Not pretty: winter 2023 damage report

I’ve been putting this off long enough, but now it’s time to face the music. I need to preface this post with a warning: Viewing these photos might be detrimental to your mental health.

In California, this winter has been one for the record books, both in terms of snowfall in the mountains and rain elsewhere. Since the beginning of the 2023 water year on October 1, 2022, Davis has had 32 inches of rain. That’s almost twice of what we had in 2022, and three times the amount of 2021. In January and even in February, it was still easy to cling to the mantra “rainisgoodrainsigoodrainisgood,” but that became harder to do as one atmospheric river after another barreled through. (According to the National Weather Service, California was hit by 14 atmospheric rivers this winter, although two were fairly weak).

Needless to say, this much precipitation did significant damage to many succulents in our garden; they’re simply not equipped to handle extended periods of cold and wet. While some—the majority even—came through relatively unscathed, others succumbed to the inevitable rot.

I wish I could draw any meaningful lessons from this, but as you can see below, there’s no clear pattern to what did poorly and what did well. Since it’s hard to learn from randomness, I’m focusing on the overall picture, which is actually pretty decent. (See, I’m trying to be optimistic!)

With that in mind, let’s dive in. For each plant, I’ll indicate whether I kept it in hopes of it making a comeback or whether I removed it.

Mangave ‘Bad Hair Day’ is having a permanently bad hair day [REMOVED]

I lost quite a few mangaves. They appeared to hold up for a while, but eventually they turned to mush.

Mangave ‘Bloodlines’ on March 17. I still had some hope it might pull through (I’d repeatedly drenched the center with fungicide).

But on March 25, it became clear it was a goner. When I removed it, I found two tiny offsets; with any luck, one of them will survive. [REMOVED]

Mangave ‘Lavender Lady’ did remarkably well until last week when I noticed this. I’m not liking the way these leaves are folding down. [KEPT]

Mangave ‘Red Wing’ rotting in the center [KEPT]

I’ve decided to leave it in place for now—maybe it will heal itself—but I’m keeping a close eye on it [KEPT]

Clockwise starting at the bottom left: Aloe lavranosii [REMOVED and replanted elsewhere], Mangave ‘Blazing Saddles’ [REMOVED], Agave ovatifolia ‘Killer’ [REMOVED], Agave × leopoldii [KEPT]

Mangave ‘Blazing Saddles’ [REMOVED]

Mangave ‘Blazing Saddles’[REMOVED], Agave ovatifolia ‘Killer’ [REMOVED]

Losing Agave ovatifolia ‘Killer’ was the biggest blow. It was 3 ft. wide and had started to come into its own. Variegated ovatifolias are expensive and hard to come by.

Agave ‘Chisum’ (top) with fungal spots on the leaves and a largish patch of rot near the center [REMOVED], Mangave ‘Man of Steel’ (bottom) with center rot [REMOVED]

Agave ‘Chisum’ (A. colorata × pablocarrilloi) would have outgrown its damage, but I couldn’t stomach the thought of looking at these unsightly leaves for months and months to come [REMOVED]

Another hybrid with wimpy Agave pablocarrilloi [REMOVED]

Hechtia sp. is perfectly fine [KEPT], Cereus forbesii ‘Monstrose’ [REMOVED] and Agave ‘Royal Spine’ rotted [REMOVED]

Agave ‘Royal Spine’ [REMOVED]

Agave nickelsiae [REMOVED], this one hurt because it had been a beautiful specimen

Agave pintilla [REMOVED]

Agave desmetiana ‘Joe Hoak’ with the kind of damage it gets every winter. Every year I vow to toss it, but invariably, by the end of the summer, it’s back to looking good again. Not sure what I’ll do [KEPT]

I can’t even remember what cactus this is. Since it’s a goner, I’m not going to bother looking for a tag. [REMOVED]

Grevillea ‘King’s Celebration’ had grown to 7 ft. and was covered with buds. But it got so battered in the many wind storms we had that I decided to remove it. It was getting too large for this tight spot anyway. [REMOVED]

Grevillea ‘King’s Celebration’ gone

Acacia cognata ‘Cousin Itt’ didn’t have any winter damage per se, but keeping it looking neat in this spot next to the sidewalk was getting difficult, so I made the difficult decision to remove it. [REMOVED]

In the spot where ‘Cousin Itt’ had been, I created a small cactus mound with three Echinocereus rigidissimus var. rubrispinus and several other tiny cacti. It isn’t quite finished yet (top dressing still to come), but I think it’s a more appropriate choice of plants.

Last weekend, I replanted the area where I’d removed Aloe lavranosii, Mangave ‘Blazing Saddles’, Agave ovatifolia ‘Killer’, and Agave ‘Chisum’. There are three new agaves (Agave potatorum ‘Spawn’ × A. isthmensis, Agave shawii × isthmensis, Agave margaretae), a new Dudleya traskiae, and several new cacti (Mammillaria wrightii, Mammillaria gracilis, two Coryphantha retusa, two white-spined Echinocereus rigidissimus and another Echinocereus rigidissimus var. rubrispinus. There’s still room for smaller plants to be tucked in here and there—and the top dressing is still missing.

Since I’m making so many major changes, I’m also considering removing our Agave vilmoriniana ‘Stained Glass’:

It looked far more graceful when it was young. Now it’s just a tangle of leaves, with the tips permanently shriveled up. I think it’s time to give it the chop and plant something else. Change is good, right?

© Gerhard Bock, 2023. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.