Small but splendid succulent garden at Orange Coast College (New World section)

Quite a while ago, somebody told me about the succulent garden at a community college in Orange County. I couldn't remember who I'd gotten the tip from or what the name of the college was, but I decided to do some research when I was in Orange County a couple of weeks ago. A simple Google search led me to Orange Coast College (OCC) in Costa Mesa. As luck would have it, our hotel was less than 5 miles away, and it took me just 10 minutes to get there.

From a brief article on the OCC web site, I knew that the succulent garden was behind the chemistry building which, in turn, is right next to the main parking lot. In other words, it didn't take me long to find what I'd come to see:

According to the article, the succulent garden began as a project in horticulture instructor Joe Stead's class “Cactus, Succulents, and their Use in Landscaping.” The hardscape and plants were installed in January 2012. Currently the small garden contains 60 species from 35 succulent genera from both the Old and the New World. Plant biology classes use the garden as a living laboratory to study parallel evolution.

Often a display garden at a public institution is a fairly modest affair—a sparse selection of common varieties necessitated, as much as anything, by a shoestring budget. That's what I expected to find at OCC as well. Fortunately, the reality is a lot more exciting. This is Orange County, after all.

The succulent garden at OCC is small—you can see all of it in the photo above and below:

It's not how much there is (or isn't) that makes it special. It's what there is: perfectly grown specimens representing the two major ecozones where succulents are found, the Americas and Africa.

Mexican fence post cactus (Pachycereus marginata) and Yucca rostrata

But this garden is more just a collection of plants. It also incorporates design features like rocks, petrified wood and a dry stream bed that add aesthetic value.

Mammillaria geminispina

The mass planting of Agave victoria-reginae you see below is the most beautiful of its kind I've ever seen. I like it even more than the display at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

If this isn't perfection, then I don't know what is.

Agave 'Blue Glow'

Agave 'Blue Glow' and Agave parryi var. truncata

Dudleya pulverulenta and Agave victoria-reginae

If this makes you think of ocotillo...

...you're in the ballpark. But instead of Fouquieria splendens commonly seen all over the Sonoran Desert, this is a very special hybrid created by OCC horticulture instructor Joe Stead, the creator of this garden.

Named 'Pink Instead', it's a cross between the white-flowering Fouquieria purpusii and the red-flowering Fouquieria macdougalii. It was made available through the Huntington's International Succulent Introductions program in 2013 (ISI 2013-19) but is sadly out of stock now.

Fouquieria 'Pink Instead' with Agave parryi var. truncata and Agave 'Blue Glow'

Fouquieria 'Pink Instead' with Agave parryi var. truncata and Agave 'Blue Glow'

Fouquieria 'Pink Instead' with Agave parryi var. truncata

Looking back at most of the New World section

A perfect capsule of New World succulent beauty

Cleistocactus sp. I'm not sure what it is but it doesn't quite look like C. strausii, the most common species.

But like all Cleistocactus, it's magnificent when backlit

A new Baja California section is being added adjacent to the main succulent garden (you can get a peek of it all the way on the right in the next photo).  It features similar hardscaping (dry creek bed and rocks) but since it's so recent, it looks quite a bit sparser. Give it time, though!

Typical Baja California succulents including various Fouquieria species and the giant cardón (Pachycereus pringlei)

On the left, one of the weirdest and most wonderful Baja California desert dwellers, the Boojum tree (Fouquieria columnaris)

I took a lot of photos at OCC, like I tend to do, and instead of overwhelming you, I've decided to save the Old World section for a separate post. Think aloes and euphorbias! Click here to see the Old World section.


RELATED POSTS:

• Small but splendid succulent garden at Orange Coast College (New World section)—this post
• Small but splendid succulent garden at Orange Coast College (Old World section)

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