Succulents and More™

Last week, somewhere on the internet, I stumbled on a black-and-white photo of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo  standing next to an enormous agave. The image was striking—beautifully composed and hauntingly expressive. Is Frida saying hello? Or goodbye? Is she sad? Or just pensive? The fact that there's a gigantic Agave salmiana  in the frame makes the picture even more memorable, at least for me. Toni Frissell: Frida Kahlo (Señora Diego Rivera) standing next to an agave plant, during a photo shoot for Vogue magazine, “Señoras of Mexico”, 1937 Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Toni Frissell Collection, LC-F9-01-3707-25 -8 What caught my attention beyond the image itself was the credit line: “Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.” A quick Google search led me to the  Prints and Photographs Online Catalog  (PPOC), which contains about 1.2 million digitized images, many in the public domain.  I ran two searches, for...

It's no secret I like the look of rusted metal in the garden. Weathering steel (Corten) planters , however, are not cheap. In the spring I converted a few old chimney flue liners into faux metal planters  using oxidizing iron paint; the result surprised even me. In my ongoing quest to find low- or no-cost metal accents, I've decided to try something I've avoided so far: use a rusty tin can: Hechtia epygina What do you think? The first time I looked at the final product from a few feet away, I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not.

I love visiting private gardens. They give me an opportunity to learn from what others have created—to be inspired or, conversely, find out what I don't like. If I ever get to create my own dream garden, it will build on everything I've seen over the years. While I'm eager to discover new things and willing to look closer even at stuff that initially leaves me cold, I virtually never come home thinking, wow, there's nothing I would change in this garden . I'm sure most of us are that way, gravitating naturally towards a pick-and-choose approach. After all, every one of us is unique, so what are the odds we fully embrace what somebody else has done? Imagine my surprise last Saturday when just that happened. It's all because of this guy: Mathew McGrath, Farallon Gardens This is landscape designer Mathew McGrath, the creative mind behind Farallon Gardens , according to their website “one of the leading design and maintenance firms now serving the great...

Everybody deserves their own slice of paradise, wherever and whatever it may be. That's why visiting a fellow gardener who has found theirs is such a treat for me. A few weeks ago when I was in Southern California for my daughter's university orientation I had the pleasure of hanging out with Hoover Bo, the creative mind behind one my favorite gardening blogs, the aptly named  Piece of Eden . Yes, Hoover Boo has created her own paradise, a peaceful sanctuary that seems to exist apart from the world outside. I first visited Piece of Eden in December 2017 and wrote a two-part post about it ( 1 | 2 ). Needless to say the garden looks different in the summer—other plants are in bloom, for one thing. But even without a single flower, Piece of Eden would be dazzling because of the enormous variety of shapes and textures. Hoover Boo gardens on a ½ acre in Southern California that combines level areas with slopes, both in the front and the back of the property. For someone like ...

We're so used to online ordering, we often forget that the stuff we buy comes from a real place where real people work. It's no different for plant enthusiasts who purchase from sellers all over the country, maybe even from other countries. That's why I get so excited when I have the opportunity to visit one of those “anonymous” businesses. Mountain Crest Gardens (MCG) is a leading online succulent nursery. Billing itself as “The Ultimate Succulent Store,” they carry 700+ varieties of succulents. On the MCG website—one of the best designed, in my opinion—they're organized in two major groups: “soft” (tender) and “hardy.” The nursery also caters to wholesalers and landscapers with bulk offerings, both plugs and 2" pots. The beginnings of MCG go back to 1995 (click here to learn more about its history). Initially, they sold pre-planted succulent dish gardens and wooden birdhouses with succulent roofs through big-box retailers and later through their own website....

Completed in 2013, the Civic Center in the Southern California coastal city of Newport Beach  has become a word-of-mouth destination for succulent enthusiasts. It's easy to see why: Newport Beach Civic Center along Avocado Avenue The complex, which houses Newport Beach city hall and the central library, is architecturally stunning. It's adjoined by 14 acres of parks and gardens transected by 1.25 miles of walking trails. The $140 million price tag is hefty, but no corners were cut—and that applies to the outside areas as well. That in itself is very gratifying since landscaping, which is usually the last major element to be installed in a project, often gets the short end of the stick, especially when there are budget overruns. The landscape design was created by Berkeley-based  PWP Landscape Architecture whose projects are found all over the world, including Jewel Changi Airport in Shanghai, the National September 11 Memorial in New York, and the Marina Bay Sands R...

San Juan Capistrano  is famous for two things: its Spanish mission founded in 1776, and the cliff swallows that arrive from Argentina every year on St Joseph's Day (March 19) and leave on the day of St John of Capistrano (October 23). For plant lovers, I'm going to add something else: Plant Depot. Plant Depot is a large family-owned garden center conveniently located right off Interstate 5. They seem to carry everything from aloes to zinnias, along with pottery, decor and gift items, tools and all kinds of accessories. Most importantly, I'm happy to report that they have a larger selection of succulents than any other general retail nursery I've been to in Southern California. Continue reading to see photographic proof. Yucca 'Bright Star' and Lotus berlothii  planted in bowls on top of the pillars that are part of the streetside fence  Ironically, I hadn't heard of Plant Depot until last Friday when I visited Hoover Boo of Piece of Eden  and s...

We're in Southern California for daughter #2's freshman orientation at University of California Irvine. When traveling with family, plant-related interests aren't at the top of my agenda, but I still try to squeeze in what I can. Fortunately, the family sleeps late and many nurseries open early. Case in point: OC Succulents  (OC stands for Orange County ). It has three locations, one each in Orange County, Los Angeles County, and San Diego County. Primarily a wholesale nursery, it's open to the public as well. As you can see below, it's not a fancy “destination” with elegant displays and a nice cafe, but rather the kind of place where landscapers go with their trucks to buy big plants for landscaping jobs. While the plants on tables are fairly organized, the larger ones on the ground are in no discernible order. Not that it bothers me—quite the contrary, it gives me an opportunity to explore, just in case something weird and unusual is hiding in plain sight....