Kay's garden: hillside haven for succulents and bromeliads

When I visited Piece of Eden on my Southern California trip at the end of December, Hoover Boo took me to see her friend Kay's garden a few streets away. Kay and her husband bought their ¾ acre hillside hideaway in the 1970s. There were very few houses in those days. Now virtually all buildable land has been built on although the area is still peaceful and quiet, probably due to the fact that most properties are large (½ acres or more, it seems). I'm sure the residents are happy that their corner of the world continues to feel like a sanctuary far removed from the hustle and bustle of Orange County, which is home to over 3 million people and major attractions like Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm.

Left to right: Agave vilmoriniana 'Stained Glass', Aloe cameronii, Agave 'Mr Ripple'

Kay's garden has many different faces. Looking up from the bottom of the east slope, you see agaves and aloes. Yet approaching the front of the house...

...you're greeted by palm trees:

What a perfect spot for relaxing:

Who says benches are only for people?

I'd love to brighten up the area outside our front door with sansevierias, too, but unfortunately it gets too cold in Davis. Not so at Kay's house!

Look what else she can grow outside!

Bromeliads of all description, both terrestrial and epiphytic. Can you imagine shopping in the house plant section of a nursery or garden center and putting your purchases right in the ground!

Tillandsia bergeri (ground), Tillandsia streptophylla (tree trunk)

Somebody asked me recently what I thought of staghorn ferns (Platycerium sp.). Simple: If I could grow them outside—and to the size you see below—I'd be all over them.

Staghorn fern (Platycerium superbum)

A courtyard off the entryway is home to even more subtropical plants:

In the side yard behind the house there's a long raised bed planted with more bromeliads and succulents, including superb specimens of Agave attenuata. It grows so effortlessly in Southern California while I have to fight every winter to keep mine pristine (even light frost can mar the leaves).

Agave attenuata

A hollowed-out pumice rock serves as a planter for tillandsias. I will replicate this brilliant idea in my own garden—and fill the rock with the Tillandsia bergeri babies Kay gifted me.

Tillandsia bergeri

A mature female sago palm (Cycas revoluta) with a seed cone:

The next photo is one of my favorites from Kay's garden. To me, this view holds so much promise of wonderful things to come just around the corner.

Some people think paperbark trees (Melaleuca sp.) are messy. I think they're beautiful.

Another sitting area with views of the hills in the distance.

The east-facing slope (see first photo of this post) is home to many different agaves and aloes.

Agave 'Mr Ripple' (with Aloe thraskii on the top left)

Aloe cameronii grown from a cutting (Kay, thank you for the ID)

Up against the house, I was surprised (and yet not surprised) to find a crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii) of a size I've rarely encountered in person.