Explore UC Davis plant treasures with author Jeff Moore

This week, Jeff Moore of Solana Succulents was in town to promote his new book Spiny Succulents (read my review here). He gave a presentation to the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society on Monday evening, following a string of similar talks in the Bay Area. Since Jeff stayed with us, I got to hang out with him and pepper him with questions. He's a modest guy, but he knows his stuff!

I took Jeff over to the UC Davis campus both on Monday and on Tuesday. On Monday, we dropped in on Ernesto Sandoval at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, who showed us some treasures in the greenhouses and outside. On Tuesday, Jeff and I walked around the UC Davis Arboretum, and like so many out-of-town visitors who have low expectations when they come to Davis, he was amazed that we have such a wonderful resource.

In general, Jeff was very surprised by the kinds of plants we can grow outside, including many aloes such as the Aloidendron dichotomum below.

Jeff Moore and a perfectly shaped Aloidendron dichotomum in a teenage package growing in the cycad garden at UC Davis

Here are some photos I took while out exploring with Jeff.

Ernesto Sandoval and Aloidendron pillansii. Ernesto deserves some kind of lifetime award for being the most helpful, good-natured, and approachable guy around.

Welwitschia mirabilis specimens. Here is more info about this strange and wonderful plant from Namibia.

In case you're wondering, it's not easy at all to grow them to this size and looking this perfectly

Welwitschia mirabilis

Welwitschia mirabilis with male flowers

Pachypodium rutenbergianum, a bit hostile-looking but still beautiful

Flowering Adenium, clearly showing its kinship to oleanders

Grafted brain cactus, looking particularly cerebral

Mammillaria longimamma

Creeping devil (Stenocereus eruca)

Slipper orchid

Pitcher plant (Nepenthes sp.)

On the UC Davis Campus, there are plenty of aloes in full bloom right now:

Decades-old Aloe ferox hybrid

Aloe microstigma

Aloe excelsa (back), Aloe marlothii hybrid (front)

Encephalartos horridus (right) and Aloe striata

Encephalartos horridus and Agave melanacantha

Aloe marlothii not quite in flower

Aloe ferox hybrid and Euphorbia misera

Cliff spurge (Euphorbia misera), a shrub native to Southern and Baja California. Jeff said the specimens on the UC Davis campus are far nicer than what he's seen in San Diego County.

Another Aloe ferox

View of the South Africa bed in the relatively new Biological Orchard and Gardens (BOG) behind the Botanical Conservatory

Aloe ferox (left), Aloe striata (right)

Aloe ferox

Aloe wickensii

South African flowers in full bloom

California native meadow

Fivespot (Nemophilia maculata) and Sedum spathulifolium, both endemic to California

Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor, hailing from the Cape region of South Africa

Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor

Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor

Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor (front), Phylica pubescens (back)

Phylica pubescens, a South African shrub in the buckthorn family. I've successfully killed two and had given up on it. Now that I know that it can be grown in Davis, I will try again.

Phylica pubescens

Bulbinella nutans, a bulb from South Africa's Cape region, and Agave colorata

Pearl acacia (Acacia podalyriifolia) on the right

Acacia podalyriifolia

Silver wattle (Acacia dealbata)

Sedum palmeri in flower near Old Putah Creek

Tough Agave americana, thumbing its nose at the lack of a pot or water

Equal tough, Opuntia ficus-indica proving that the only way is forward

Agave ovatifolia and western redbud (Cercis occidentalis). Not a particularly great photo, but I loved the juxtaposition.

Agave xylonacantha basking in the low late-afternoon light

A trio of what looks like the real Agave titanota, a great surprise

This agave was a mystery to both Jeff and me. I'm still trying to find out what it might be.

Skin condition on Agave americana 'Striata'? No, just dripping sap from the pine tree next to it.

Mediterranean spurges like this Euphorbia characias can be weedy because they reseed generously, but there's something about them when their in full bloom

Throw in an artichoke, and it becomes a downright elegant combination

The fact that there are five Pacific madrones (Arbutus menziesii) growing on the UC Davis campus is surprising enough—they really prefer cooler coastal areas—but to see them put on such a magnificent show is even more amazing

The UC Davis campus, and especially the UC Davis Arboretum, are home to some real plant treasures. While my perennially exhausted brain knows that, sometimes it takes an out-of-town visitor for this message to really sink in.


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