Architecturally speaking, few plants are more exemplary in a landscape than an agave. Uniquely shaped, tight rosette of leaves, clean lines and nasty spines give the agave its highly architectural appearance. The perfect plant for landscapes where this strong architectural form is desired. While they look great planted right into the ground, I personally find them much more notable in…
OK, time to close out the blog series centered around my amazing visit to Monterrey, Mexico. Let’s go out with a bang. Well, a bang if you love cactus, that is. After four very busy days touring around much of the state of Nuevo León, I accumulated a few thousand photos. It took me days to weed through…
The battle between prey and predator has been going on since the beginning of time. In the animal kingdom, prey evolved defenses like camouflage, aposematism and mimicry to protect themselves from becoming a meal. Much study has been done in the animal kingdom on the use of camouflage as a defense mechanism. In the plant world, it was a seldom…
The cultivation of plants brings endless smiles to the fields of the initiated. As a lover of flora, being able to grow plants in your garden or greenhouse is truly a joyous pastime. One in which I proudly devote far too much time. However, for me there is a level above this. That level is being…
As one might have guessed from many of my recent posts, I really do love aloes. I have found them to be quite adaptable in almost any garden setting. Along with my xeriscaping, I have intermingled aloes throughout my tropical areas as well. With my free-draining decomposed granite, they actually do very well with a lot of…
It doesn’t get any better than being able to see the plants that you cultivate in their native habitat. Why? Because no matter how hard you try, you can never fully recreate in your garden what Mother Nature does on her own. Or do you really believe you can do in a few short years what evolution has…
Is it really already that time of year for the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society Winter Show and Sale? What is even more hard for me to believe is that the last time I did a post on the winter show was back in 2014. Three years ago! I guess it is true that time flies when…
Echeverias from Korea? Why? Well, if you want to grow the latest and greatest from the world of orchids and plumeria, you order out of Thailand. If you want a crazy new aloe hybrid, South Africa has them. The latest palm trees available, you purchase from Hawaii. If you want the newest echeverias, right now they come out…