Seaside Gardens in Santa Barbara: Succulent Garden
In my previous post , I showed you what was in bloom in the South African Garden when I visited Seaside Gardens Nursery on my recent Santa Barbara trip . This post focuses on the Succulent Garden, another of the 12 vignettes in the nursery’s fantastic demonstration garden. The Succulent Garden was originally designed by Mary Pat Moloney and Donna and Bill Baker. Bill Baker, who died far too young in 2009, was a renowned plantsman widely credited with popularizing Aloidendron ‘Hercules’ ( see story here ). Much of the plant material in this area comes from the Bakers’ garden, including several ‘Hercules’ which have now reached stately proportions. Winter is a great time to visit because the aloes are in full bloom – as you can see below, they put on quite a show. When I arrived at Seaside Gardens, the fog hadn’t burned off quite yet, softening the contrast and intensifying the colors. Aloidendron barberae (left), Aloe ferox (center) The Succulent Garden is anchored by two types of t