Seeing The Light
Flower stem emerging from Aloe petricola; Leucospermum 'Tango' first flowers color up No gardening today. The wind is ripping branches, leaves, and flowers from shrubs and trees today. At least it's a cold Santa Ana this time, not hot, and a strange one, because the sky is grey with clouds instead of the usual tannish with blowing dust. A low pressure system from the south and a high pressure system from the north are meeting to squeeze Great Basin air, sending it roaring through our neighborhood. The neighbor's dead Eucalyptus rocks stiffly, like Frankenstein's Monster walking; the live Eucs, with considerable grace, sway. An occasional leaf blown hard, hits window glass with a plunk. Birds are absent. Indoors, I look at garden photos and consider light. Late afternoon light: Midday light: Late afternoon: Midday: Advantage, late afternoon. Overcast morning: Sunny morning: Advantage overcast. Late afternoon, really too late, but with the sun behind
How truly splendid .
ReplyDeleteLuscious photos! I wanted to climb into my computer screen. The color is so jolting (in a good way) and the form, the spikes, it's all gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteLots of color. It is great to see such a well designed succulent garden.
ReplyDeleteThat is so beautiful, and such a treat. I love succulents. What a lot of work it must be to keep it like that. Replanting all of those little echeverrias every year... and the blue senecio. A beautiful and exceptionally vigorous grower, unfortunately. I just pulled all mine out *sob* because I couldn't keep up with it.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely planting. It's just a shame echeverias don't cope better with wet winters, I already grow loads and would go mad if I could plant them and leave them planted.
ReplyDeleteIs this display under glass? Every plant is so perfect! I've got one small border just of succulents -- and I always think it needs "something" else. More grasses maybe. But the Sherman is pulling off some bravura stuff here. That varieg americana almost looks like that snazzy new varieg bracteosa. I've moved some bromeliads out into the garden this winter too. They seem to handling full winter sun OK.
ReplyDeleteThe succulents are out in the open air.
ReplyDeleteSnazzy new variegated A. bracteosa? Oooh!!!! Sounds like a must-have.
Wow, these are amazing. I LOVE Succulents, i dont recognize some of these varieties though, any chance we could get a list of species used?
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ReplyDeleteurban I added some IDs for the plants, hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh...I am actually drooling! LOL Your photos are awesome, thank you so much for sharing with us. What a glorious place!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful succulent garden. Can't wait to visit Sherman, it is on my list! Jeannine
ReplyDeleteIt's been too long since I've wandered around Sherman Gardens--this "coral" succulent reef is stunning!
ReplyDeleteThese are awesome! I love succulents.. they're so exotic
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteBeautiful garden!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it!
Deletethat ? Cotyledon orbiculata
ReplyDeletemight be Crassula ovata - depending on how it flowers.
Thanks; I need to correct that, this post was done a long time ago, before I really got into succulent plants. It's Crassula arborescens.
DeleteA budget friendly idea is to try to start new plants by taking off healthy leaves of echevaria. Just pull off healthy leaves and lay them out on a plate in a shaded protected area (I place them on my patio). A few days later, you will see roots and a small plant appear at the base of the leaf. It eventually gets to be a little tiny plant that you can plant in cactus mix to become a full grown plant!
ReplyDeleteThis is true. I don't really even feel the need to have a bench in my garden because I spend quite a bit of time looking at it while working. What really feels like work to me is when I have an overload of weeding to do in the spring or when I'm clearing briars.
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