Ruth Bancroft Garden June 2017 plant porn

Please excuse me for using the words "plant porn" yet again. But posts with the "p" word in the title are human catnip, and like all bloggers I want to get as much traffic as possible. I hope you can find in your heart to forgive me for being so shameless.

As I said yesterday, this week is Ruth Bancroft Garden week here on Succulents and More. In my previous post I showed you the major changes happening right now as preparations are underway for a new Visitor and Education Center. Today's post is "just" a visual scrapbook of images I took walking around the garden. My next post will show you some of the many (over 100!) sculptures on display right now for the RBG's annual Sculpture in the Garden event.

Golden Coulter bush (Hymenolepis parviflora) and aloes

My partner in crime Brian and I walked through the garden in a rather haphazard fashion. By the time we were done, we probably covered each trail twice so the photos below are not in any logical order. But based on my own experience, that's how most of us tend to experience gardens anyway.

Grab a favorite beverage and sit back because this is a long post. The images take center stage; my observations are limited to captions.

A new-to-me grevillea that I must now have but is unfortunately not widely available yet: Grevillea 'Kings Fire'

Grevillea 'Kings Fire'

Grevillea halmaturina subsp. laevis and Agave ovatifolia

Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris) and Agave ovatifolia

NOID tree aloe getting too big to hold itself upright

Leucadendron 'Ebony' (and a NOID agave)

Aloe microstigma and Euphorbia rigida or myrsinites (I can never tell the difference)

One of the newest beds created by the garden staff under the direction of assistant curator Walker Young. Note the many African cycads being planted here.

Ghost gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora)

One many dudleyas (this one Dudleya brittonii) newly planted in the garden

California natives bed

St Catherine's lace (Eriogonum giganteum), a giant buckwheat native to California's Channel Islands

Our Lord's candle (Hesperoyucca whipplei)

Opuntias, California poppies, and buckwheat

Bluestem joint fir (Ephedra equisetina) and California showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)

Opuntia and Ephedra equisetina

Ephedra equisetina (blue) and Ephedra nevadensis (green)

Cardon (Pachycereus pringlei) and various buckwheats (Eriogonum sp.)

Agave shawii native to Baja California

Prairie zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora)

Prairie zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora) and mystery plant

This mystery plant turns out to be prickly thrift (Acantholimon ulicinum var. creticum)--thank you for the ID, Denise!

Agave flowers wherever you look

Aloe tomentosa, one of the few white-flowering aloes

Another flowering agave (looks like Agave bovicornuta × colorata)

One of my favorite views in the garden

Agave ovatifolia and Leucophyta brownii, a truly inspired combination

Agave ovatifolia and Leucophyta brownii

I was thrilled to see a spiral aloe (Aloe polyphylla) growing happily in our climate. I wonder how it will handle the coming heatwave?

Agave americana (planted as Agave rasconensis) shooting its flower stalk straight into this tree. It'll be interesting to see where it will emerge, if it even will.

Doesn't this look like a giant spider sitting on a green nest? The green plant is Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt'.

Agave mitis clump with multiple flower stalks

Aloe capitata var. quartziticola

Agave mitis in a sea of aeoniums

NOID dyckias on the edge of the pond

Tanacetum haradjanii, a low-growing perennial from Turkey

Mammillaria geminispina and either Euphorbia myrsinites or rigida

NOID cactus with vibrant fruit

NOID Echinopsis

Euphorbia echinus

More Dyckia flowers

Leucophyta brownii and Agave 'Blue Glow'

Agave 'Blue Glow' and Agave guadalajarana

One of the newest beds in the garden. Check out how tall the mound is.

Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) and weeping myall (Acacia pendula)

The airy light-purple flowers in the foreground belong to Alyogyne 'Ruth Bancroft', a hybrid between two Australian blue hybiscus species (Alyogyne huegelii and A. hakeifolia)

Look how this yucca swerved to the right as it got too close to the tree!

Two longer views to get you in the mood for part 3: Sculpture in the Garden

Check back on Friday for part 3: Sculpture in the Garden.


RELATED POSTS:

• Big changes at the Ruth Bancroft Garden (June 2017)
• Sculpture in the Garden at the Ruth Bancroft Garden (June 2017) (still to come)
• All posts about the Ruth Bancroft Garden