Succulents and More™

I spent some time with my friend Kyle  yesterday. He had told me that his garden was in full bloom. Needless to say I brought my camera, hoping to capture a bit of the magic. Kyle’s garden is one of my favorite places to visit ( check my previous posts here ) and there’s always something in flower, but right now the garden is firing on all cylinders. Let’s start in front of the house: Pops of yellows, reds... ...and purples Agave ‘Kissho Kan’, Artemisia californica ‘Canyon Gray’, and Chrysocephalum apiculatum Aloe rubroviolacea surrounded by masses of yellow and red iceplants ( Lampranthus ) Aloe rubroviolacea Purple iceplant draping over a rock – in so many gardens it wouldn't even have a rock to drop over Salvia ‘Marine Blue’ (right) is starting to flower Cotula lineariloba... ...can become a nuisance, but Kyle is keeping it in check Volunteer poppy next to Hechtia texensis Heading towards the backyard: The bed of Kyle’s 1946 Ford pickup makes a convenient makeshift nursery Cl...

The plant I’m most excited about at the moment isn’t a succulent at all. It’s a giant fennel ( Ferula communis ), an herbaceous perennial from the Mediterranean with fine-cut arching foliage that dies back in the summer and reappears with the rains in the winter. I bought it from Annie’s Annuals in October 2019 in a 4-inch pot, and it’s finally flowering. As you’ll see below, this isn’t a dainty little thing; it’s a sturdy plant 4 ft. tall and wide, with a flower stalk that reaches a good 10 ft. into the sky. In fact, from a distance, the flower stalk looks a lot like that of an agave! Agave flower stalk? No, giant fennel! Based on what I’ve read, Ferula communis is most likely monocarpic, i.e. it will die after flowering and setting seed. Some sources, however, claim that the plant will live on if you remove the flower stalk before seeds are produced. I don’t know yet what I’ll do, but I’m tempted to let it complete its lifecycle to see what happens then. Below is a pictorial chronic...