (So far, I've only made these two flats.)
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Last week, it occurred to me to use different colored rocks to separate types of succs within a flat.
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Here's a closer photo of the truncatas (and a couple truncata x maughanii hybrids).
What am I going to do with the new plants?  Sell them?  Give them away?  Propagate more plants and see if I can get on "Hoarders?"  I have no idea.  Most likely, I'll try to trade them with other succulent aficionados for plants I don't have yet.

For many of my plants, though, I only have one or two specimens.  Or three.  Or four.  (Whatever--don't judge me.)  Here's a shot of the inside of part of my greenhouse.
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Several flats of 2-inch pots, roughly arranged by type
And lastly, just for fun, two random pictures I took in my backyard the other day.
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The other day I was watering succs on my deck, moved a pot, and found this baby echeveria shaviana rarin' to go!
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I adore my agave blue glow a lot! I've had it for about a year and wonder if I should repot it soon.
Thanks again for being awesome, and for sticking around to watch this blog grow.  I promise you, it'll only get better!

Look what I Cooked Up!

7/22/2013

 
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