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20 late afternoon garden photos

I needed a quick post for this week as I will be in North Carolina for our family reunion at the Outer Banks. So before heading out with the wife and kids for a 3 AM departure, I went outside the day before and shot some late afternoon garden photos. Likely the most popular request I get on my blog contact page from readers is for more pictures of my garden. With the rainy, warm winter and with the high heat and humidity we have had seemingly all summer so far, the garden looks great right now. Southern California is not an easy place to grow picture-perfect plants. Our tap water is high in total dissolved solids, which most plants don’t like. We get wet, sometimes cold winters, which makes many plants suffer through winter. Plus we get a few hot and dry Santa Ana events that can nuke an entire garden of tropicals. With all that being said, I feel pretty good about how my plants are looking at this time of year. The best months in the garden for me are July, August and September, so of course that means this is also the best time to take garden photos.

I’ll start the 20 garden photo tour in the front yard.

#1 – Dracaena draco towering over a few different species of Encephalartos and very happy Dudleya brittonii.

Geiger Garden - Dracaena draco

#2 – Dypsis leptocheilos x decaryi and Phoenix canariensis dominate this garden photo.

Geiger Garden - Dypsis leptocheilos x decaryi Front Yard

#3 – Palm trees, aloes, agaves, cycads and bromeliads are planted throughout my yard. Representatives from each can be found below.

Geiger Garden - Front Yard

#4 – My Copernicia fallaensis is getting large. Can you see the Kalanchoe beharensis peaking from behind the plumeria and hibiscus? It’s about 10 feet tall now.

Geiger Garden - Copernicia fallaensis

#5 – Copernicia rigida centered with Aloe suzannae to the right and a Parajubaea to the left.

Geiger Garden - Aloe suzannae and Copernicia rigida

Now on to the backyard to show the final 15 of the 20 total garden photos.

#6 – A walkway that leads to the back yard that is lined with many different plants. The aloe is a single-stemmed Aloe rupestris.

Geiger Garden - Side Yard

#7 – My marble Buddha I bought in Myanmar sitting next to a Dypsis albofarinosa.

Geiger Garden - Marble Buddha

#8 – Another Dypsis leptocheilos x decaryi in my yard. The smaller palm to the right is an unknown species of Dypsis call “Big Red.” The sun illuminating it from behind makes it look yellow.

Geiger Garden - Dypsis leptocheilos x decaryi

#9 – An old Coccothrinax crinita with an agave garden behind it.

Geiger Garden - Coccothrinax crinita

#10 – A closer look at that agave bed shown above. The choice plant here for me is the Ravenea xerophila that is just now starting to trunk.

Geiger Garden - Agaves and Ravenea xerophila

#11 – The sun was hitting these Neoregelia carcharodon bromeliads perfectly to the point it made them glow.

Geiger Garden - Agave Pots and Carcharodons

#12 – Old Man of Andes Cactus (Cephalocereus senilis).

Geiger Garden - Old Man of Andes Cactus

#13 – The Balinese goddess of prosperity Dewi Sri with her New Caledonia palm friends. I still haven’t been able to plant out the bare hillside you see in the back. That requires a concrete pathway and a few small retaining walls.

Geiger Garden - Bromeliads and Dewi Sri

#14 – Poolside.

Geiger Garden - Pool Side

#15 – Another poolside garden photo. The dominant palm is of course Bismarckia nobilis. The large blue leaves can be seen from just about everywhere in the backyard.

Geiger Garden - Pool and Agave Pots

#16 – Aloe bainesii and various blue Encephalartos.

Geiger Garden - Aloe bainesii and Encephalartos

#17 – One of my favorite views in the yard. It just keeps getting better as plants grow and fill in.

Geiger Garden - Backyard Panoramic

#18 – A closer view of the Dypsis sp. ‘Bef’ that you can see on the far left in the garden photo above. The ceramic pot you see has been sitting there empty for a few years now. I can’t seem to get anything planted into it.

Geiger Garden - Dypsis Sp. 'Bef'

#19 – Some really beautiful and rare bromeliads. Bromeliads have become one of my newer passions.

Geiger Garden - Bromeliads at Sunset

#20 – Copernicia prunifera with an Encephalartos friderici-guilielmi showing off its new flush. I love the look of aloes and cycads with palm trees.

Geiger Garden - Copernicia prunifera

Thats it: 20 garden photos. Truth be told, it only took me about 10 minutes to run around the yard and take these quick pics. I wish getting two kids with ADHD to pack were so easy.

Related posts:

  1. A closeup view of a Southern California rainy day garden
  2. Tour of Gardens by the Bay in Singapore
  3. The amazing plants of Nong Nooch Gardens
  4. The exceptional garden of Bob De Jong

Tagged: Agaves, Aloes, Bromeliads, Cactus, Cycads, Dypsis, Flowering Perennials, Flowering Shrubs, Flowering Trees, Garden Art, Palm Trees, Rock Garden, Tropical Plants

August 10, 2017

Comments

  1. Paulette Nelson says

    August 10, 2017 at 3:56 PM

    Gorgeous!!!

    Reply
  2. hb says

    August 11, 2017 at 12:07 PM

    Magnificent garden, thank you for the photographic tour. You have so many special plants grown very well. The Copernicia fallaensis is a gem, and the tree Aloes an excellent contrast with the palms. How old is your Aloe barbarae? Most of the big old specimens at the Huntington have been taken down–rot.

    Reply
    • Len Geiger says

      August 11, 2017 at 1:12 PM

      Thank you for the kind words. I bought the tree aloe (correct name is now Aloidendron barberae – hard to keep up) as a 36 inch boxed plant in 2005. It grows pretty fast with all the water it gets. No fear of rot due to DG soil I have.

      Reply
      • SF says

        February 20, 2018 at 9:13 AM

        Beautiful. Is the soil strictly DG or a mix of DG and organic material? I am planning similar plantings and want to get the soil right. Thanks!

        Reply
        • Len Geiger says

          February 20, 2018 at 9:17 AM

          It was inorganic DG as it was a new lot at time. Over years I have been amending, but after first few inches it is just DG. Great for drainage, but does require a lot of fertilizer.

          Reply
  3. Stan says

    August 11, 2017 at 2:04 PM

    All looking great Len. I like the palms with colorful trunks especially- best of both worlds,lacy fronds and you can also admire the trunks being more then wood tone. That Triangle hybrid is outstanding. I planted a seedling 3 years ago of the plain version.Doing well,but poking long. How are the hybrids in growth rate? Would I’ve able to find them online? Or are they more of only at a nursery available?
    Same for Dypsis “Bef”…beautiful palm!

    Reply
    • Len Geiger says

      August 11, 2017 at 5:52 PM

      Hi Stan. Nice job finding that hybrid. Almost impossible to find now until someone makes them again. I have a few in 7 gallons I have been growing. Growth rate is faster than either parent plant.

      Reply

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  1. A closeup view of a Southern California rainy day garden
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  4. The exceptional garden of Bob De Jong

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