No road trip is complete without a plant haul. Here’s what I brought home from my recent trip to Santa Barbara:
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| Cargo area of the Prius |
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| Back seat |
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| Backseat |
Of course I got a few agaves. It would be a crime not to bring home agaves from a plant-centric trip:
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| Agave pelona |
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Agave desmetiana ‘Galactic Traveller’
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| Agave quiotepecensis, a close relative of Agave oteroi |
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| Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave oteroi, a Nick Deinhart hybrid (for a friend) |
However, the bulk of my haul are aloes to be planted out in our front yard. Most are hybrids, except for these:
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| Aloe labworana, a beautiful species from Uganda |
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| Aloe fievetii cutting. See what A. fievetii flowers look like here, photographed at the Huntington. |
Aloe hybrids:
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| Aloe ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, a very cool Aloe dawei hybrid originally found at the Huntington. More info here. |
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Aloe ‘Hot Flash’, an Aloe aculeata hybrid originally discovered at Aloes in Wonderland. See flowers here.
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| Aloe ‘Erik, Red &White’ (Aloe ‘Erik the Red’ × white ferox), a Brent Wigand hybrid. The flowers look to be bicolor. We’ll know soon enough. |
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Aloe ‘Spiney’ (Aloe ×spinossisima × marlothii), an old hybrid created by David Verity pre-1990. More info (and photos) here.
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| Aloe ‘Mountain Gem’ (Aloe humilis × peglerae), a Leo Thamm hybrid. Check it out here in all its flowering glory. |
Many of the aloe hybrids I brought home were created by whiz hybridizer Nick Deinhart:
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| Aloe [(humilis × hemmingii) × jucunda] × (humilis × aculeata). Nick’s hybrids are becoming ever more complex. Imagine handwriting a plant label for this one! |
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| Aloe globuligemma × aculeata. I hope it’ll have globuligemma-like flowers (see here). |
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| Aloe petricola × excelsa. Nick Deinhart says is has DayGlo flowers. |
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| Aloe brevifolia × claviflora. This one will stay small. |
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| Aloe andringitrensis × compressa. I have no idea what it will look like. Sometimes you have to take a chance. |
I don’t typically gravitate towards
fantasy aloes, but these caught my eye:
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| Spectacular hybrid from TCT Nursery in Thailand (more of their hybrids here) |
Aloes from Tom Cole/Cold Spring Aloes, all species:
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| Three aloes from Tom Cole/Cold Spring Aloes, grown from habitat seed |
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| Aloe labworana subsp. longifolia, described by Tom Cole in 2017 |
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| Aloe somaliensis with unique markings |
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| Aloe adigratana, a species from Ethiopia I’d never heard of before, but after seeing this reel by @AloeTroyBoi I had to get one. Shoutout to Troy – it was awesome finally meeting you in person! |
And a couple of oddballs:
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| ×Semponium ‘Surreal Sienna’. Semponiums are hybrids between sempervivum and aeonium developed in England. Here is an interesting article about this new type of succulents that combine the looks of aeoniums with some of the cold hardiness of sempervivums. |
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| My one non-succulent purchase, a red powder puff (Calliandra haematocephala). More info from the University of Arizona here. |
The inevitable question: Where will I put my new plants? The inevitable answer: I have no idea! Well, that’s not quite true; I do know where some of them will go. But most of them will remain in pots while they wait their turn to go into the ground.
Plant haul from January 2025 Santa Barbara trip:
| Plant name | Size | Source |
| Agave desmetiana ‘Galactic Traveller’ | 1 gal | SMG |
| Agave quiotepecensis | 2 gal | ND |
| Agave pelona | 5 gal | GG |
| Agave potatorum ‘Cherry Swizzle’ | 3 gal | SMG |
| Aloe ‘Erik, Red &White’ | 5 gal | SMG |
| Aloe ‘Hot Flash’ | 2 gal | SMG |
| Aloe 'Jacob's Ladder' | cutting | n/a |
| Aloe ‘Mountain Gem’ | 4 in | ND |
| Aloe ‘Spiney’ | 2 gal | SMG |
| Aloe [(humilis × hemmingii) × dorotheae] × jucunda | 2 in | ND |
| Aloe [(humilis × hemmingii) × jucunda] × (humilis × aculeata) | 1 gal | ND |
| Aloe adigratana | 4 in | TC |
| Aloe andringitrensis × compressa | 2 in | ND |
| Aloe brevifolia × claviflora | 2 gal | ND |
| Aloe fievetii | cuttings | SMG |
| Aloe globuligemma × aculeata | 1 gal | ND |
| Aloe labworana | 2 gal | GG |
| Aloe labworana ssp. longifolia | 4 in | TC |
| Aloe petricola × excelsa | 5 gal | ND |
| Aloe somaliensis | 4 in | TC |
| Calliandra haematocephala | 1 gal | GG |
| Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave oteroi | 3 gal | ND |
| Semponium ‘Surreal Sienna’ | 1 gal | GG |
| TCT hybrid | 3 in | ND |
© Gerhard Bock, 2025. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
Don't believe the hype about the xSemponium cold hardiness - they are very similar hardiness to regular Aeonium in my experience so far.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a shame. Maybe they’ll get backcrossed with sempervivum again and get hardier.
DeleteThank you for sharing your experience. You're the only person I know who's actually grown them. I see very little sempervivum in them so I've been doubting the claim of cold hardiness. But even a few degrees more cold tolerance than straight aeoniums would be welcome.
DeleteSo many standout plants, including that brevifolia cross. Love 'Jacob's Ladder' and need to check the Huntington's sales for it again. So many of my aloes were lost in the 3-year stress test. The oteroi mangave is very cool too. Glad you had a fine plant-hunting adventure -- didn't know you drove a Prius!
ReplyDeleteYou gave me a 'Jacob's Ladder' cutting years ago, but it died young. I'm glad to have another one because it really is a standout hybrid. I'll have photos of a mass planting in Goleta in a future post.
DeleteThe Prius is great--and perfectly serviceable as a plant mobile as long as I'm the only human taking up space.
Awesome haul. Some real beauties there. Glad to see there are more crazy plant people out there whose car resembles ours after a trip. Hope they do well for you. Claviflora grows wild on our property, that hybrid pic with Brevifolia has inspired me to do a few crosses this coming season.
ReplyDeleteCrazy plant people are my people!
DeleteClaviflora growing wild on your property, I can't even imagine what that must be like. You're a lucky man.
It means it's really hot and dry where we live and try to garden...! You should plan a trip, South Africa will blow your horticultural mind.
DeleteWow. I love all the aloes. Keep us updated on planting, growing and flowering! Actually I have been to Aloes in Wonderland about 10 years ago. Jeff organized an aloe program at Lotusland and I came with aloe friends of mine. They were from South Africa and grew lots of aloes here in Phoenix. Even when I lived in the Northeast, I loved aloes, but had no idea about the varieties of plants! I have 3 Calliandra. They do great here with little water.
ReplyDeleteWow, Aloes in Wonderland 10 years ago! The plants must have been small then.
DeleteWell, we all went to his beautiful home and that is where he had lots of aloes and we toured the gardens with him and he talked about them. He also had some for sale. Maybe it was before he actually had "Aloes in Wonderland." The ones in his garden were big and beautiful. The view was to die for also!
DeleteYep, that sounds like Jeff's place. I love the house, and the views (mountains! ocean!) are spectacular. I don't actually know when he started to use the name "Aloes in Wonderland."
DeleteFantasy aloes? It must be like Fantasy Football for the rabid aloe fans :-D
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by Tom Cole's aloe species grown from habitat seeds, the dedication to grow anything from seed is admirable. Aloe somaliensis "with unique markings" is stunning. How large should it get?
Chavli
I think they're called fantasy aloes because they have such fantastical colors and patterns.
DeleteTHIS IS AMAZING! What a haul, I'm gleeful on your behalf. I hadn't heard of Semponiums, very interesting. I'm in love with Agave desmetiana 'Galactic Traveler', I want to hold it and twirl in a circle. Everything is gorgeous, Aloe 'mountain gem'! I bet you were grinning the entire trip home.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see semponiums in a regular nursery (other than Growing Grounds in SLO where I picked up mine), but they're in TC and we should see them en masse this year.
DeleteYes, as I scrolled through the photos of your beautiful new plants, I repeatedly found myself asking "where in heck is he going to put them?!" Not that I don't routinely buy plants I have no spot for - I've got one from Waltzing Matilija waiting for a spot right now. (I'm probably going to dig up an unsatisfactory plant to make room.) It'd be wonderful if we could angle for off-site plots like those that are common in the UK.
ReplyDeleteI already dug up three plants yesterday to make room. Kept one to be used elsewhere and tossed two. I have to be ruthless.
DeleteI see that you have lots of practice as to how many plants you can fit in your car. Loved all the photos.
ReplyDeleteLots of practice! Plus, the more plants you cram into your car, the less likely it is that they will shift during transport.
DeleteNow THAT is a haul! Very impressive, I'm swooning over the Agave pelona. I'm also jealous of your ability to fill a vehicle. My San Diego haul was shaped by the meager space available in my carry on.
ReplyDeleteBeing limited by what you can carry on is so hard. But driving isn't always an option.
Delete