Intercity 2018: Purchases, Cool Pots, Big Sale, Out In The Arb

We brought home little seedling Aloe chaubaudii and Aloe rupestris, and a Bilbergia 'Darth Vader'.  That's all.  There are too many plants sitting in pots on the patio still needing a good place in the ground. 

Cool pots at the show:

 This one looks like a fossilized dinosaur eggshell

 Dyckia in a striking pot.

 This plant might be something like Deuterochonia brevifolia aka  Abromeitiella brevifolia, which is often seen as a perfectly symmetrical dome, but here it nestles in a hollowed out stone.  Elegant.

 This pot is just right in color and texture but it is a bit too rectangular to be perfect. And pretty plant. 

 Someone takes rocks and arranges them into a container.  This one is exceptionally well crafted.  I wonder if there is a tile saw involved.  Mortar to hold the stones together, or glue?  

 This one is really good, too:

 Appropriate simplicity for a Lithops:

 Great plant, great pot,  great edge on the pot

 We got to the show very early.  Shopping was a breeze, though I was intent on not buying much of anything.  
Blogger in shopping habitat:

 I loved these spiraling cacti and the Astrophytum 'Super Kabuto' indicated by the white arrow, but...need a spot for them.  Someday, maybe. For now best left to those who know how to grow them.

 The sale was crammed with shoppers about 20 minutes after this photo was taken:

 After enjoying the show we moved on to look around the Arboretum a bit, before the heat drove us out.  A Peacock turned his back on us.

 Blogger in habitat

 There's the Madagascar Spiny Forest, which is looking more and more like a real forest.  When we first visited it a few years ago, nothing was taller than shoulder height.  The arrow indicates an Opercularya decaryi.  A Moringa dominates the center of the photo.

 Here's what an Opercularya decaryi does in a pot.  The one in the ground looked to be thriving.  I wonder if it would grow in our garden. 

 I always stop to admire the Eucalyptus deglupta, the Rainbow Gum.  This is the trunk.  The photo does not do justice to the intensity of the colors.  Orange, red, pink, green, aqua, purple, blue...

Eucalyptus deglupta, Rainbow or Mindanao Gum

 In their native Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea they grow much larger (250 feet/76 meters), not that this specimen isn't a fairly big tree (40 feet?/12 meters).  It is a rainforest moisture loving Euc, unlike the xeric Eucs of dryland Australia. 

 Heat damage on a stone fruit tree from early July's intense heat wave

  Palo Blanco, Acacia willardiana.  Recently planted.   

The Bismarkia noblis grove is looking good.  They are huge palms.  The fronds can be 12' (3.6 meters) long

 The entrance to the Madagascar Spiny Forest.  White arrows Dypsis decaryi, red arrows Moringa, blue arrow the Opercularya.

 Beautiful Euphorbia milli, 6 feet tall.  In front of the Euphorbia is Aloe suzannae.

 A group of Aloe vaombe.  They would rather be closer to the ocean, from what I've read. 

 Kalanchoe marnieriana.  All of these wonderful plants are native to south and south western Madagascar.  This is the hotter, drier region of the island. 

 Pachypodium in flower

 A closer look at the Opercularya decaryi.  Kind of like a giant thumb covered with tiny leaves. 

 The Arboretum's large lawn where concerts are held on summer evenings. 

And where geese graze on summer mornings.

Another great Intercity show, and a great day. 

Some photos throughout the three posts were taken by Beloved, while I was...lost in habitat.