Two different Agave blooms. One full of seeds and no bulbils, the other all bulbils!
The rest of the sights from the San Diego Botanic Garden. This next Agave stalk covered with bulbils was fantastic. I was itching to pick off a bulbil (no I didn't!), though I could not identify the parent. There was no sign, and the plant was so completely deflated it was unrecognizable as an Agave.
In contrast, this A. attenuata stalk was just beginning its journey. Bees were loving it.
The arc of the flower stalk is mirrored by its shadow:
In some shade, an out-of-the-common Agave, A. pachycentra, had a dramatically pale new leaf:
Back in brilliant sun, an Opuntia for you Opuntia fans:
The Aloes were the stars of the day: davyana
Elegans (I think):
Ferox breathtaking yet again, behind emerging vanbalenii
And possibly wickensii, which has that distinctive two-color effect. No sign, though, so do not trust my ID:
A mass of 'Grassy Lassie"
I don't remember which one this was:
Similar colors on a different genus, one of the last of a huge mass of Kniphofia blooms. The rest were done:
The garden had several Green roofs.
If not for the fascia, you might mistake this for a berm, but yes, that's a roof:
The mild zone 24 conditions (we were in sight of the Pacific) make this pristine lushness possible. In my 23, they'd be a little thinner, a little crisper. This, this, ladies and gentlemen, is what a completely happy Aeonium looks like:
Something called a "Spear Lily", Doryanthes palmeri, was opening. (Doryanthes info here.)
The Doryanthes looked something like a Furcraea with rattier foliage. Spots, burnt tips and edges. Ehhhh. After that pristine Aeonium clump, ehhhh. Perhaps a fully open flower makes the foliage tolerable.
There were two Furcraea actually blooming, which I'd never seen. The flower stalk was so tall I could not get a good photo. Individual flowers, way, way up there, were lovely, something like hellebores, only 25' (7 M) high.
Also blooming, white Echium. The hummingbirds were loving this, zooming through trails of equally ecstatic bees.
In nearby dappled shade, this backlit Adenanthos sericeus gave me pause. I killed one of these quite a few years ago, and still feel terrible about it. Probably always will.
Great visit. It was just the right day.
The rest of the sights from the San Diego Botanic Garden. This next Agave stalk covered with bulbils was fantastic. I was itching to pick off a bulbil (no I didn't!), though I could not identify the parent. There was no sign, and the plant was so completely deflated it was unrecognizable as an Agave.
In contrast, this A. attenuata stalk was just beginning its journey. Bees were loving it.
The arc of the flower stalk is mirrored by its shadow:
In some shade, an out-of-the-common Agave, A. pachycentra, had a dramatically pale new leaf:
Back in brilliant sun, an Opuntia for you Opuntia fans:
The Aloes were the stars of the day: davyana
Elegans (I think):
Ferox breathtaking yet again, behind emerging vanbalenii
And possibly wickensii, which has that distinctive two-color effect. No sign, though, so do not trust my ID:
A mass of 'Grassy Lassie"
I don't remember which one this was:
Similar colors on a different genus, one of the last of a huge mass of Kniphofia blooms. The rest were done:
The garden had several Green roofs.
If not for the fascia, you might mistake this for a berm, but yes, that's a roof:
The mild zone 24 conditions (we were in sight of the Pacific) make this pristine lushness possible. In my 23, they'd be a little thinner, a little crisper. This, this, ladies and gentlemen, is what a completely happy Aeonium looks like:
Something called a "Spear Lily", Doryanthes palmeri, was opening. (Doryanthes info here.)
The Doryanthes looked something like a Furcraea with rattier foliage. Spots, burnt tips and edges. Ehhhh. After that pristine Aeonium clump, ehhhh. Perhaps a fully open flower makes the foliage tolerable.
There were two Furcraea actually blooming, which I'd never seen. The flower stalk was so tall I could not get a good photo. Individual flowers, way, way up there, were lovely, something like hellebores, only 25' (7 M) high.
Also blooming, white Echium. The hummingbirds were loving this, zooming through trails of equally ecstatic bees.
In nearby dappled shade, this backlit Adenanthos sericeus gave me pause. I killed one of these quite a few years ago, and still feel terrible about it. Probably always will.
Great visit. It was just the right day.
Thank you for this post. Now I want to visit San Diego even more than before. Now seems to be a good time, based on your photos :-)
ReplyDeleteGerhard
:: Bamboo and More ::
I don't know which are more beautiful, the plants or your pictures!
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictorials from the SDBG. I've never seen a furcraea bloom before, and so many other rare sights. I'm guessing you're not much of an opuntia fan either. And someone needs to weed out that limonium/statice pronto...
ReplyDelete@Gerhard: Shame on me, I didn't take a single Bamboo photo. They have a whole section for them. Sorry!
ReplyDelete@danger, the plants!
@Denise, much drier there, the Limonium not so much of a problem. No, Opuntia does nothing for me--always assumed it was another of my character flaws...
Another great set of photos (and plants)! The attenuata bloom: wow! I had no idea they could get that impressive! Winter has barely started and you're giving me spring fever already. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreat Photos! That A. attenuata is a thing of beauty, it's shadow so strange. A nice tour indeed.
ReplyDelete