Rain in May makes plants go yeah

May is typically the beginning of our annual 5- or 6-month dry stretch. By mid-May, the rainfall odds have gone done significantly. If it does rain, it's generally nothing more than a token amount. That's why the past two days have been so unusual. Not only has it been raining for an extended period, albeit on and off, but we've had over an inch since yesterday morning. That's a new historic record for May 15. (You know it's special when the weather oracles on TV talk about a "rain event.")

I'm looking at this as an unexpected gift—one last hurrah before we need to get serious about watering. Beyond that, the garden simply looks great after all the dust has been washed off. Plants are squeaky clean, and colors pop, especially reds and greens.

Here are some random photos from this morning. I'm sure I'll look at them repeatedly over the course of the summer when it's hot outside and the colors have dulled from an ever thickening layer of dirt.

Hechtia 'Wildfire', an Andy Siekkinen hybrid between Hechtia texensis and Hechtia stenopetala. The color really is that insane!

A second Hechtia 'Wildfire' I just received. It has a lot more green. I'm hoping that with strong light it, too, will turn a brilliant red.

Another recent Hechtia addition, this one an unidentified species from Mexico

Ochagavia elegans in a rusty piece of chimney pipe, an homage to the danger garden

Hechtia fosteriana from Andy Siekkinen; it really is this color—no Photoshop trickery

Cryptanthus 'Absolute Zero'

Vignette just off the front porch; the rhipsalis on the right are cuttings from the danger garden (now fully rooted and growing)

Succulent mounds in front of the house; I'll have a more extensive post soon

Fouquieria mcdougalii

   

Crested Euphorbia ammak 'Variegata'

Crested Myrtillocactus geometrizans, or "crazy brain cactus," as I call it

  

Ferocactus emoryi

Ferocactus pilosus

Aloe marlothii

Aloe 'Hellskloof Bell', a Brian Kemble hybrid between Aloe distans and Aloe pearsonii

First-ever flowers on Aloe lavranosii × rivae

Dusty pink flowers of Aloe juncunda × Aloe hemingii

Aloe cameronii; the offsets on the right are completely red

Aloe dorotheae

  

×Mangave 'Thunderbird'

×Mangave 'Freckles and Speckles'

×Mangave 'Inkblot'

×Mangave 'Moonglow'

×Mangave 'Purple People Eater' (yes, that's its current color)

×Mangave 'Mission to Mars'; this one is more pink than the one below

×Mangave 'Mission to Mars' and two clones of Aloe dorotheae: the one I've had for years stays mostly green, and the one I brought back from Hortlandia is all red.

×Mangave 'Mission to Mars'

×Mangave 'Crazy Cowlick'

×Mangave 'Spotty Dotty' (and Helichrysum splendidum)

Agave potatorum 'Cameron Blue'

Agave bovicornuta

Agave cupreata

Agave gentryi 'Jaws'

Agave gentryi 'Jaws' and Yucca linearifolia

Gleaming bark on 'Sonoran Emerald' palo verde and freshly washed agaves and aloes

Verbascum bombyciferum 'Arctic Summer'

'Desert Museum' palo verde already in full bloom, with petals knocked off by wind and rain

Bamboo leaves in gutter

I'll have a more comprehensive post about the front yard soon. It looks nice right now because I did a thorough cleaning in preparation for a visit by the California Horticultural Society last Saturday.

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