Last week, when I was in Southern California, I made a quick trip down to San Diego County to visit Jeff Moore at
Solana Succulents. It’s my favorite succulent nursery, and I try to stop by whenever I’m in the area. If you missed my posts about my previous visits, you can find them
here.
Jeff started Solana Succulents almost 30 years, and the nursery has been in the same spot on Highway 101 ever since.
 |
| What you see when you enter from Highway 101 |
Inside the gate from Highway 101 is a smaller area densely packed with plants. I bet some people think that’s the extent of the nursery, but it’s just the beginning.
 |
| A stunning Pachypodium lameri |
 |
| Dudleya brittonii |
 |
| That sport of Agave attenuata ‘Ray of Light’ is beauty |
 |
| Bromeliads, dudleyas, echeverias, agaves,... |
 |
| Dudleya anthonyi |
 |
| Mature euphorbias in the narrow side yard, with the neighboring building on the right |
The
building itself is home to a skin-care salon. The nursery is downstairs around the back.
 |
| The main area of the nursery is downstairs |
A pair of euphorbias (Euphorbia abyssinica and variegated Euphorbia ammak) towers over the nursery:
As you can see, Jeff has a huge—and I mean huge—selection of plants. Smaller plants are towards the front, larger plants towards the back. The plants aren’t staged by category, which invites extended browsing. Some people may want more of a system, but I loved exploring and finding unexpected treasures.
 |
| Look at this amazing “boulder” of Deuterocohnia brevifolia! It takes decades to get to this size. |
 |
| A cross between Agave toumeyana and Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ |
 |
Another Agave toumeyana × Mangave ‘Bloodspot’
|
 |
| Massive variegated Euphorbia ammak and Euphorbia abyssinica... |
 |
| ...towering above the nursery |
 |
| Jeff planted the Euphorbia abyssinica when he started the nursery almost 30 years ago |
 |
| Lots of treasures to discover |
 |
| A beautifully staged young creeping devil (Stenocereus eruca). Check out this photo from the Huntington to see how big they can get! |
 |
| One several Portea at Solana Succulents. The flowers on this Brazilian bromeliad last for many months. |
 |
| Cyphostemma juttae, aka Namibian grape. It is indeed in the grape family, but the fruit is poisonous. |
 |
| Aloidendron ramosissimum |
 |
| Fenestraria rhopalophylla |
 |
| A flawless specimen of the sought-after Mangave ‘Praying Hands’. As you’ll see at the bottom of this post, Solana Succulents has more ‘Praying Hands’ than any other nursery I’ve been to recently. |
The farther you walk into the nursery, the larger the plants get:
The far end of the nursery is packed with plants in 5-gallon sizes and larger:
 |
| The back 40 of the nursery where plants wait to be repotted. The large cycad is a Macrozamia johnsonii native to New South Wales, Australia. |
As I mentioned earlier, Jeff has a good selection of Mangave ‘Praying Hands’. They’re so cool, I must admit that I was tempted to get another one although I have three already!
 |
| Mangave ‘Praying Hands’ |
 |
| Mangave ‘Praying Hands’ |
But there was something I wanted even more, and I did get one:
 |
Mangave ‘Praying Hands’ (left) and mystery agave on the right
|
 |
| Mystery agave on the left and Agave horrida on the right |
Jeff didn’t know what agave species or hybrid this was, but I immediately thought of this plant at the Ruth Bancroft Garden (it flowered last year and is now gone):
 |
| Agave ‘Chocolate Edge’ at the Ruth Bancroft Garden |
According to Brian Kemble, the curator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden, it’s an
Agave mitis hybrid; the second parent is unknown. He calls it ‘Chocolate Edge’ because its has a reddish brown edge along the leaf margin. I was able to buy a few offsets from Brian Kemble (they came from a ‘Chocolate Edge’ in another garden) and
planted one in the sidewalk bed.
However, the mystery agave I got at Solana Succulents has far fewer leaves and they are much wider than ‘Chocolate Edge’.
I asked agave guru Jeremy Spath of Hidden Agave for his opinion, and he thinks it might have ‘Blue Glow’ in it. He suggests I call it a “nursery hybrid of unknown origin.” After exchanging a few messages, I was able to track down the source. It's an open-pollinated 'Blue Glow'. Two other agaves were in flower at the same time:
Agave filifera and
Agave mitis. Looking at the 'Chocolate Edge' at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, I'm now fairly confident to say that this is a hybrid between 'Blue Glow' and
A. mitis.
This morning I planted my new mystery agave on the flagstone “throne” where my Agave ‘Chocolate Edge’ had been; ‘Chocolate Edge’ is now in the smaller mound inside the front yard fence.
 |
| Mystery agave on its flagstone throne |
I’ve been to Solana Succulents a bunch of times now, and each time I find something unique and surprising. Jeff has been in the business for a long time and has connections to many small growers in San Diego County. That’s why he has plants that literally nobody else has.
Jeff is also the author of five outstanding
books on succulents:
All five books were self-published by Jeff. He had total control not only over the content but also over the production, and it shows. These are heavy books, printed on state-of-the-art equipment, and the photos are as good as it gets. In my opinion, all four of them are the visually most spectacular succulent books ever released. You can order them from
Jeff’s website.
Jeff and
Jeremy Spath, the co-authors of
Agaves: Species, Cultivars & Hybrids, are hard at work on a book on the genus
Dudleya. It promises to be a groundbreaking survey of the genus, with hundreds of habitat photos from California and the Baja peninsula. The book will be out in early 2023.
© Gerhard Bock, 2022. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
I went to Jeff's fantastic nursery a number of years ago with the Central Arizona Cactus and Succulent Society summer trip! It was fantastic. But I think he has even more plants now! As I recall he is close to the ocean which is a great benefit to all those plants!
ReplyDeleteThat must have been a *fun* trip! Have there been other summer trips?
DeleteSolana Succulents is less than 1,000 ft. from the ocean, as the crow flies. I just measured it on Google Maps :-).
Oh yes, many other trips but none since Covid. I remember going to the LA Arboretum for the Intercity Show and Sale and the Huntington for the CSSA Show and Sale. Of course there have been numerous trips to the marvelous Tucson nurseries (so much better than the Phoenix area (except I love Arizona Cactus Sales in Chandler). The big bus is always packed with plants in the luggage area (we can't bring luggage to save room for all the plants!) and packed in the bus itself! Fun trips!
DeleteThat is definitely a nursery that requires time to explore - a friend and I stopped in once on a crawl of nurseries in the area and didn't have nearly enough time to see everything (although I still came away with a couple of plants). The 'Praying Hands' specimens look great - I suspect my one and only plant is years away from reaching that stage.
ReplyDeleteWe should do a field trip when the Covid situation is finally better.
DeleteSolana looks like such a fun place to poke around in and shop. There's always something special when you find unusual plants this way. From your photos it doesn't look like the nursery is all that large so the plants must be really packed in tightly. I have all of Jeff's books and even though I garden in a cold climate they are great references and I love them
ReplyDeleteJeff's books are *the best*, no matter where you live :-)
DeleteYour "mystery" agave is FABULOUS! Much better than praying hands in my opinion. Jeff's nursery is so full of treasures, thankfully they're succulents or someone would have to spend hours watering everyday.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people love 'Praying Hands', but you're the only one who doesn't. That's why I think *this* agave would be such a big hit if it were put into tissue culture.
DeleteMeant to say: You're NOT the only one who doesn't.
DeleteGreat post. Enjoyed seeing all the treasures.
ReplyDeleteWalking through Solana Succulents is my kind of treasure hunt!
Delete