Succulents and More™

Pictures from the 2026 San Francisco Succulent Expo

2026-06-23T11:57:58.613-07:00

Last weekend was the 2026 San Francisco Succulent Expo hosted by the San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society (SFSCS). Below is a quick recap. My main reason for going was to volunteer and to help friends who were vendors, so I didn’t take as many photos as I otherwise might have. I also didn’t have my “good” camera with me, just my phone.

Held at the San Francisco County Fair Building next to the San Francisco Botanical Garden, the San Francisco Succulent Expo is the largest event of its kind in Northern California. 30+ plant and pottery vendors filled the large main gallery. Here are just a few photos to give you an idea of what it was like:

The most expensive plant I saw was this impressive Dioscorea hemicrypta, yours for $2000. That may seem shockingly expensive, but bear in mind this specimen is decades old. Somebody had to take care of it all this time. (Coincidentally, another Dioscorea hemicrypta by Nick Wilkinson of Grow Nursery won Best in Show.)

Dioscorea hemicrypta

I’ve been to so many events like this that it’s becoming harder and harder to find something I haven’t seen before. The biggest surprise this time wasn’t plants per se, it was what they were in: reused clamshell packaging from the grocery store. I think this is an ingenious idea, especially for the prickly pear pads in the second photo. Kudos to Jorge Quiñones (Q Cactus) for coming up with this brilliant idea.

The theme of this year’s Succulent Expo was “Beyond the Desert.” Many people think that cacti and succulents are strictly desert plants. Some are, but many aren’t. Plant displays and speaker presentations underscored the incredible biodiversity of succulents and highlighted species native to unexpected, non-arid environments, including wetter areas in the tropics.

The judged show, with plants entered by vendors and SFSCS members, had themed categories like “Always Dry,” “Seasonally Dry & Goldilocks Zone,” and “Tropical & Unexpected Places.” Awards were given out for Best in Category, Best Cactus, Best Succulent, and Best in Show (the top plant overall).

Here are some examples of plants highlighting the “Beyond the Desert” theme:

Haworthia truncata in the perfect planter

Haworthia truncata

Echeveria with pebbles — a simple, but very effective display

Rhipsalis baccifera and fern

Rhipsalis baccifera spilling out of a trunk

Conophytums, very small succulents native to South Africa and Namibia

Even tinier conophytums

Beiselia mexicana, a caudiciform shrub in the bursera family, pushing the envelope of what is considered a succulent

I thought the overall presentation was very striking

Look at the tiny sea shells used as top dressing

This container, made to resemble a Dioscorea elephantipes, was 3D-printed. I’m sure we’ll see many more 3D-printed items in the near future as the price for 3D printers continues to come down.

In addition to the categories above, vendors and members were able to request table space for their own displays, whether related to the “Beyond the Desert” theme or not. This was a great opportunity for them to showcase their own plants. Here are some examples:

This display was mostly astrophytums

My friend Justin Thiel’s display

Probably the most perfect Aloe dorotheae I’ve ever seen

Aloe dorotheae isn’t rare, but it’s rarely grown this well

Dudleya densiflora in flower (Justin Thiel)

One exhibitor displayed amazing lava rock containers:

Echeveria agavoides in a lava rock container that made me think of cork oak bark

Pseudolithos migiurtinus, one of the strangest flowering succulents

Two different kinds of sansevierias

One of my favorite non-themed displays was by Nick Wilkinson of Grow Nursery Nick’s plants are always impressive. It was no different this year: his Dioscorea hemicrypta won Best in Show (see further down).

Agave victoriae-reginae ‘White Rhino’

Fockea edulis

Ficus palmeri

Climbing onion (Bowiea volubilis)

Dwarf tree stonecrop (Sedum oxypetalum)

Sedum oxypetalum

And here is Best in Show, Nick’s Dioscorea hemicrypta, a slow-growing yam prized for its tortoise-shell caudex. This plant has got to be 30-40 years old.

Dioscorea hemicrypta winning Best in Show

Dioscorea hemicrypta

My photos show just a small slice of the plants on display. Below is a great 3-minute video walkthrough of the show area by Al Klein (Botanic Wonders). It’s well worth watching to see the huge variety of plants that are considered succulents:

If the video above doesn’t work for you, here’s the direct link: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1027817339744384

And if you ever have a chance to go to a show put on by your local or regional cactus and succulent society, don’t miss it!

Hunting for Yucca 'Bright Star'

2026-06-16T12:50:16.504-07:00

Yucca ‘Bright Star’ is one of those plants that stop you in your tracks the first time you see them. It’s just that beautiful. I had one from 2017 to 2023 and have been looking for another one ever since.

My original ‘Bright Star’ came from my friend Hoover Boo (Piece of Eden) in Southern California. After seeing hers (here), I knew I needed to have one. Fortunately, she had a source and was able to get me a 2-gallon plant. It bloomed for the first time in November 2022, producing a glorious display of bell-shaped flowers.

November 2022

Yuccas are polycarpic, meaning they don’t die after flowering like most agaves do. Technically, I could have enjoyed this stunning spectacle every year from then on.

Unfortunately, my ‘Bright Star’ split into multiple heads after flowering, ruining the beautiful symmetry of a single rosette.

It got even worse when I noticed suckers popping up around the mother plant:

I had visions of a messy clump — most definitely not the look I wanted. I knew I would get annoyed every time I walked by, so I took a deep breath, got out my Root Slayer, and dug it all up in July 2023.

I saved three heads with no roots and two suckers with some roots and potted them up. However, none of them survived. No matter what some Internet sources say, I don’t think rooting yucca offsets is all that easy.

Three heads (no roots), two suckers (some roots) potted up, but ultimately doomed

After I removed my ‘Bright Star’, it didn’t take long for me to want another one, especially since I was seeing it in quite a few gardens. Maybe I was simply noticing it more?

Kyle’s garden in Sacramento, April 2024 [from this post]

Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, November 2024 [from this post]

Wave Garden in Point Richmond, April 2025 [from this post]

Michele’s garden in Davis, January 2026 [from this post]

Yucca ‘Bright Star’ has never been widely available in Northern California, but for a few years it seemed to be gone entirely. Possibly because the plant patent on ‘Bright Star’ expired in 2025 (see the note at the end of this post) and anybody is now able to propagate it freely? Maybe growers were holding back their stock to release it after the expiration date?

That would make sense, because ‘Bright Star’ is now available again. A long-time follower of Succulents and More, Neal, messaged me just last week to let know that he had seen dozens of them at Devil Mountain, a large wholesale nursery with 15 locations throughout California. The grower is Matsuda’s, a subsidiary of Green Acres, a Sacramento area retail nursery. Last Saturday, I happened to be in Sacramento so I checked the closest Green Acres location. And there they were:

Yucca ‘Bright Star’ at the Sacramento location of Green Acres

At $42.50, they’re not cheap, but they’re good-sized plants in 3-gallon containers:

I hemmed and hawed a bit, wishing I could find one for less money in a 1 gallon, but I don’t remember ever seeing ‘Bright Star’ in smaller sizes.

In spite of my initial hesitation, I bought one, and when I got home, I immediately planted it in a 16" Veradek Demi Planter I had picked up at my local Costco warehouse for $24.99 (a steal).

For now, it lives next to the small cactus bed in the backyard. I don’t think this is its forever spot, but that’s where it’ll stay until I figure out its ultimate home.

I’m happy I finally have another ‘Bright Star’. And when it does eventually flower and split, maybe I’ll have more luck rooting a few heads or offsets.

In case you’re interested, here’s some background info on Yucca ‘Bright Star’, based on a deep dive I did a few years ago. According to Google Patents, the plant now known as ‘Bright Star’ was discovered in 2000 by U.K. nurseryman Tim Crowther:

“Each year, the inventor propagates Yucca by removing the side shoots, commonly known as ‘pups’, from the base of the stems of the parent plants of variegated Yucca gloriosa (unpatented). In 2000, in the course of this propagation, the inventor observed one side shoot whose rosette of foliage was atypical of the parent. Approximately one half side of this atypical rosette exhibited a greater degree of golden variegation. The inventor removed this one side shoot with the intention of attempting to produce a new plant form whose entire rosette would exhibit a uniformly more golden variegation. The inventor rooted the first-discovered side shoot and removed its growing point in order to encourage rapid basal side shoot production. In 2001, the inventor observed that three side shoots had arisen with varying degrees of golden variegation. The inventor observed that one of these three side shoots exhibited a uniform and significant degree of golden variegation. This one side shoot, ‘WALBRISTAR’, was removed and transferred to the inventor’s tissue culture laboratory where it was successfully initiated into culture and then multiplied by the same method of removing basal shoot cuttings, but in vitro.”

The patent was applied for in December 2005, granted in April 2007, and expired in December 2025. Presumably, Yucca ‘WALBRISTAR’ (aka ‘Bright Star’, the name used for marketing purposes) can now be propagated by anybody without having to pay royalties.

Since the patent application was filed, the botanical name Yucca gloriosa var. recurvifolia has changed. According to Plants of the World Online, operated by the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, Yucca gloriosa var. recurvifolia and Yucca recurvifolia are now considered synonyms of Yucca gloriosa var. tristis, so presumably the correct name of the plant is now Yucca gloriosa var. tristis ‘Bright Star’.

Finally, in case you were wondering how much money the holder of a plant patent stands to make off a patented plant: The royalty for something like Yucca ‘Bright Star’ is likely between $0.25 and $1 per plant. This is the license fee you would get from companies that propagate your plant commercially. That doesn’t seem like much, but it’s all a numbers game.

This and that, mid-June 2026

2026-06-12T11:56:16.032-07:00

It’s almost mid-June. Don’t get me started on how quickly time is flying by! After a weird winter and a long and mild spring, summer is here with a vengeance. Temperatures above the century mark are forecast for the next few days. I did some advance watering to help the garden handle the unaccustomed heat. To make matters worse, it’s pretty windy, too. Think convection oven. Fortunately, this heatwave looks to be fairly short. Back into the low 90s next week.

Remember the rat(s) that nibbled on my Astrophytum cacti a while ago? I caught one in early May and foolishly let myself be lulled into complacency. Of course that wasn’t the end of it:

Another Astrophytum asterias nibbled on in the greenhouse

Oddly enough, the cacti that were chewed on were all astrophytums. Nothing else. I have no idea what it is about astrophytums in particular, but clearly rats and mice prefer them over anything else in my greenhouse.

With two electric rat zapper traps going, it was only a matter of time until I caught something. And I did:

Just a mouse, but better than nothing

I won’t be so quick this time to let my guard down. The traps will remain baited.

On to more pleasant things in the garden. Seeing pretty agaves always puts me in a good mood:

Agave (potatorum ‘Spawn’ × isthmensis) × shawii, with a cardón (Pachycereus pringlei) on the right

Agave shawii × potatorum

Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave titanota

Agave ‘Sierra Azul’ (Agave cerulata × kristenii) surrounded by Mexican tulip poppies (Hunnemannia fumariifolia)

View from the front porch, creeping devil cactus (Stenocereus eruca) in the middle

Agave desmetiana ‘Galactic Traveller’

Agave impressa (bottom), Hechtia ‘Oaxaca Sunset’ (top)

Several cycads are flushing, i.e. pushing new leaves. This doesn’t happen often: maybe once a year, maybe once every other year. Cycads are sloooooow and can live for decades.

Encephalartos friderici-guilielmi (I’ll never remember the correct spelling of this species)

Dioon edule

Dwarf form of Encephalartos horridus, no flush, but still beautiful

A few random snaps from the front yard:

Potted echeverias, mostly Echeveria agavoides cultivars (they handle the heat better than other echeveria species)

Farewell to spring (Clarkia amoena), a California native, is typically the last wildflower to bloom in the spring, hence the common name. It’s also known in the cut flower trade as godetia.

As much as I enjoy the flowers, I’m getting tired of the messy look. I look forward to removing the plants and reclaiming a semblance of order.

Our chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) is bigger and more floriferous than ever. In the daytime, there are so many bees in the tree that you can hear their buzzing from many feet away.

One of my more recent plant purchases is Euphorbia geroldii, commonly known as thornless crown of thorns for its superficial resemblance to the real crown of thorns (Euphorbia millii):

I got it recently at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory for all of $15

It’s been pushing flower after flower — a pleasant surprise

A couple more recent purchases. I’m not sure how well they’ll do here, but they were both clearance-priced, so I have little to lose:

Echeveria ‘Suyon’, a Korean hybrid known for its “bouquet” look

Greenovia dodrantalis (now known as Aeonium dodrantale), aka mountain rose for its dense cupped leaves (see photo here). It’s native to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Like aeoniums, it goes dormant in the summer and is susceptible to rot when watered too much. Just a little H2O now and then to keep the roots from desiccating, at least that’s what I’ve gleaned from online sources. We shall see.

Aloe bloom season has long peaked, but I have so many species and hybrids that there’s always at least one in flower. For the past month, the standout has been Aloe tomentosa, native to the Arabian Peninsula. What makes this species so special are the hairy white flowers borne on tall, branched inflorescences. As an extra bonus, the flowers are long-lived, lasting four to six weeks. I have two Aloe tomentosa; the photos below are of the younger and smaller one. The other one grows under our Santa Cruz Island ironwood tree and is hard to photograph.

After a big flush of flowers in mid-April, the cactus craze has calmed down a little, but it seems like there’s something in bloom every day:

Acanthocalycium spiniflorum

Rainbow hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus rigidissimus ‘Rubrispinus’) in glorious flower

Rainbow hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus rigidissimus ‘Rubrispinus’)

Echinopsis ‘Sleeping Beauty’

Echinopsis ‘Celeste’

Echinopsis ‘Magic Eyes’

Fence-top planter with echinopsis

Echinopsis ‘Freda’ in the front, ‘Spring Blush’ in the back

Echinopsis ‘Freda’

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’

Veradek Corten bowl with multiple echinopsis. I have the tags for all of them — except this one.

Whatever it is, it has a beautiful flower

In November 2022 I sowed seeds from 12 different German echinopsis hybrids. In July 2024, I had 82 baby cacti. Of those, I kept about 60. They recently got moved to 1 gallon pots. Now I need to wait until they flower before I make the final cut. Specifically, I’m looking for large bi-colored flowers and/or ruffled or serrated edges. Fingers crossed some will bloom next year. It’s getting challenging taking care of so many pots.

German echinopsis hybrids moved to 1 gallon pots

But there’s more. More echinopsis grown from seed (in this case open pollinated ‘June Noon‘) as well as Gasteria excelsa and Aloe ‘Hellskloof Bells’ seedlings:

And, most recently, Aloe wickensii and the Aloe bulbillifera hybrid from the sidewalk bed that flowers almost continuously throughout the year:

The craziness is showing no signs of abating as I continue to collect seeds.

More Aloe bulbillifera seeds

What will I do with all these plants? That’s a very good question. I have a hunch a plant sale is in my future.

Bella Madrona: mystery and magic

2026-06-09T17:57:20.504-07:00

On my April trip to Portland, one of the destinations I was most looking forward to was Bella Madrona. I’d been there once before, during the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling, and had fond, if hazy, memories. For some reason, I never finished my post that I started 12 years ago, but here is a good one about Bella Madrona and the Fling written by Pam Penick on her blog Digging.

Bella Madrona defies description. There are trees and shrubs and flowers, art pieces and found objects, a stream and a bog, several meadows, and even a secret forest inhabited by gnomes. As I was reading up on what others have written about it, I came across a term that captures its essence perfectly: pleasure garden. It makes me think of something grander, something that goes beyond plants; a space designed to bemuse, entertain, and thrill. When you look at the photos below, you’ll see what Bella Madrona is: lush, eclectic, playful, romantic, serene, mystical. I’d even call it whimsical if the w word wasn’t so worn out.

Before we get to the photos, a bit of history to give you context. Here is how Geof Beasley, who bought the 5-acre property in 1980 together with his partner James Sampson, described Bella Madrona in the 2014 Garden Blogger’s Fling brochure:

Bella Madrona began forming in 1980, at an 1892 farmstead. It was named for the madrones growing naturally here, in gravelly soil formed by the ice age floods. Over the years, garden rooms were added, surrounded by hedges. We began having large parties and benefits, which required that crowds could move easily from room to room, and that large open spaces be included. The plant material, though special from the beginning, was chosen to complement the overall space.

Now that the garden is 34, and the gardener in 64, the prime focus is keeping towering hedges sheared, pruning trees and shrubs to allow some semblance of light in, and repairing crumbling infrastructure. The garden has directed its own maturation, with some editing help from the aging gardener. As a result it has taken on a personality and possesses a sense of place that is to many visitors alluring, eccentric and magical. The lower area, essentially a bog, with its metasequoia grove and large bald cypresses, is a world apart, belying its proximity to the urban growth boundary. It is, along with the garden as a whole, home to a great variety of wildlife, and, indeed, the place is as much for them as it is for the humans who live here and who visit.

The 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling brought almost 100 garden peeps from all over the country (and a few from Canada and overseas) to Bella Madrona. It was the closing reception of what had been a fantastic three days of touring gardens in the Portland area. There was plenty of food and drink, much of it alcoholic, and the mood was loud and joyful. What we didn’t know was that James Sampson was returning that night from hospice care. He would die at home the following year at age 65. He and Geof Beasley had been together for 47 years, 35 of them at Bella Madrona.

In the years after James’s death, Geof, along with volunteers from local horticultural organizations, worked hard to maintain and refresh the garden. When we were at Bella Madrona in April, almost 12 years after my first visit, the garden, now 45+ years in the making, seemed quieter, a little less exuberant, but all the elements that make it one of a kind were still there.

Geof Beasley himself led our small group all over the property, accompanied by Brazilian music playing over speakers installed throughout the upper garden. Hopefully the photos below will give you an idea of why Bella Madrona is so special.

When we arrived, we were greeted by pug Caper...

...soon to be joined by his pug sister Olive

The house is nestled under the trees, as is almost everything else at Bella Madrona

Spring flowers

Tulips may be a common sight in Portland, but to me they’re almost exotic (they’re challenging to grow in our climate)

Early signs of spring

Bella Madrona has many places to sit

Two paired chairs are a recurring motif. An invitation to have a deeper conversation? Or to share a romantic moment? As with so many things at Bella Madrona, you can bring your own interpretation.

Allée leading to the barn

The barn is a beautifully weathered structure

I think it also serves as a guest house

Winding paths, leading who knows where

Upside-down wine bottles as pavers

Stone face by Berkeley artist Marcia Donahue, who was part of our group

I love the layer of moss

Giant penis by Marcia Donahue. Marcia was delighted to see it was still there.

It seemed that I was able to find something...

...wherever I looked

I have no idea what this represents, but as a fan of rusted metal, it had my attention

Another enigmatic piece

Milk can pretending to spill water...

...into a terraced stream lined with all kinds of rusty objects

In a small garden, this stream would be a central feature. At Bella Madrona, it’s just one of many things you come across as you walk around.

Portals in the woods. What does it mean?

Two chairs in a meadow of daisies

Four chairs at the edge of the woods

Metal pinwheel, because why not

Stone pagoda in the bog...

...and a cowl vent suggesting that maybe there’s someone or something lurking beneath

First I thought the red things were the flowers of this butterbur (Petasites sp.), but at closer inspection it’s obvious they’re made of glass

Hänsel and Gretel in cage?

A bit eerie and unsettling

And finally, at the far end of the property, a secret walk through a forest populated by gnomes:

There be gnomes in them thar woods

Making merry, but always keeping an eye on you

Gnoming is thirsty work

About five years ago, vandals smashed a number of gnomes. Many new gnomes have been added since then, but the broken pieces were left in place. As if to say that you can’t keep a good gnome down.

Over the past 45+ years, James Sampson and Geof Beasley have hosted many parties, celebrations, and fundraisers at Bella Madrona, some for hundreds of people. It is, quite possibly, the best known private garden in Oregon. Thomas Lauderdale, founder and leader of the band Pink Martini, and China Forbes, Pink Martini’s lead singer, were so captivated by the magic of Bella Madrona that they co-wrote the song The Gardens of Sampson & Beasley, which appeared on their 2nd album Hang On Little Tomato (2004). The song’s narrator reminisces about a past love under “Orion’s starry sky,” wishing they could “still pretend that love was around the bend in the gardens of Sampson and Beasley.”

At the closing reception of the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling, each of us got a CD of Hang On Little Tomato so I knew the studio version of The Gardens of Sampson & Beasley (which I love). I recently found a video of Pink Martini performing The Gardens of Sampson & Beasley live from Bella Madrona on September 10, 2022, and I think it’s even better, maybe because it was recorded in the very place that inspired the song.

Rusted metal planters and cacti: Eric's garden on the Sacramento River

2026-06-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

Eric Bailey is a fellow member of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society and lives on a multi-acre rural property along the Sacramento River. Last week, I finally had the opportunity to see his garden. With no traffic on the freeway, the drive is only 20 minutes, but it’s a different world out there in the country, away from suburban neighborhoods with their crammed lots. Eric’s driveway off the levee road is longer than my entire street!

View of the Sacramento River from the levee road

When I saw this repurposed tractor tire planter with an agave in the middle, I knew it was my kind of place.

Old tires are good for a lot of things, not just planters, but also cat sculptures:

The area in front of the house — think of it as a large courtyard — is filled with metal planters and rocks:

Eric’s container garden is less than two years old. None of the planters are store-bought. Eric made them himself from things he found on the property. It has been in his wife’s family for 50+ years, and a lot of stuff has accumulated over the decades.

Most of the round (and oblong) planters are sections from fuel drums or tanks.

Cacti, aloes, and Sedum nussbaumerianum ‘Coppertone’

Aloe capitata

Octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana)

Agave salmiana var. ferox or Agave ‘Mr Ripple’ (the jury is still out)

Impressive specimen of Eve’s needle cactus (Austrocylindropuntia subulata), a tree-like cactus from the Peruvian Andes

Austrocylindropuntia subulata flowers are beautiful — and the stems fiercely armed

Prickly pears

Tire rims make good planters, too

The square and rectangular planters range from a repurposed toolbox to a tractor gas tank to planters Eric welded together from scrap metal.

Aloe erinacea and Euphorbia enopla

I love a good barrel cactus

Cacti are a natural choice for this exposed space since they handle the heat so well

Young ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) in what was a shop cart in a previous life

I love the sun roof Eric made for these strings of pearls (Curio rowleyanus)

The plantings include cacti, aloes, agaves, euphorbias, and some smaller succulents. Irrigation is by buried drip lines. As you look at these photos, bear in mind that this area is less than two years old. There’s still plenty of room left for more plants. I have several aloes I can contribute to the cause. Wouldn’t an Aloe ‘Birds and Bees’ look great in this space? Or an Aloe marlothii?

Grizzly bear cactus (Opuntia polyacantha var. erinacea)

Pine cone cactus (Tephrocactus articulatus var. inermis) in the back, paper spine cactus (Tephrocactus articulatus var. papyracanthus) in the front

The plantings in front of and next to the house are far more mature. Some of these cacti have been in the ground for years. The yuccas, too.

So lush

Crazy Aloe ciliaris (now Aloiampelos ciliaris) climbing all the way to the top of the pergola. You usually find these in the 2" succulent display at the big box stores.

Eric is a talented ceramic artist. This is one of his pots.

Great place to sit, protected from the sun

Patio next to the house. I can’t wait to go back and explore this area more.

Cacti...

...galore

Metal dino

Four wheelbarrows, that’s serious business

Eric also has a sweet shade house for his collection of succulents as well as for growing vegetables and perennials

Landscaping outside the shade house

Sedum nussbaumerianum ‘Coppertone’ glowing even in the shade

Eric (left) and Kyle (right)

As I mentioned, Eric is an accomplished potter, with a studio and kiln on his property. He is a vendor at the annual Show & Sale of the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society (first weekend in May), and he also sells his pottery at the SCSS’s monthly meetings on the fourth Monday of the month. I’ll feature some of his pots in a future post.

Revisiting Loree's danger garden: back

2026-06-02T15:28:00.579-07:00

My previous post was about Loree’s front garden. This post is about the back garden.

The portal to the back garden is the agave gate that Loree’s husband Andrew designed:

While distinctly separate, the back garden repeats many of the same themes as the front garden: bold foliage, architectural forms, spiky plants, plus ferns — so many ferns. What you won’t see a lot of is flower color. There are a few exceptions, and they truly stand out. I’m sure that was the intention.

Let’s get started. As I mentioned in my previous post, these photos were taken over three days in different lighting conditions. That’s why the colors may look a bit different.

Agave gate on the right

Pyrrosia ferns tucked into trunk of a Trachycarpus fortunei and the crotch of an Albizia julibrissin ‘Summer Chocolate’

Foliage reigns supreme. The dark leaves are from black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’), which you will see in many of these photos. It makes a great foil for lighter colored foliage.

Rhododendron pachysanthum

Woodwardia unigemmata

Pyrrosia ferns on top, Clematis ‘Pixie’ below

Back of the house on the right, the orange wall is the neighbor’s garage

This corner is anchored by Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’, still in glorious bloom during my early April visit

Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’. The species is native to China, Korea, and Japan.

Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’

Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’. I’ve never seen this shrub in our neck of the woods.

View into the back garden. The gate is behind me.

Yucca rostrata and Trachycarpus fortunei

Various pyrrosias in dish planters along the side of Loree and Andrew’s garage; gate to the left

Pyrrosia sheareri

Dicksonia antarctica

Beautifully complementary foliage

If you’ve followed Loree’s danger garden blog for any length of time, you know she’s a master at creating innovative compositions like this one...

...and this one

Pyrrosia lingua and Pyrrosia lingua ‘Ogon Nishiki’

One of Loree’s most recent fern creations (see here for more details on how she made this planter out of a galvanized steel round)

Pyrrosia lingua, Soldanella alpina, and Pyrrosia davidii

Sometimes you don’t even need plants

I will admit, I got a bit envious when I saw how many metal containers Loree has

Wider view, garage in the center (shade pavilion just outside the frame on the far right)

Stepping stones leading towards the gate

Shredded umbrella plant (Syneilesis aconitifolia), a woodland native from China, Japan, and Korea...

...and a plant that fascinates me endlessly

Podophyllum is another plant I’d love to be able to grow. Here’s the green form...

...and here is a red form (Podophyllum ‘Red Panda’)

Maidenhair fern (Adiantum)

Greens and yellows dominate at this time of year

Far side of the garage on the right

Pyrrosia sheareri

Fern central, their foliage beautifully offset by the gray from the galvanized steel containers

I’m endlessly fascinated by the variety of ferns in Loree’s garden

Lomatia ferruginea

Spores on Neolepisorus fortunei ‘Green Ribbons’

Neolepisorus fortunei ‘Green Ribbons’

Amazing what you (i.e. Loree) can do with
a splatter screen and burlap. The metal pieces are perfect companions.

The signature structure in Loree’s back garden is the shade pavilion that becomes a greenhouse in the winter. Check out this photo to see what it looks like in summer mode, with the polycarbonate panels removed.

The shade pavilion was designed and built by Loree and Andrew. Loree has written about it extensively; this danger garden post is a good place to start if you want to learn more.

Outside...

...and inside

Just some of the plants that spent at least part of the winter in the shade pavilion

Fatsia japonica ‘Murakamo Nishiki’ in a stock tank between the shade pavilion and the fence

Fatsia japonica ‘Murakamo Nishiki’

Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’)

Wider view of the shade pavilion (and the garage on the left)

Some of the planters near the shade pavilion:

Planters with maidenhair fern...

...and moss

Farfugium japonicum ‘Gigantea’

Queen Victoria agave (Agave victoriae-reginae)

Tasmanian tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica)

In the summer, the empty area in the photos below becomes an outdoor dining and entertainment space:

Remember the controlled pops of flower color I mentioned at the beginning of this post? The orange flowers of Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’ was one example. The flowers of Loropetalum chinense ‘Sizzling Pink’ in the photos below is another.

Nolina ‘La Siberica’, Loropetalum chinense ‘Sizzling Pink’ and...

...whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia)

There are many things I admire about Loree’s garden: her great eye for design; her imagination, creativeness, and original ideas; and above all her self-control and restraint. That may sound weird, considering Loree is an inveterate believer in cramscaping, but everything she brings into her garden serves a purpose. Me, I buy whatever catches my eye and stick it wherever there’s space. Not that I’m unhappy with what I do, I just wish I had more of Loree’s self-discipline.

• ———————— •

This post from March 2026 celebrating the 17th anniversary of Loree’s danger garden blog is a detailed look at the evolution of the garden since 2009. There are some jaw-dropping before and after pictures.

And if you’re not following danger garden yet, definitely do so now.

Revisiting Loree's danger garden: front

2026-05-29T13:17:22.112-07:00

On my Portland trip in early April, I had the pleasure of staying at the house of my friend Loree Bohl, the creator of the popular blog danger garden and author of the book Fearless Gardening, and her husband Andrew. This gave me plenty of opportunity to photograph Loree’s garden at different times of day. As is so often the case, I took far more photos than I can possibly show you. I’ve tried hard to edit myself, but there’s so much to see — as you know very well if you follow Loree’s blog.

This post is about the front garden. Click here to see the back garden.

Front garden as seen from the sidewalk, April 2026

On her blog, Loree has written extensively about her garden. This post from August 2025 has photos of what the property looked like when they bought the house in 2005. Take a look at this: The front garden was pretty much all lawn, with some foundation shrubs up against the house. Compare that to the photo above. The difference couldn’t be more profound.

Loree loves bold textures, architectural forms, and spiky plants, above all agaves. The front garden has all of that, sometimes in startling combinations. How often do you see manzanitas underplanted with agaves? Or a Himalayan flowering shrub next to a Yucca rostrata? Loree’s property isn’t large, about 5,000 sq. ft. in total, but she has created a masterfully designed garden that reflects her unique vision: original, innovative, and eccentric in the best possible way.

On that note, let’s take a closer look. As I mentioned earlier, these photos were taken over three days, so the lighting varies from pre-sunrise shade to full sun.

Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’...

...and Yucca rostrata next to the front door

Another photo of this vignette, just because it’s so beautiful. Euphorbia rigida in the front.

Wider view of the walkway to the front door

Another beautiful Yucca rostrata

The frothy blob in the lower right is Pittosporum anomalum, a shrub native to New Zealand

Pittosporum anomalum was in bloom during my visit. The flowers are tiny, but they have a powerful scent.

Lots of succulents...

...on both sides of the front door

The taller plant is a juvenile Tetrapanax papyrifer, maybe a shoot from the large plant on the far side of the house? Tetrapanax papyrifer is notorious for sending out runners.

The big agave in the middle is Agave ‘Baccarat’, on the right Agave americana var. protoamericana, and on the left Agave parryi ‘Notorious RBG’ (Loree’s name for an unidentified agave purchased at the Ruth Bancroft Garden)

Agaves are awesome (and Loree is the Queen of Agaves), but they’re somehow even cooler paired with ferns, like this Pleopeltis lepidopteris ‘Morro dos Conventos’

Another fern and agave pairing

In pots, Agave victoriae-reginae and Agave schidigera ‘Royal Flush’

Hypertufa pots planted with agaves, sempervivums, ferns, and more

Agave ‘Blue Glow’ (or, more likely, the green form of ‘Blue Glow’, fittingly called ‘Green Glow’)

Yucca rostrata in the back, with six Agave stricta ‘Nana’ in the front

Agave ‘Mateo’ at the bottom, Cheilanthes tomentosa at the top

More agaves, and even a fan aloe (Kumara plicatilis)

Yucca linearifolia

Another beautiful Yucca rostrata and an Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Nanjing Gold’, a shrub from the Himalayas, just finishing up flowering

I finally got to see Loree’s Little Free Greenhouse built by her husband Andrew in the summer of 2023. Many neighborhoods have little free libraries, but little free greenhouses? Not so much. If I were handy, I’d build one myself.

The Little Free Greenhouse was mostly empty (early April wasn’t peak gardening season yet), but I bet it has been put to good use since then

Even plant tags — how thoughtful is that?

And finally a few photos near the gate to the back garden:

Aeoniums outside the door to the kitchen

Hanging pots on the front of the garage: small, but impactful — and both featuring agaves

Closer look at one of them

Wider view of these two pots — and the gate to the magic that awaits in the back garden.

The agave gate was designed by Loree’s husband Andrew. More details in Loree’s post from October 2015.

Click here to see the back garden.

Mosaic artist Jeffrey Bale's garden sanctuary

2026-05-24T11:14:21.276-07:00

One of the destinations on my early April trip to Portland, Oregon was the garden of mosaic artist and garden designer Jeffrey Bale. What little I knew about him I had gleaned from Loree’s post on her blog, danger garden.

As I was working on this post, I did additional research and found that Jeffrey is not just some guy making mosaics, he’s world-renowned. You can see examples of his work on his own blog.

Here’s some background on Jeffrey. When you look at my photos of his garden below, keep this context in mind and you’ll understand better what his garden is about.

Jeffrey earned a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Oregon in 1981. After briefly working at a traditional architectural firm (he lasted all of twenty minutes, apparently), he left to travel around the world, studying the historical outdoor architecture of Europe, Southeast Asia, and Morocco. He was particularly influenced by the stone plazas of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and the traditional Moorish pebble installations at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. When he returned to the United States, he began experimenting with different masonry techniques and eventually transitioned into a full-time career as a garden designer and mosaicist (yes, that is a word).

Jeffrey has developed a low-tech methodology for creating pebble mosaics by setting natural stones on edge into a bed of wet mortar. Rather than relying on uniform, mass-produced stones, he hand-collects them from natural environments, such as beaches in the Puget Sound region and riverbeds in Oregon.

Jeffrey’s personal garden in northeast Portland functions as a primary laboratory for his design ideas. The space — actually two neighboring lots and houses — brings together regional flora, uncommon botanical specimens, reflective water features, and imported architectural elements, such as Indian and Tibetan artifacts.

The garden’s hardscaping is based on complex geometric and organic patterns. Notable features include a Persian rug-style patio mosaic, winding footpaths outlined with Molalla flagstone, and literal representations like a western rattlesnake path winding around the house. His public and private commissions across California, Washington, and Oregon frequently incorporate spiritual and cosmological themes, including a 36-foot-diameter stone labyrinth on Bainbridge Island featuring symbolic lunar rings and a 108-stone Tibetan mala cycle set like a necklace of Tibetan prayer beads.

On that note, let’s start at the sidewalk in front of Jeffrey’s house:

The tulips in the hell strip are beautiful, but they don’t give away any of the magic waiting in Jeffrey’s garden

As I mentioned earlier, Jeffrey owns two neighboring properties. He lives in one and rents out the other, but the backyards are one seamless expanse with no fence to separate them. We’ll get to that in a second. Right now, we’re still in the front.

Rug mosaic and meditation spot right off the sidewalk

I was mesmerized by the moss

We simply don’t have moss...

...this thick and lush where I live

Moss-covered mosaic leading...

...to the steps to the front door of the house where Jeffrey lives

The color scheme of the house reminded me of the Yucatán

The neighboring house, originally a crack house, now a rental

The two houses share a similar color story

Every nook and cranny seemed to have something special

The remaining photos are of Jeffrey’s house. Rounding the corner and walking towards the back garden:

The path around the side into the back is a mosaic forming a rattlesnake. Here’s the head:

And here’s the tail

Looking through the gate...

...into the garden

Metal panel leaning against the house

Looking the way we just came

As soon I rounded the corner into the back garden, my eyes immediately went to the central feature: the Niche Wall. It’s a visual screen from the neighboring house just a few feet from the property line, and it serves both as an outdoor sanctuary and a physical chronicle of Jeffrey’s extensive travels through South and Southeast Asia. (Even to this day, he spends winters overseas, exploring and learning about other cultures.)

According to my research (mostly Jeffrey’s own blog, especially this post), the structural core of the Niche Wall consists of concrete block backing covered entirely in stones that fit so tightly that the underlying mortar is entirely obscured from view. The primary architectural elements are hand-carved sandstone relics—including scalloped window arches, floral frames, and platforms—that Jeffrey salvaged during four winters spent in Rajasthan, India.

The scalloped stone frames heavily reference traditional Mughal and Islamic architecture, mimicking lotus blossom silhouettes and classical Gardens of Paradise motifs. The frames create recessed niches that act as elevated altars. Each niche houses bronze Buddha and Hindu deities collected on travels through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

I had never seen anything like it before and could have spent a lot more time examining all the details, not to mention listening to Jeffrey talk. But we were on a schedule, so time was limited. Plus, there were plenty of other things to see.

Door from the garden into Jeffrey’s house

Of course there’s a mosaic in front of the door

More pieces Jeffrey collected on his travels

Just two of many bells

No space is left unadorned

What looks like tattered flags are actually bananas. I bet that in the summer, when they’re fully leafed out, the two-story house behind Jeffrey’s garden is completely hidden from view.

Here is a detailed post on Jeffrey’s blog in which he describes the creation of his garden.

Jeffrey is a deeply spiritual person, and I’m grateful that he invited us into what is clearly a very personal space.

Stuff about myself you might not know

2026-05-20T18:07:34.753-07:00

Many of you have been following my blog for a long time and know as much (or more) about me than I do myself; I'm not exactly a cryptic species. But if you're relatively new to my blog, there are some things you may not know.

In its May 2026 newsletter, the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society had a feature about yours truly, based on a Q&A format. Nothing earth-shattering here, but I thought I'd repost it in case there are things you didn't know about me.

1. What piqued your interest in cacti/succulents?

My mother had cacti and euphorbias on her windowsills when I was growing up. I got a moon cactus when I was 12. So it seems I’ve been around them forever. As an adult/gardener, my interest really took off when I realized that they make great landscape plants: They’re beautiful, and they need very little care.

2. Role in the club and why.

I’ve been secretary and webmaster for a number of years. These roles play to my strengths. I’m well organized, and I work best behind the scenes.

3. Favorite Cacti/succulent?

Cacti: Echinopsis/Trichocereus hybrids for their incredible flowers. Succulents: agaves and aloes for their architectural qualities and use as landscape plants. I try to put most of my plants in the ground, so that matters.

4. Least favorite caci/succulent or one you’ve killed the most?

Dioscorea elephantipes. I’ve killed more than I can count, either by overwatering or by underwatering. Everybody says they’re easy to grow. Not for me!

5. Favorite local nurseries or gardens to visit?

Hands down the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, only an hour away. The variety of plants they grow, and the design of the garden itself, that’s been a huge inspiration for me. Plus, their climate is essentially the same as ours, so what does well there will typically do well here.

6. Any other hobbies or interests you want to share?

I love photography, and I write a blog, Succulents and More (succulentsandmore.com). I chronicle the successes and failures in my own garden and write about other gardens and nurseries I visit, here and wherever I happen to travel.

7. Advice for new cacti/succulent enthusiasts?

Grow the plants that get you excited. And if you fail, try again. Killing plants doesn’t mean you’re a bad grower/gardener; plants have a mind of their own. In your garden, don’t stick to rigid rules or listen to what others say. Do what you like. The only person you have to please is yourself. (Look for the book Fearless Gardening by Loree Bohl. It might change your life!)

Creeping devil (Stenocereus eruca)

Link to Loree's blog, danger garden.

This and that, mid-May 2026

2026-05-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

I take photos in the garden virtually every day to document what’s going on. Many of these images don’t fit into specific categories, but they’re still worth showing. That’s why I have these occasional “This and that” posts. They’re the perfect vehicles for pictures that might otherwise remain unseen.

Let’s get started with some cactus photos.

Lophocereus schottii ‘Woolly Rhino’ seen from above

Cardon (Pachycereus pringlei) seen from above

My creeping devil (Stenocereus eruca) in the box Kyle made for me in August 2024. It’s doubled in size since then and has made a few offsets.

I recently entered it in the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society Show. It won an Award of Excellence, which netted me $25 to spend at the event.

The first wave of cactus flowers is always the best (see this post), but there’s been a nonstop succession since mid-April. I’ll have a separate post so these photos are just teasers:

Parodia mammulosa var. roseolutea, probably my favorite cactus flower outside of echinopsis/trichocereus

Especially pretty when sidelit by the sun

Gymnocalycium horridispinum subs. achirasense (what a mouthful) with a surprisingly large flower

A promise of things to come

This is the Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ stem that broke off and fell over recently (see post). I replanted it, and it’s already pushing a new flower.

Other succulent flowers, some unexpected:

Lewisia cotyledon, finally flowering — profusely, too. These are succulents native to the high mountains of northern California and southern Oregon where they grow in full sun. I’ve had trouble with these in the past. Now I know that in our climate they really need shade in the afternoon — and, in general, do better when ignored.

Dyckia choristaminea

Dyckia choristaminea flowers may not be showy...

...but they’re cheerful in their own way

Aloe season is behind us. Still, not a week has gone by without at least one aloe in flower. That’s what I love about that genus: There are aloes that flower at any time of year.

Aloe schoelleri, a cliff dweller from Eritrea in East Africa

Its flowers aren’t flashy like some, but I think they’re very elegant

This one was grown from open-pollinated Aloe schoelleri seed at John Miller’s garden in Oakland

The rosette itself looks very much like A. schoelleri, but the flowers are subtly different...

...especially the color, so probably a hybrid. Still, a very attractive plant.

Aloe pseudorubroviolacea right behind the Aloe schoelleri aff. above

These Aloe pseudorubroviolacea flowers are so nectar-rich, there’s sugary stuff all over the leaves

Aloe tomentosa has fuzzy white flowers...

...which I’m crazy about. This year, my older plant (this one) has two inflorescences, and a slightly younger plant on the other side of the sidewalk bed is flowering for the first time

The genus Gasteria (“gaster” is Greek for stomach) is named thusly because its flowers look like little stomachs...or like socks on a clothesline

Agave ‘Sierra Azul’ (Agave cerulata × kristenii) looking cool

Agave parryi and dogweed (Thymophylla pentachaeta) in the sidewalk bed

Mexican tulip poppies (Hunnemannia fumariifolia) reseeding liberally all over the front yard. I’m on board with that.

I’ve removed most of my ‘White Linen’ California poppies because they were getting too gangly...

...but there are a few stragglers, which I’m enjoying immensely

The poppies currently stealing the show are these pink Shirley poppies...

...which I grew from seed...

...given to me by Kyle last fall

Some of the best color in the garden right now comes from penstemons, like this Penstemon ‘Shadow Mountain’...

...and Penstemon ‘Red Rocks’

This pale-yellow buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum) is the kind of plant that is easily overlooked, but it does exactly what I was hoping it would do: soften the edge of the rock border

The same goes for this Cotula lineariloba aka big yellow moon flower

Corner of the L-shaped sidewalk bed...

...featuring sundrops (yellow), catmint (blue), and Shirley poppies (pink)

My most recent planting is the blue Mediterranean fan palm (Chamaerops humilis var. argentea) towards the back

It was in a 5-gallon can, but it’s still small, and will remain small for years to come

And finally, a spectacular inflorescence at the UC Davis Arboretum, Nolina nelsonii. It towers over me like a mass of yellow tumbleweed. It’s one of my favorite sights in late spring, but one I’ll never get to experience in my own garden because the plant is simply too large.

With hot weather on the way (hello, 90s, here we come), things are likely to change fast.

Dairy Creek Meadows: greenhouse and crevice garden

2026-05-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I showed you the grounds at Dairy Creek Meadows, the 30-acre rural spread owned by long-time gardeners Craig Quirk and Larry Neill outside of Portland, Oregon. This post is about the greenhouse and the crevice garden that surrounds it, both masterpieces in their own right. I think you’ll be blown away.

Let’s start with the greenhouse. It sits in the middle of a naturalistic perennial meadow designed in collaboration with Laura Crockett of Garden Diva Designs and inspired by the work of Piet Oudolf. The area is fully fenced to keep out the local deer population. When I visited, in early April, most of the meadow perennials were still dormant; take a look at this photo from Craig’s Instagram to see what it looks like in summer.

The greenhouse is actually two interconnected structures from Hartley Botanic, a British manufacturer known for its classic designs and superior build quality. Craig told us that the glasshouses were delivered on two flat-bed trucks. And yes, I do believe they came all the way from the UK.

The greenhouse serves three distinct functions: a living space, a propagation area, and a display space for Craig’s cactus and succulent collection. As you’ll see below, every detail is superbly executed.

Greenhouse in the middle of the perennial meadow, with the newly built potting shed and a repurposed grain silo on the right

I can confidently state that I’ve never seen a private greenhouse this beautiful

From this angle, you can see the two wings connected in the middle

Perennials still in winter mode

The potting shed was built just recently. It’s finished to the same high standard of quality as everything at Dairy Creek Meadows.

Both entrances to the greenhouse feature a semicircular flower mosaic created by Clare Dohna:

The interior is unlike anything I’ve ever seen — from the structural details to the furnishings to the plants. It feels much more like an elegant conservatory than a place to overwinter plants and start seeds. The greenhouse is heated by radiant floor heating. You can walk around barefoot in the middle of winter!

The lights!

Sitting area on the left, walkthrough to the other wing on the right

The “bulbs” are actually ceramics by Berkeley artist Marcia Donahue

A couple of short videos for better context:

The other wing of the greenhouse houses Craig’s collection of potted succulents. At the intersection of the two walkways is a pair of cactus-inspired ceramic sculptures by Los Angeles artist Dustin Gimbel:

Don’t forget to take in the view through the window

Beautiful plants and beautiful pottery

Small agave grouping

Aloe erinacea and Deuterocohnia brevifolia

Short video:

As I mentioned earlier, the greenhouse is also used for propagation:

What’s more cheerful than a flowering dwarf lemon tree when most of the plants outside are still dormant

The greenhouse is surrounded by a one-of-a-kind crevice garden built by renowned experts Kenton Seth and Chris Dixon from 40 tons of hand-gathered stone (I can’t even imagine the scale). It consists of multiple outcrops that form the shape of a butterfly when seen from above. Think of it as a giant jigsaw puzzle composed of rock mounds with carefully calibrated planting pockets. This creates ideal conditions for growing alpine and dryland plants and display them to maximum effect.

According to an article in the Spring 2026 issue of the Rock Garden Quarterly, the build itself demanded stamina as much as skill. The stone, collected and palletized in advance, was set during intense summer heat, requiring precise placement of massive slabs and constant adjustment of form, balance, and grade. With the help of Craig and Larry and an experienced landscape crew, Kenton and Chris shaped ledges, rises, and plateaus that in such a way that the mounds feel like a cohesive whole.

Just like the perennials elsewhere in the garden, most of the plants in the crevice garden were either still dormant or just waking up. I’d love to come back in the summer to see the garden at its most dramatic.

The explanation above should give a bit of context as you look at the photos below.

A couple of videos for context:

On the other side of the greenhouse, there are a couple of Agave ovatifolia planted on top of their own mounds, paired with agave flower sculptures by Dustin Gimbel:

Cacti, too

Dairy Creek Meadows in the kind of property you have to see in person in order to fully grasp its scale and the ambition behind it. The gardens aren’t even three years old, so imagine what they will look like in another three or five years!

Greenhouse rat update

2026-05-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

I have an update on the greenhouse rat situation (see this post from two weeks ago). It's short and sweet. The notification from my Wi-Fi- enabled electronic rat trap says it all:

An app for a rat trap is a bit silly, but everything seems to come with an app these days

I won't post a photo of the dead rat, but since it died of electric shock, it wasn't bloody or anything. In fact, it looked just like a living rat, except that it wasn't.

I'll leave the traps (two electronic traps, one old-fashioned snap trap) in the greenhouse a little while longer, just in case.

Evening get-together in Kyle's magical garden

2026-05-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the 2026 Show & Sale of the Sacramento Cactus & Succulent Society (SCSS). To celebrate, my friend and frequent partner-in-crime Kyle Johnson invited the vendors and SCSS board members to an evening get-together in his garden. I didn’t keep track of how many people showed up, but it was a few dozen at least. Most of the locals had seen Kyle’s garden before, but the out-of-town vendors hadn’t. In addition to the general ooh and aahs, I overheard some comments that reflected a deeper connection to what Kyle has created. I’m sure that, as fellow gardeners, you know how validating it is to hear from people who get what you’re trying to do.

The photos in this post were taken between 4:30pm and 7:30pm. During those three hours, the light was getting warmer and softer until, boom, it was dark. But Kyle has lights throughout the garden so nobody was stumbling around in the dark.

I didn’t quite capture the magic I felt as I was walking around after dark, but I hope you’ll at least get an idea of how special Kyle’s garden is. I’ve said this before, but I’m so happy that Kyle’s and my path have crossed. He continues to be a major inspiration, and I look forward to seeing what his garden — and mine — will look like in one year, two, five, ten.

Let’s start in the front.

Like me, Kyle is a strong believer in more is more. And like me, he overplants, knowing full well that plants will need to be moved as they get bigger. It’s all part of the plan.

Just one close-up: Clarkia amoena and Dudleya brittonii

A great place to sit in the front yard. At the bottom left is one of two small wildflower meadows Kyle has created. Most of the plants flowering there right now are California annuals. A year from now, this area will be totally different, but for now, it’s wonderful to see the abundance of foliage and color.

Moving to the backyard:

Reflections in the vintage Mexican mirror near the entrance to the backyard

I love this perspective

Just one small vignette of what there is to see on the fence. The rock art is Kyle’s.

View towards the patio

This is about as lush as a garden can get in our climate

Agave guiengola ‘Platinum’ outside the slider to the living room

The patio is a wonderful place...

...to sit...

...and look out at the garden

Ladyfinger cactus (Echinocereus pentalophus) blooming right on schedule. I will forever associate these cheerful flowers with the annual SCSS Show & Sale, which is always on the first weekend of May.

Kyle and his wife have two dogs, Rusty and Max. Rusty is my special buddy.

Who says chimeneas are for fires?

Mangave perfection

Potted cactus collection

Wider view...

...towards Kyle’s office shed

Annuals like California and Shirley poppies, hollyhocks, and more growing wild in the pathways

The light is getting warmer...

...and softer

Kyle’s backyard isn’t large, but there is so much to explore

An hour later

Magical light

I will definitely plant hollyhocks next year

A little while later

Kyle had set up the bar in his office shed, so it was a popular place

Kyle found these two plant stands while walking the dogs

They were actually bed posts

Finally, a few photos I took after the lights had come on:

Kyle’s nursery area

I had hoped to take more photos, but my camera battery died midway. I just have to come back and continue where I left off. What a hardship that will be!

Dairy Creek Meadows: an extraordinary private garden in the making

2026-04-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Twelve years ago, in 2014, I had the opportunity to visit a garden in Portland, Oregon that was so remarkable that it stuck with me all this time. It even had a name: Floramagoria, a portmanteau combining flora and phantasmagoria (according to Merriam-Webster, “an exhibition of optical effects and illusions,” “a constantly shifting complex succession of things seen or imagined,” or “a bizarre or fantastic combination, collection, or assemblage”).

Floramagoria was the private space of Craig Quirk and Larry Neill. It was a classic example of a mullet garden — business in the front, party in the back. The front, the public-facing side, featured fairly muted conservative plantings in line with the neighborhood’s architectural character. But once you passed through the gate into the backyard, boy howdy: What an explosion of exotic plants, bold colors, and eclectic art!

To see for yourself, check out my blog post from 2015, Loree’s post from 2019, and especially this detailed (and beautifully illustrated) article that appeared in the Fall 2015 issue of Portland Monthly.

In 2023, Craig Quirk and Larry Neill left Floramagoria behind and moved to a 30-acre piece of land about 45 minutes outside of Portland where they have created a very different kind of garden. Floramagoria was a high-octane rave on a small suburban lot; their new garden, Dairy Creak Meadows, is a shift toward a more expansive, naturalistic style heavily influenced by the New Perennial movement and the work of Piet Oudolf.

When I was planning my recent trip to Portland, Loree asked me which gardens I’d like to see. “Dairy Creek Meadow” was the first thing that came out my mouth. I’d been following Craig and Larry’s progress on Craig’s Instagram and had read Loree’s posts (February 2026, July 2024, November 2023) so I had an inkling of what an extraordinary garden the two of them were making.

Aerial view posted by Craig Quirk on his Instagram account on 7/25/2025.

When I got off the plane in Portland, it felt like late winter rather than the early spring we’d been enjoying in Davis. As a result, I had to moderate my expectations of how gardens would look. Indeed, Dairy Creak Meadows was very much in what I would consider winter mode. That’s why you won’t see a lot of lush perennials in my photos below — so many plants were still dormant. But look at the aerial image above from last July when the garden was at its peak: vivid proof that Craig and Larry have created something truly special.

The heart of the garden is a fenced area designed in collaboration with Laura Crockett of Garden Diva Designs, which protects a diverse array of plantings from the local deer population. Laura has been working with Craig and Larry for a number of years; she was also instrumental in bringing Floramagoria to life.

In the middle of the fenced area are two interconnected greenhouses from Hartley Botanic which are surrounded by a massive crevice garden built by renowned rock garden experts Kenton Seth and Chris Dixon. They’re featured in a separate post. Today I’ll show you everything but the greenhouses and crevice garden.

Plantings in front of the house

A lot of driftwood and rocks

I love the little communities of moss and ferns

Saxifraga umbrosa? Saxifrages don’t grow in our climate, so they’re as exotic to me as orchids.

Trillium sp.

View towards the greenhouse (see upcoming post)

Crevice garden in a pot — a nod to the large-scale crevice garden around the greenhouse

And another one, this one mostly sempervivums. I love (LOVE!) this and am thinking of how I can recreate it. Finding thin slabs of rocks is the biggest obstacle.

Inside the fenced area, looking toward the greenhouse. Lots of plants (mostly conifers) waiting to go in the ground.

Another major feature of the fenced area is a bog garden featuring mostly carnivorous plants (and eclectic artwork):

Many of the carnivorous plants in the bog garden...

...are sarracenias...

...pitcher plants native to the U.S.

Monster by James DeRosso

Black flamingos and more artwork by Marcia Donahue

One of the planters moved from Floramagoria

Dinosaur egg planter with horsetail rushes

I don’t know what these metal cylinders are, but they would make great planters

Wider view of one of the bog gardens contained in Corten rounds

Sarracenia with hose bib, a peek at how the bog gardens are watered

Moving outside the fenced area now...

How many people have their own creek?

The side of the house facing the creek. The slope being worked on will become a massive rock garden. Apparently, each wooden post represents a basalt column.

Moss-covered trees and ferns...

...my eyes are not used to that

Mala beads by Berkeley ceramic artist Marcia Donahue. Marcia was in Portland, too, and I got to hang out with her a bit.

Bridge across...

...the creek

Pond on the other side of the creek

Imagine having a pond!

With a sheltered place to sit!

Even the stepping stones to the covered deck...

...are works of art

And finally a teaser of part 2, a look at the greenhouse and crevice garden:

Greenhouse

Imagine sitting here in the middle of winter when it’s cold outside — there’s radiant floor heating

Click here to read my post about the greenhouse and crevice garden at Dairy Creek Meadows.

Flying Saucer comes crashing down

2026-04-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

Just a few days ago, I showed you photos of Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ in full bloom. Between two stems, there were 18 flowers. You can see most of them in this photo:

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ in all its glory

After the peak, the flowers were fading fast, but everything was OK otherwise:

Flowers fading fast

You know where this is going, right? In a year of unpleasant surprises, here’s another one — and it’s one that hurts:

What I found a couple of days after

The tallest stem had snapped off towards the bottom, presumably because of the weight of the flowers.

Not all is lost though. I made a clean cut and will re-root the top part. In warm weather, new roots should form within 4-6 weeks. With any luck, the re-rooted stem will flower normally next year.

I’ll also leave the bottom part in the ground in hopes it will either branch or produce new offsets — more little ‘Flying Saucers’ to plant elsewhere in the garden or give away.

And finally....

A quick update on the greenhouse rat situation: Nothing new to report. I have three traps in the greenhouse now, two electric Rat Zappers and one old-fashioned snap trap with peanut butter as bait. And I still haven’t caught the culprit. I accidentally stepped on the snap trap the other day and it pinched the tip of my shoe, but that’s about the only excitement on that front.

Weird, wonderful (and painful) plants at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory

2026-04-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society (SCSS) went on a field trip to the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory. I’ve been there many times before, but it’s been a while since my last visit and there were quite a few things I hadn’t seen before. That’s probably why I took so many photos — although I seem to take a lot of photos no matter what.

According to their website, “The UC Davis Botanical Conservatory is home to a diverse collection of over 4,000 plant species from around the world, providing a unique space for education, research, and conservation. Our greenhouse showcases rare and unusual plants from tropical rainforests, arid deserts, and carnivorous habitats, offering visitors a hands-on experience with plant adaptations and biodiversity.”

The Botanical Conservatory does a lot of outreach to UC Davis students (check out their webisodes here), but I continue to be surprised by how many regular Davis residents don’t even know it exists — and that includes gardeners.

Consider this post my humble effort to spread the word: The Botanical Conservatory is a very special destination for anybody even remotely interested in plants. Yes, they do have cacti and other succulents in their collections, but those are just a tiny part. There’s so much to see, including oddities you’re not going to find in many other botanical collections in the U.S. Read on to see what I mean.

Our first stop was the staff greenhouse. It’s primarily used for propagation, but it’s also home to their giant water lilies (Victoria amazonica). This Amazonian native is considered one of the most difficult plants to grow outside of its native habitat, but Ryan Booke, a third-year plant sciences major and student employee at the Botanical Conservatory, has managed to successfully cultivate it. This April 2026 article in The California Aggie, UC Davis’s student-run newspaper, has a lot more details if you’re interested.

At the Botanical Conservatory, Victoria amazonica grows in two above-ground swimming pools. The setup looks a bit cobbled together, but it doesn’t matter, because it works. Ryan has definitely figured out all the variables (especially water temperature and pH). What you see in the photo below is one plant. The leaves feel very leathery, and they can carry a surprising amount of weight — you might have seen photos or videos of babies sitting on a leaf (like this one).

The spines look far more fierce than they really are. They’re meant to protect the leaves against herbivorous fish and insects.

For UC Davis students, Victoria amazonica is a great destination for a first date. What makes it even better is that off in the corner, not far from the water lily pool, is a plant that is even more rare. In fact, the Botanical Conservatory is the only place in the U.S. that displays it publicly.

Venomous. Do not open. Keep away. What could be more exciting!

Gympie-gympie sounds like a cute name — the first thing I thought of was a cute stuffed animal — but in reality, it’s something far more sinister. Dendrocnide moroides is a notoriously painful stinging shrub found in Australian rainforests. It’s covered in tiny, silica-based hairs that inject a potent neurotoxin which causes immediate, agonizing burning. People describe the sensation as being burned by acid and electrocuted simultaneously. Apparently, the pain is so extreme that even morphine may not fully relieve it. The sensation can last for weeks, or even months.

A quick Google search unearthed all kinds of stories, including an incident involving a man who used gimpie-gimpie leaves as toilet paper, not realizing what plant he was picking up. The pain was so bad that supposedly he shot himself.

Gympie-gympie seedlings

Here’s a recent Instagram post from the Botanical Conservatory:

Personally, when I see a sign that says “Do not touch,” the first thing I want to do is touch. Fortunately, the gympie-gympie is locked away safely inside a terrarium. Ryan said that whenever they need to handle the plant, they have to don a full biohazard suit.

After the gympie-gympie encounter, the rest of the propagation greenhouse seemed a bit anticlimactic. Not that the plants were dull. Quite the opposite. There are lots of wondrous things to see.

Rocks — or not? The rock-like plants are Pseudolithos. The genus name means “false stone;” it’s easy to see why. These succulent flowering plants are members of the dogbane family (Apocynaceae) native to Somalia, Yemen, and Oman.

Pseudolithos cubiformis from northern Somalia, this one with immature flowers...

...and this one with open flowers

If you want your own Pseudolithos, you can buy them at the upcoming Botanical Conservatory plant sale for $15 (details at the bottom of this post)

These are Euphorbia obesa (aka baseball plant). It’s a dioecious species, i.e. plants are either male or female.

The mesh bag is to prevent unintended cross-pollination with other euphorbia species nearby

This is a Dorstenia, not sure which species, but the flowers are typical for the genus

Dorstenias are in the mulberry family (Moraceae)

Dendrosicyos socotranum, the cucumber tree from the island of Socotra off the coast of Yemen. The Botanical Conservatory is one of the few places (if not the only one) growing this rare plant in the U.S.

You can buy your own for $50

Moving from the staff/propagation greenhouse to the succulent collection greenhouse:

Uebelmannia pectinifera...

...a cactus from southeastern Brazil, makes for a mesmerizing pattern

Monstrose Astrophytum asterias

Eulychnia castanea f. spiralis

Gymnocalycium ambatoense

Parodia magnifica

Euphorbia venenifica (left), Dorstenia gigas on the right

A very old baseball plant (Euphorbia obesa)

Desmidorchis retrospiciens (formerly Caralluma acutangula) is a true oddity. The smell is vaguely unpleasant, designed to attract flies to pollinate the flowers.

The entire plant

Euphorbia virosa, aka the poison tree, is so poisonous that it can cause blindness if its sap gets near the eyes

A larger specimen of the Socotran cucumber tree (Dendrosicyos socotranus) we already saw above in the propagation greenhouse

Deuterocohnia brevifolia, a bromeliad from Argentina and Bolivia

A desert rose (Adenium sp.) in full flower

Moving on into the tropical greenhouse...

Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and Hindu rope (Hoya compacta)

Staghorn fern (Platycerium sp.)

Here it’s all about the foliage:

Variegated philodendron

A super cool philodendron with elongated leaves

Vriesea sp.

Black-leaved begonia

More begonias

And even more begonias

This begonia had fierce-looking (but harmless) spikes on its leaf stems

Cryptanthus sp. (or hybrid)

Cochliostema odoratissimum, an epiphyte from Central America, its leaves...

...and flowers

Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica)

Coffea arabica fruit, i.e. coffee cherries

And another Do Not Touch sign, making me itch to touch the plant

And finally, a few photos of the welwitschias at the Botanical Conservatory. Welwitschia mirabilis is one of the true oddities in the plant world. Native to Namibia in southwestern Africa, this botanical anomaly is often described as a “living fossil.” It can live for over 1,000 years (!!!), but it produces only two leaves that grow continuously from a woody base, eventually splitting into leathery, wind-shredded ribbons.

This gymnosperm, a relative of conifers, ginkgos, and cycads, thrives in one of Earth’s harshest environments by harvesting moisture from coastal fog. Its deep taproot (up to 10 ft. long) and unique physiology allow it to endure extreme aridity.

Each plant only ever produces two leaves. They unspool from the body of the plant like endless ribbons.

Welwitschia mirabilis is dioecious, i.e. there are separate female and male plants

This is a male plant

The pollen is bright orange

These are female cones

The Botanical Conservatory also has one of the few (maybe the only?) variegated welwitschias in the country

It truly is a thing of beauty

The Botanical Conservatory is the source for welwitschias in the U.S. They have been very successful at growing and propagating it. According to Ryan, our guide, they have the largest breeding stock in the country and produce 1000+ seeds a year. They sell two-year welwitschia seedlings for $150. If that seems expensive, bear in mind how rare Welwitschia mirabilis is.

I’m not tempted by welwitschia (been there, done that, failed miserably), but if you are, the Botanical Conservatory will have a plant sale this Saturday, April 25, starting at 9 am.

They will sell welwitschias (of course), but also lots of other interesting plants. Check out this Instagram story for a teaser:

The plant sale will be in the parking lot behind the Botanical Conservatory greenhouses on Kleiber Hall Drive. Arrive well before 9 am for the best selection.

First wave of cactus flowers, mid-April 2026

2026-04-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Early to mid-April is prime time for echinopsis flowers. We’re a bit late this year compared to 2025, but my (im)patient waiting has finally paid off: This past week, we had 15 different echinopsis hybrids flower, some for the first time.

Echinopsis ‘Celeste’
Echinopsis ‘Daydream’
Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’
Echinopsis ‘First Light’
Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’
Echinopsis ‘For Norma’
Echinopsis ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’ [‘Magic Fire’]
Echinopsis ‘Pink Diamond’
Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’
Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’
Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’
Echinopsis ‘Sleeping Beauty’
Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’
Echinopsis ‘Wessner 368’
Echinopsis ‘Yellow’

Southern California cactus grower and hybridizer Brent Wigand, my source for many of these beauties, has thousands of echinopsis in his nursery. He posted videos of his 2026 Megabloom just last week (you can watch them here and here). It’s a spectacle not to be missed.

Because of the relatively cool weather we had in the last few days (highs in the low to mid-70s), the flowers lasted longer than I had expected — some three days. If it had been hotter, they would have been exhausted after a day, two at the most. I’m so happy we got to enjoy an extended flower parade.

Echinopsis ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’

I took a lot of photos, starting in the morning when the cacti were still in the shade, and continuing into the afternoon. Some flowers look noticeably different in the shade vs. full sun. In the shade, the colors tend to be much softer, with pastel tones dominating. In the sun, they get a lot punchier. None of the photos below are filtered or artificially saturated; all I did was increase the contrast when the lighting was too flat.

I often get asked whether and how I fertilize my echinopsis. I use a balanced slow-release fertilizer like Osmocote 14-14-14 in March and again in June (it’s expensive, but a little bit goes a long way), supplemented by an application of bloom fertilizer like Espoma Flower-Tone after each wave of flowers. That seems to do the trick for me.

Note on taxonomy: There’s quite a bit of confusion about Echinopsis vs. Trichocereus. Technically, Echinopsis (and Echinopsis hybrids) are fairly small globe-shaped cacti, while Trichocereus (and Trichocereus hybrids) form tall columnar stems. Trichocereus was lumped into Echinopsis in 1974. In 2012, genetic analysis found that the two genera have divergent lineages, meaning they’re not as closely related as once thought. As a result, Trichocereus was restored as a genus, and it would be more correct taxonomically to refer to hybrids like ‘First Light’ and ‘Flying Saucer’ as Trichocereus. But often the parentage is murky and most likely involves both Echinopsis and Trichocereus (or even other genera), so for the sake of convenience I continue to refer to all of them as Echinopsis hybrids.

On that note, let’s take a look.

----✦----

Echinopsis ‘Celeste’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: Huntington introduction (ISI 2000-5)
[more info on the Schick hybrids available through the Huntington]

Echinopsis ‘Celeste’

Echinopsis ‘Daydream’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: Huntington introduction (ISI 98-7)
[more info on the Schick hybrids available through the Huntington]

Echinopsis ‘Daydream’

Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’

Hybridizer: Brent Wigand, USA

Flower size: 6 inches

Note: To see more of Brent’s plants, visit his group Torchcactus on Facebook.

Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Hybridizer: Mark Dimmitt, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: Echinopsis ‘First Light’ is a perennial favorite. It was created by Tucson plant breeder Mark Dimmitt. It’s a cross between two other hybrids: ‘Diehl’sche Hybride’ (Echinopsis candicans × Echinopsis eyriesii var. grandiflora) and ‘Newlands Orange’ (Echinopsis huascha ‘Gold’ × Echinopsis huascha ‘Red’).

Echinopsis ‘First Light’ just beginning to open up

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’ later the same morning

Echinopsis ‘First Light’ later in the afternoon of day 2...

...all flowers open

The only thing I don’t like is the lamp post on the left

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’

Hybridizer: Hans Britsch, USA

Flower size: 6-9 inches

Note: ‘Flying Saucer’ is a perennial favorite of garden visitors and passers-by (and my wife and me). It’s a hybrid between an unidentified Soehrensia species and Trichocereus schickendantzii. It was created by Hans Britsch at his nursery, Western Cactus Growers, in Vista, California. ‘Flying Saucer’ is by far the best known and most popular of all Echinopsis/Trichocereus hybrids. More info on ‘Flying Saucer’ here.

So many buds, so much promise

Day 1, shorter stem going off first

Day 2, both stems in flower

Day 2

Day 3

Looks like a coronal mass ejection

Native bees love these large flowers

Finally, the party is over

Echinopsis ‘For Norma’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: Huntington introduction (ISI 2015-02)
[more info on the Schick hybrids available through the Huntington]

Echinopsis ‘For Norma’

Echinopsis ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’ [aka ‘Magic Fire’]

Hybridizer: Reinhard Liske, Germany

Flower size: 6 inches

Note: Flowering for me for the first time, this is my 2026 favorite. It’s from the same breeder as ‘Pink Stripes’, my 2025 favorite. The original German name is ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’, but in the U.S. it’s often referred to as ‘Magic Fire’. ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’ has the same parentage as ‘Pink Stripes’ (‘Wörlitz’ × ‘Cantora Gelb’) and is, in fact, from the same seed batch. Two spectacular hybrids created at the same time. What are the odds of that?

Day 1:

Echinopsis ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’, three perfect flowers on day 1

Echinopsis ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’

Day 2:

Two more buds opened on day 2, for a total of 5 big flowers. Because of the moderate daytime temperatures (low 70s), the flowers lasted longer than they otherwise would have.

I know I went a bit overboard with these photos...

...but it’s such a sensational flower

Echinopsis ‘Pink Diamond’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: Huntington introduction (ISI 97-23)
[more info on the Schick hybrids available through the Huntington]

Echinopsis ‘Pink Diamond’

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’

Hybridizer: Reinhard Liske, Germany

Flower size: 6 inches

Note: ‘Wörlitz’ × ‘Cantora Gelb’. Flowered last year for the first time and was my 2025 favorite. From the same seed batch as ‘Liskes Feuerzauber’, my 2026 favorite (see above).

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’

Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’

Hybridizer: Harry Johnson, USA

Flower size: 3-4 inches

Note: Harry Johnson was a Southern California breeder who created a lot of different hybrids in many different colors from the 1930s through the 1960s. He died in 1987 at the age of 95. Here is an interesting write-up about him. Johnson’s work was the basis for many hybrids created by Bob Schick starting in the 1970s.

Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’

Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’

Hybridizer: Southfield Nurseries, UK

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: Southfield Nurseries in Morton, Lincolnshire have created dozens of echinopsis hybrids named after the nearby town of Bourne.

Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’

Echinopsis ‘Sleeping Beauty’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 4-5 inches

Note: Huntington introduction (ISI 97-28). Very fragrant; probably the most fragrant hybrid I have.
[more info on the Schick hybrids available through the Huntington]

Echinopsis ‘Sleeping Beauty’

Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: Huntington introduction (ISI 97-34)
[more info on the Schick hybrids available through the Huntington]

Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’

Echinopsis ‘Wessner 368’

Hybridizer: Andreas Wessner, Germany

Flower size: 3-4 inches

Note: Andreas Wessner’s website: https://kakteen-shop.com/. I was debating whether this hybrid is special enough; it does look like so many other hybrids, and the flowers are on the small side. Garden real estate is at a premium, and each plant has to earn its keep. The jury’s still out on this one...

Echinopsis ‘Wessner 368’

Echinopsis ‘Yellow’

Hybridizer: ???

Flower size: 3 inches

Note: I received this plant from a friend. It’s fairly basic as far as echinopsis hybrids go (it doesn’t even have a real name), but I want to include it here to demonstrate how the flower color can change from one day to the next. The petal shape is nice, too. I’ll hang on to this one for a while; a clump with multiple flowers could be very nice.

Day 1, pure clear yellow

Day 2, mango orange

Finally, here’s a photo of the sidewalk bed where much of this action has been happening:

Except it doesn’t look quite like that. There’s a streetlight right in the middle:

I can’t make the lamp post go away in real life, but I can in photos thanks to the magic of Photoshop.

Long overdue visit to Justin's garden

2026-04-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, I caught up with my friend Justin. He lives in Pinole, about an hour away, but for one reason or another, I hadn’t seen his garden in 10 months. High time for an update. (If you want to see what Justin’s garden looked like in previous years, check out these posts: June 2021 | June 2022 | June 2023 | October 2023.)

The Agave applanata near the driveway has grown dramatically. It’s over 6 ft. wide and tall now (for comparison, Justin is 6'3"). Justin believes it will flower soon. I think he wants the space back so he can plant something else (I can relate).

Agave applanata on the left, Agave horrida on the right looking downright puny

Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave titanota on the left, Agave applanata in the middle, Agave horrida on the right

What this corner looked like in June 2021

Now it's f***ing personal

2026-04-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

The other day I walked into my greenhouse, perfectly relaxed and certainly not expecting anything bad. Imagine how p***ed I was when this greeted me:

It got worse from there...

...much worse:

Nothing left here!

Weirdly enough, nothing else was eaten, just these Astrophytum cactus — and there definitely are other tasty morsels in the greenhouse. I don’t “collect” a lot of plants, but I did collect these astrophytums.

I knew immediately who the culprit was. It’s always the same one. It starts with an r, has an a in the middle, and ends with a t. Let me spell it out: r-a-t. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you might know that rats are my arch nemesis. They’ve done more damage in our garden over the years than anything else. Not just ornamentals: More than ¾ of the vegetables and herbs my wife planted in recent weeks have been gnawed down to stubs.

Poison traps aren’t an option because of Stella, and I don’t love the idea of live traps: What am I going to do with a trapped rat? Drive it to the county line and set it loose?

So I did what I typically do: Set out our electronic rat trap. When a rat steps on the metal plate inside the contraption, it gets killed by a high-voltage electric shock. All I have to do is dump the lifeless carcass in the garbage without ever having to touch it — no guts, no gore. The model we have (Victor M2) is even Wi-Fi enabled and comes with an app that tells me when a rat has been killed. I know, a bit ludicrous, but that’s what it does.

When I got up the next morning, I immediately checked the app. No kill. I was disappointed but not surprised. Rats are exceedingly wary of new objects in their environment so it takes them a little while to get used to the presence of a trap.

When I made it to the greenhouse later that morning, this is what I found:

That’s the same hollowed-out cactus you saw above, plus a nice addition. If that isn’t a middle finger to yours truly, I don’t know what is. F**k you, smart boy. You can’t fool me with your stupid trap.

Of course that’s silly anthropomorphizing, but it makes me feel better, so please bear with me.

I put my remaining astrophytums in a tray, including two that have some damage but may grow out of it, and hope to keep them safe from the voracious fangs.

Please keep your fingers crossed that I’ll catch the f**r soon. Sorry for the swear words, but that’s the mood I’m in.

Day 3 update: I added another electronic rat trap (we have two).

Day 4 update: Still no kills.

Little Prince of Oregon: a look behind the scenes of a wholesale nursery

2026-04-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of my Easter trip to Portland was a visit to Little Prince of Oregon, a wholesale nursery in Aurora, south of Portland. Their plants are in garden centers and retail nurseries all over the West Coast, easily recognizable by their colorful plant tags featuring a crowned frog:

Usually wholesale operations aren’t set up for visitors, especially for Joe Blows like myself, but Loree worked her magic and arranged for a tour with production manager Mike Hicks and propagation assistant Ann Amato (who is also a personal friend of both of us). For most people, visiting a wholesale nursery would be the very definition of boring — lots and lots of plants, mostly small, crammed together on tables or the floor. But for plant nerds, it’s like getting to see the inner workings of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

Living Little Prince sign — a perfect use for sempervivums

(Left to right) Production manager Mike Hicks, yours truly, Ann, and Max from Oakland (see his and his husband Justin’s garden here). Photo courtesy of Loree.

Close-up of the letter C

Little Prince of Oregon (LPO) was founded in 1997 by Ketch de Kanter and his friend Brett Francis. The name itself goes back to de Kanter’s childhood; his father often joked that Ketch’s mother treated him like a “little prince,” and the nickname stuck.

What started as a modest operation heavy on common landscape shrubs and groundcovers has evolved over nearly 30 years into an impressive business with almost 100 greenhouses covering over 175,000 square feet, including a new 14,400 sq. ft. production facility completed in early 2025. In 2024, LPO was honored as the Operation of the Year by Greenhouse Grower magazine, underscoring its status as an industry leader.

The days of boring landscape shrubs are long gone. Today, LPO is known for growing plants that customers cannot find elsewhere, over 1,500 different varieties in total. This includes 16 separate product lines, each with a witty name like Fit for a King (rare and unusual plants), Lords of the Fly (carnivorous plants), Little Prince of Darkness (dark-leafed plants), Prince of Paradise (tropical accent plants), Blades of Glory (ornamental grasses), Cliff Hangers (trailing plants for walls or containers), FootPrints (groundcovers that tolerate foot traffic), and Beau Château (sophisticated house plants). The nursery emphasizes a rigorous integrated pest management (IPM) program using beneficial organisms and biological controls like predatory insects to produce healthy, sustainable plants and reduce reliance on traditional chemical controls.

Seven of the 99 greenhouses

The clouds were glorious

If I ever own acreage, I want a utility vehicle like this

The first greenhouse we visited was the fern house, tended by Ann. I love ferns, and I’ve always envied gardeners in more moderate climates who can grow them with ease. Fortunately, Little Prince of Oregon grows several dryland ferns that should do well in my climate, like Cheilanthes lanosa, Cheilanthes argentea, Cheilanthes sieberi (actually C. distans), and Anemia mexicana.

Loree and Mike in deep conversation, no doubt about ferns

Max, me (turned away), Ann, and Mike (photo courtesy of Loree)

See the hoses on the ground? Everything is watered by hand. This allows for better monitoring and more precise care than automated systems.

The German in me loves the orderly way the plant tags were lined up

Silver cloak fern (Cheilanthes argentea), a dryland fern I can grow

Alpine water fern (Blechnum penna-marina), “alpine” is a good clue that it’s not for me

Crested hart’s tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium ‘Cristata’)

Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

Poison rock fern (Cheilanthes sieberi); I have no idea why it’s called that, but it handles dry conditions well and will soon be growing in my garden

Japanese painted fern (Athyrium nipponicum), can’t remember which cultivar, but I can’t grow it anyway

Wood fern (Dryopteris sp.), LPO has 14 different kinds

Maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes)

Slender-crested male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas ‘Linearis Polydactyla’)

Arching Japanese holly fern (Cyrtomium fortunei var. clivicola)

East Indian holly fern (Arachniodes simplicior ‘Variegata’)

Mexican flowering fern (Anemia mexicana). I hadn’t heard of it before, but I’m going to try it my garden.

The Lords of the Fly line of carnivorous plants

Trumpet pitchers (Sarracenia sp.) should theoretically grow in my climate, but I don’t want to be responsible for plants that need to be kept moist at all times

Assorted butterworts (Pinguicula sp.). They look so cool, but I know that trying to grow them would only lead to heartbreak.

Butterwort cultivar

Pinguicula cyclosecta...

...looking almost otherworldly

Planter Poppers, “Mix -n- Match to design your own planter”

Even though it looks like a fern, it’s not. It’s a club moss (Selaginella sp.).

This one is a club moss, too (Selaginella erythropus ‘Sanguinea’)

Creeping saxifrage (Saxifraga stolonifera)

It spreads vigorously via its threadlike red stolons. It likes water, so it wouldn’t get very far in my garden.

The LPO website lists 23 different begonias, but there are more in the greenhouses that haven’t made it onto the website yet. I love begonias for their variety of color and leaf shape, but they aren’t the easiest to grow in a dry-summer climate — and most of them hate winter cold.

Begonias...

...so...

...many...

...begonias!

One of the strangest begonias I’ve ever seen, Begonia ferox. The leaf surface is covered with pointy spikes that look fierce but really aren’t.

As luck would have it, LPO introduced an indoor plant line roughly 18 months before COVID-19 hit, positioning them perfectly for the subsequent boom. As people stayed home during the pandemic, interest in houseplants skyrocketed, causing LPO to invest even more heavily to meet the intense demand for tropicals and succulents. In March 2020, when many retail stores were forced to close, LPO launched a program allowing retailers to sell directly from the LPO online inventory, with garden centers receiving 20% of the sale.

Predictably, demand for houseplants declined after the pandemic, but LPO is still growing a good selection of plants that stand out from the typical offerings you see.

Stromanthe sanguinea ‘Triostar’

Philodendron ‘Ring of Fire’

Philodendron ‘Prince of Orange’

Philodendron ‘Sun Red’

Production manager Mike Hicks is a true plant nerd. Instead of simply growing more of what sells well, he takes chances and brings in plants most buyers haven’t seen before. Good examples are these two new aeonium introductions. I’ve seen many aeoniums, but I’ve never seen any quite like these. Hopefully they’ll make it into retail channels soon.

Aeonium ‘Wheels of Fascination’

Aeonium ‘Wheels of Captivation’

I love seeing the patterns formed by hundreds of plants, all with tags oriented in the same direction:

My favorite part of our visit came toward the end when we entered this room. This is LPO’s plant tag library. Each cardboard box contains labels for a specific plant variety. So many plant tags. Can you even imagine? If we’d had more time, I would have taken a much closer look. What can I say, I love tags.

Thousands upon thousands of plastic pots waiting to be filled:

At the end of our tour, Mike showed us how cuttings and seedlings are placed in pots:

A hopper dispenses the soil mix into pots within a tray. A brush levels the soil, ensuring the density is consistent across all pots.

A mechanical plate with pegs (a “dibbler”) presses down to create a uniform hole in the center of the soil

One cutting or seedling is placed in each hole; after that, a plant tag is inserted in each pot

The trays with the filled and labeled pots are loaded onto carts for transport to the greenhouses

In the shipping department, rolling racks with plant orders are waiting to be loaded onto delivery trucks or picked up by customers

A typical order

Little Prince also sells variety packs of succulents, 32 to a flat with 8 different varieties

Here are some interesting articles on Little Prince of Oregon if you want to learn more:

Leading Women of Horticulture: Alexa Patti [Head Grower] of Little Prince of Oregon Nursery (Greenhouse Management, March 2026)
Up Close with Little Prince of Oregon Nursery (Greenhouse Grower, October 2024)
Little Prince Is Making a Big Impact in Horticulture (Greenhouse Grower, August 2021)

LPO production manager Mike Hicks and his wife Megan Big John, also a horticultural professional, are plant lovers of the highest order and have created a spectacular garden at their home in West Lin, Oregon. Check out these videos by Donna Avallone of Over the Fence and Loree’s blog post:

How They Made a Tropical Paradise , Part 1 (Donna’s video)
PNW Margaritaville Garden, Part 2 (Donna’s video)
The Big John Hick Oasis (Loree’s blog post)

From Portland to Pinole

2026-04-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been posting much in the last ten days. But it’s not because I’ve been lazy. Quite the opposite; I’ve been busy. Over Easter, I spent four jam-packed days in Portland, touring nurseries and gardens, shopping at Hortlandia, the giant spring plant sale organized by the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, and hanging out with a great group of plant peeps. And a couple of days after I got back, I visited my friend Justin in Pinole, about an hour from here.

I have plenty of blog material for weeks to come, but it’ll take a little time for me to edit my photos and find the right words. Here are a few teaser photos to tide you over.

PORTLAND

Driving all over the Portland area for four days

My friend Loree Bohl, the author of the groundbreaking book Fearless Gardening (sadly out of print now) and the brain behind the popular blog danger garden, had organized a Spring Fling for a bunch of plant geeks from California and Oregon. The four days I spent in Portland went by in a blur, but we covered a lot of territory. Head on over to Loree’s blog for a summary of our adventures.

Here are some teaser photos I took:

Four of the 99 (!) greenhouses at Little Prince of Oregon, a large wholesale nursery south of Portland

Fern house at Little Prince

I love the patterns created by hundreds of plants

Aeonium ‘Wheels of Captivation’

The private gardens we visited ranged in size from 4,000 square feet to 30 acres:

Garden of mosaic artist Jeffrey Bale

Jeffrey found these pieces while living in India

Agaves in the garden of Heather Tucker and Greg Zwart

Felony Flats Botanical Garden, the private garden of Eric Peterson and Robert Brigman

Garden of John Kuzma and Kathleen Halme

Rancho Cistus, Sean Hogan and Preston Pew’s private garden at Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island

Bella Madrona, the storied garden of Geof Beasley

I’d first visited Bella Madrona during the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling, and I was excited to go back

We also saw two outstanding crevice gardens, both created by Kenton Seth, North America’s leading crevice garden expert and co-author of the book The Crevice Garden:

Crevice garden at Rancho Cistus

Crevice garden at Dairy Creek Meadows...

...Craig Quirk and Larry Neil’s garden...

...outside of Portland

And, hands down, the two most spectacular private greenhouses I’ve ever seen:

Craig Quirk and Larry Neil’s greenhouse surrounded by crevice gardens

Inside Craig Quirk and Larry Neil’s greenhouse

Eric Peterson’s masterpiece, designed and built by himself — he even made most of the stained-glass windows

Inside Eric Peterson’s greenhouse

I was staying at Loree and her husband Andrew’s home, so I had plenty of opportunity to explore and photograph the danger garden:

The shade pavilion is still in winter mode, acting as a greenhouse for plants that need protection against the rain and freezing temperatures

Shade pavilion on the right, garage in the center

Loree has an ever-expanding collection of ferns

Loropetalum chinense and Agave ovatifolia

Agave ovatifolia and Yucca rostrata next to the front door

The basement becomes a garden room in the winter

As I mentioned earlier, there’s much more to come.

PINOLE

Davis to Pinole

A couple of days after I got back from Portland, I made the 50+ minute drive to Pinole to hang out with my friend Justin. I hadn’t seen his garden in a while, and I was eager to see how things looked.

Justin’s Agave applanata is now 6 feet tall and wide — Justin for scale (he’s 6’3"). Also notice how small Agave horrida seems in comparison.

Lots of spring color

Agave shawii has the most colorful marginal teeth

Impressive clump of seed-grown Agave utahensis var. eborispina

Echinocereus × roetteri

Justin planted a variety of Calochortus last year, and some are flowering now

I took more photos of Justin’s garden and greenhouse and will have a dedicated post next week.

RELATED POSTS

Garden update, early April 2026

2026-04-02T00:30:00.000-07:00

If you’re like me, you have a hard time believing it’s April already. April!

I haven’t started any major projects this year, but it’s still worth taking a quick look at the garden before spring is over for good. The California poppies are already fading and going to seed, so summer isn’t that far off.

View through the ponytail palms towards the house; the front door is to the right

Bed next to the front door

The front door is on the right. New solar spotlights from Costco, uplighting the ponytail palms and the Aloe vaombe at night.

Most of the aloes are done blooming for the year, but there’s never a shortage of other flowers. Several of my hechtias have started to bloom — a bit early, it seems.

Hechtia argentea produces almost comically tall inflorescences. The flowers themselves are white, tiny, and insignificant.

Hechtia lanata, on the other hand, has a pretty showy inflorescence: short and fluffy

This Hechtia lanata has been in the ground for 5+ years, but this is the first time it’s flowered

Deuterocohnia brevifolia is blooming, too. The flowers are easy to miss because they’re almost the same color as the leaves and they don’t stick out very far.

Geum ‘Scarlet Tempest’ has been a stellar performer for 5+ years. It flowers profusely, and for a long time.

I’ve never had much luck with staghorn ferns, but when I saw this one (Platycerium bifurcatum ‘Netherlands’) at a local Ace Hardware for $17.99, I decided to try again. So far so good, although it’s only been three weeks.

View from the front porch

Along the sidewalk:

Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa) is covered with yellow flowers at this time of year. It’s a vigorous grower and needs to be reined in occasionally, otherwise it would take over this corner of the sidewalk bed.

A bit hard to see, but Mangave ‘Foxy Lady’ is flowering. Not just the main rosette, but several of the pups, too. I fear the whole clump will die, as mangaves are wont to do after they bloom.

Flowering for several months now, Grevillea ‘Scarlet Sprite’

Mangave ‘Permanent Wave’ (top), with Ruschia lineolata ‘Nana’ on the left and sundrops (Oenothera serrulata ‘Southern Belle’ ) on the right. The sundrops will be in flower from now until fall.

Agave oteroi ‘Filigree’ from our January trip to Santa Barbara

As I mentioned earlier, most aloes are done blooming, but Aloe ‘Yemeni Gold’, a hybrid from Aloes in Wonderland, is ramping up

Speaking of ramping up: Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ is getting ready for its first wave of flowers (this is what it looked like last year on April 3)

Rounding the corner of the sidewalk bed:

As I mentioned earlier, the California poppies are on their way out. I’ll rip them out before they become too straggly.

Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × titanota, a Nick Deinhart hybrid, is looking so good that I fear it will bloom (and then die) in the near future

A few ‘White Linen’ poppies have reverted to orange. Usually, I remove them, but this year I was too lazy.

Aloe marlothii, which took 11 years to flower, is done now

Moving on down the sidewalk bed

Yucca rostrata on the left. It bloomed last year for the first time, and it looks like it’s getting ready to split into two heads.

Agave parryi and dogweed (Thymophylla pentachaeta)

Alyogyne ‘Ruth Bancroft’ has started its spectacular flowering season (more info on this Australian shrub here)

Alyogyne ‘Ruth Bancroft’ and Eucalyptus macrocarpa

Eucalyptus macrocarpa and Aloe ‘Erik the Red’ (done flowering)

Far end of the sidewalk bed

One lone aloe still blooming, Aloe striata × betsileensis, a Nick Deinhart hybrid

Moving into the backyard:

The new pot clusters in the backyard did well in the winter

This is Stella’s domain

The only winter loss was Euphorbia lactea ‘Dragon Bones’. It rotted. I replaced it with a good-sized cutting from a monstrose apple cactus (Cereus repandus). It’s definitely hardier than the euphorbia.

This puya has been a mystery. Now it’s blooming, with truly odd but weirdly wonderful bluish flowers.

I was finally able to ID it as Puya spathacea

Another cool flower on the left. It is...

...Aechmea recurvata ‘Aztec Gold’. The flower will last for 6+ months. After that, the flowering rosette will die, but there’s a good-size pup already to take the place of the mother plant.

A few photos of the succulent mounds in the backyard:

Fan aloe (Kumara plicatilis) is flowering now, one inflorescence per head

Closer photo of Kumara plicatilis

Bed #1. The agave is A. ‘Baccarat’.

Variegated cow’s horn agave (Agave bovicornuta ‘Holstein’)

Bed #2

It took a few years, but the ‘Slim’ bottlebrush next to the vegetable stock tank is finally living up to its potential: narrow and tall, and very floriferous. In the nursery business, it’s still sold under its old botanical name, Callistemon viminalis ‘Slim’, although all callistemons except for four were moved to the genus Melaleuca in 2009 based on DNA evidence.

Melaleuca viminalis ‘Slim’

Melaleuca viminalis ‘Slim’ from the other side of the fence

The next big event in the garden will be the first wave of cactus flowers. In a couple of weeks or so.

Collector's garden in Sacramento with a Southwest flair

2026-03-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my friend Theresa had an open garden for the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society. I’d visited before (and I posted about it here) but every time I pull into her driveway, I go “wow.” It’s not only the size of her property — almost two acres, enormous by my suburban standards — but also the architecture of her house.

This is her front door:

A side patio with her collection of potted mesembs:

As you can see, Theresa is serious about mesembs, especially conophytums. The latter range from small to tiny, and you’d think that they’re easy to kill, considering how fragile they look. Let’s put it this way: It wouldn’t take me long to kill them, but Theresa has figured out what their cultivation needs are.

Theresa and her husband built their Southwest-inspired home 30+ years ago. It would look right at home in Arizona or New Mexico, but in Northern California, you almost never see this style of architecture. The burnt orange color makes a fantastic backdrop for plants, as you’ll see below.

The pool...

...is pretty dreamy, too!

The nooks and crannies near the house are in the same Southwest style

That’s an outdoor shower there on the left

Koi pond and patio covered with solar panels

Spiral cactus (Cereus forbesii f. spiralis)

Behind the pool is Theresa’s little greenhouse:

Greenhouse on the right (this photo is from my October 2020 post)

A few photos of potted plants outside the greenhouse:

Bonsai’d Yucca gloriosa

Crested aeonium

Perfectly grown dudleyas

Aloe parvula

The greenhouse isn’t large, but it’s packed with small treasures, most of which I know very little about:

Tylecodon buchholzianus

Conophytum wettsteinii

Adromischus marianiae

More conophytums

Medusoid euphorbia

Aloe laeta, a beautiful but tender species from Madagascar

Homalocephala polycephala, the Mojave cottontop cactus (very hard to keep alive in cultivation)

Rebutia rauschii

Tephrocactus bonnieae (formerly Puna bonnieae)

Thelocactus hexaedrophorus

Echinocereus (flowering) and other cacti

Mammillaria bocasana

Collection of Ariocarpus, one of the most sought-after cactus genus

Some ariocarpus are so, hmmmm, curious looking that only a collector could love them

Back of the greenhouse in the photo above

Massive clump of aeonium; ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) on the right

Aloes, ice plants, aeoniums, ocotillo, and more

Opuntia gomei ‘Old Mexico’

Back patio, garage on the right (behind the tree):

Back patio

Urn orchids (Bletilla striata)

The area next to the back patio and garage is a succulent garden, mostly cacti but a couple of aloes as well:

A variety of cactus, including several forms of prickly pear

The clump on the right is Opuntia cochenillifera (garage partially visible in the back)

Aloidendron ramosissimum, with a totem pole cactus (monstrose form of Lophocereus schottii) in the front

Moving farther away from the house:

The largest Mangave ‘Tooth Fairy’ I’ve ever seen, surrounded by Penstemon heterophyllus ‘Margarita BOP’

Mangave ‘Freckles and Speckles’ bulbil. It broke off when I touched it, so I got to take it home.

In addition to succulents, Theresa, a master gardener, also grows a wide range of perennials and shrubs, including many California natives. My attention, however, immediately went to the flamboyant exotics, like this one:

Grevillea ‘Kings Rainbow’

Something that attracted a great deal of attention was what’s left of a bloomed-out octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana). Its flower stalk was packed with bulbils, small plantlets that are genetic clones of the mother plant:

Agave vilmoriniana flower stalk with thousands of bulbils, another smaller specimen of A. vilmoriniana on the right

Several visitors took bulbils home with them

In nature, the bulbils stay on the flower stalk until they’ve reached a viable size, then fall off and root into the ground. Even if only one in ten bulbils ends up surviving, that’s still a huge success for the plant.

In cultivation, bulbils root readily — many of them already have rudimentary roots when you pop them off the flower stalk.

You could open a business selling nothing but A. vilmoriniana

Below is another A. vilmoriniana in Theresa’s garden, with the remains of an old flower stalk on the right. Theresa has had multiple generations over the years. A. vilmoriniana is one of the most garden-friendly agave species; the leaves are soft and bendy, and there are no stiff terminal spines or marginal teeth.

Soon the folks who took home bulbils will have their own octopus agave growing in their garden. And when it flowers and produces bulbils, they can share the wealth with their friends and neighbors. Truly, the gift that keeps on giving.

Kyle's garden, late March 2026 (back)

2026-03-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I showed you my friend Kyle’s front yard in Sacramento. If you missed it, click here to check it out.

Now let’s walk into the back.

The Cécile Brünner rose above the gate to the backyard was still in bloom. This is an old-fashioned polyantha rose bred in France and introduced in 1881. It’s prized for its abundance of fragrant flowers. It doesn’t bloom for long, but when it does, it’s the center of attention.

I missed the peak of the aloe bloom by a couple of weeks, but there was still plenty to see:

The purple flowers on the left are from Alyogyne huegelii, a floriferous shrub from Western Australia

The burgundy-colored leaves on the left are Hechtia ‘Wildfire’, always a standout even if its barbed leaves draw blood when you get too close

Looking from the back patio towards the fence on the south side; the gate to the backyard is around the corner on the right

With a garden as special as this, Kyle has every reason to smile

Easter lily cactus (Echinopsis oxygona) getting ready to flower just in time for Easter

Kyle has a lot of potted plants, but since they’re in matching or complementary containers, the overall look is neat and orderly — something I should try to be better at

That Alyogyne huegelii again

Mangave ‘Silver Fox’ flowers

Kyle didn’t escape this weird winter unscathed either (and neither did I)

The plant stands above are actually bed posts that Kyle found by the curb while walking the dogs. They fit in perfectly.

Dudleyas growing in a pocket of soil between two rocks

Mangave ‘Purple People Eater’

Wide view towards the house

Wide view towards the office shed in the northeast corner

Irises, too. Kyle’s style is the very definition of fusion gardening.

Fence on the north side

In front of the office shed

Ferocactus glaucescens blooming already

Dasylirion longissimum

One of the first bread poppies to bloom

And finally some night-time photos courtesy of Kyle. When I visit other people’s gardens, I usually see them in the daytime. But after dark, they assume a different kind of magic altogether.

I’ll have another update on Kyle’s garden in late spring when the annuals and perennials are at their peak. At the rate things are unfolding this year, it won’t be long!

Kyle's garden, late March 2026 (front)

2026-03-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ve seen photos of my friend Kyle’s garden in Sacramento. (If not, click here to check out my previous posts.) Kyle is the most active gardener I know, continuously tweaking and refining. I get to see his garden quite frequently, and yet, every time I visit, I notice things that hadn’t been there before. No garden is ever finished, not really, and that’s doubly true for Kyle. He has boundless energy, and it flows right into his garden.

I caught up with Kyle last week and took a bunch of new photos. I was going to squeeze them into one post, but there are so many it makes more sense to spread them out over two posts.

This post is about the front yard. But before we dive in, take a look at this picture I took in December 2022:

December 2022

Keep this photo in mind as you look at the pictures that follow.

March 20, 2026

Kyle has gradually increased the elevation along the perimeter of the front yard by raising the soil level and adding tons (literally) of rocks. This has created multiple planting surfaces — not just horizontally, but also on the sloping sides. The rock placement produces many different pockets — ideal for succulents that naturally grow at an angle, including dudleyas, hechtias, and some agaves.

You can never have too many golden barrels

Agave oteroi ‘Filigree’

Mangave ‘Red Wing’

Mangave ‘Pineapple Express’

Aloe aculeata

Mangave ‘Tooth Fairy’

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Kyle has added a lot of different companion plants that complement the succulents, for example Plectranthus neochilus ‘Mike’s Fuzzy Wuzzy’

Agave titanota ‘Lion’s Mane’

Hechtia argentea growing vertically in a crack between the rocks — like a giant spider

Just one small vignette...

...but check out the plant variety!

Echeveria cante

Over the last few years, the front lawn has shrunk considerably. To use a somewhat tortured metaphor: If the lawn originally was a family-size pizza, so many bites have been taken out of it that it’s now just a mini pizza. The latest “nibbles” are the meadow areas you see below; Kyle wanted to make space for flowering annuals native to California and beyond. This is the first year, so he doesn’t really know how this experiment will shake out, but it looks very promising.

Here’s another area that used to be lawn. Now it’s a great place to sit and look at the garden.

The master of his domain

The most recent changes in the front yard are along the side that faces the neighbor’s driveway. Kyle extended the rock border and created a strip for more succulents and companion plants. On the neighbor’s side of the rock border he planted three maiden grasses (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’) that will act as a visual screen and give him and his wife some sense of privacy as they grow taller.

Maiden grasses (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’) for screening

More room for plants

Kyle sent me some in-progress photos of this project. This gives you a better idea of the amount of work (and materials) involved.

Before

The grasses were moved more to the right

Extending this bed meant redoing the irrigation

Irrigation installed

Rocks placed

View from the other side

Completed

From the other side

Kyle’s garden continues to be a big inspiration for me. His energy has rubbed off on me in no small measure. As a result, I’m doing things in my own garden that I might otherwise not do, like constantly analyzing what’s there, removing plants that no longer bring me joy, adding more rocks (you can never have enough rocks). In other words, not settling, but always striving to create something better. That’s huge, and I’m very grateful to Kyle for that extra push he’s given me.

Check out this post for a look at Kyle’s backyard in late March 2026.