Succulents and More™

My last post of the year is a month-by-month recap of what I blogged about in 2024. I thoroughly enjoyed going through all my posts from the last 12 months. Initially, I thought 2024 had been a fairly quiet year, but it looks like I visited quite a few people and places and got some projects done in my own garden. A heartfelt thank you to all of you for reading my ramblings and leaving comments. I really appreciate your interest and support! January Highlights: I blogged about my long weekend in Santa Barbara, visiting Cold Springs Aloes and hanging out with Nick Deinhart. I also delved into the history of Aloidendron ‘Hercules’ and documented the removal of my own ‘Hercules’, which hadn’t lived up to my expectations. All January 2024 posts: Hanging out with Nick Deinhart, plantsman extraordinaire Santa Barbara Sunday: Franceschi Park Cold Spring Aloes, a bucket list destination in Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Sunday: Mission Long weekend in Santa Barbara Garden vignettes, early Januar...

“A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.” [ Wikipedia ] Winter rain does a lot of good, but in our mild climate it also causes an explosion of weeds. Many annual weeds grow insanely fast. Just a few days ago, I saw some grasses flowering at just a couple of inches in height. And flowers = seeds = more weeds. Some people find weeding relaxing – I envy you, I really do. For me, it’s a chore that’s boring, time-consuming, and, especially around spiky and spiny plants, generally unpleasant. That’s why I try to make weed control as effortless as possible. In early October, I applied Preen Extended Weed Control Preventer to the most weed-prone areas, carefully avoiding spots where I want wildflower seeds (like California poppies) to sprout. Judging from how bad things were in the past, Preen is definitely helping, but there are still weeds sprouting in paths and planter beds. Weeds were on my min...

 

In our climate, we’re able to garden year round. Still, in December both plants and people slow down considerably. Not necessarily by choice, but when temperatures dip into the 40s and below, plant growth pretty much stops, and the gardener (me) becomes inconvenienced by the cold. The past two weeks have been dominated by bouts of rain followed by heavy gray skies, with very little sun. In the summer, when we have months of nothing but sunshine, we wish for an overcast day. Now that we have nothing but overcast, we wish for sun. That’s how it goes. This post is a collection of photos taken in the first half of December. There’s a little bit of this and that, just as the title of this post suggests. Late fall to early spring is aloe season. One of the first to bloom is Aloe lukeana . The specimen below (one of two in my garden) is almost there. If only we had a bit of sun, but this dreary grayness is forecast to last through Christmas. Aloe lukeana Quite a few aloes are pushing inflores...