?  THIS WEEKEND ?  THIS WEEKEND ?  THIS WEEKEND ?  Just another reminder that the Sacramento Cactus & Succulent Society's 2024 Show & Sale is this weekend at the Shepard Garden & Arts Center next to McKinley Park. Don't miss it if you're in the area! Dates and times of the sale  Friday, May 3: Volunteer shopping from noon to 1:00 PM; public entry from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM.  Saturday, May 4: Public entry from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.  Sunday, May 5: Public entry from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM.  The Show will not be judged ..read more

I’ll skip the “I can’t believe it almost May” small talk and go straight to the meat of this post: photos of the garden taken in the second half of April 2024. Spring was late to arrive this year, but as you can see below, it’s here in full force. The poster child of spring 2024 – and one of my most successful gardening experiments in a while – is ‘White Linen’ (Eschscholzia californica ‘White Linen’), a cream-flowering form of the ubiquitous orange California poppy. Last November, I scattered 5000 seeds from Outsidepride in the sidewalk bed. I have no way of knowing how many actually germinat ..read more

On my Santa Barbara trip last week, I bought some plants from Nick Deinhart, including this spectacular Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave ‘Blue Glow’ cross for my friend Kyle: Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave ‘Blue Glow’ when I picked it up from Nick Deinhart I loaded my new plants into the car on Friday afternoon when it was about 60°F and sunny. I spent the night in Pismo Beach, less than a mile from the ocean. Overnight, it cooled off to the mid-50s, and it was overcast and somewhat damp when I left on Saturday morning on my drive home. The weather remained cool and overcast for the next hou ..read more

When I was in Santa Barbara recently, Tony Krock of Krock Nursery gave me a demonstration of how he cores and cuts agaves for propagation. Both methods may seem radical at first glance, but they’re highly effective in promoting the formation of pups. For professional growers like Tony, this is the fastest way to propagate rare plants for the collector’s market. In fact, it’s the only way for solitary agaves that normally don’t offset at all. I filmed Tony’s demonstration and posted the video on YouTube: The video is 13+ minutes long; I highly recommend you watch it in its entirety if you’re i ..read more

I just got back from Santa Barbara, just three months after my previous trip. I gave a talk on mangaves at the Santa Barbara Cactus and Succulent Society (a great club!) and added a few extra days to do some exploring. Here’s a quick overview of what I did and saw. I’ll have more detailed posts in the weeks to come. The motel I stayed at in Santa Barbara, the Lemon Tree Inn, had the kind of succulent-centric landscaping I love: Massive Agave guiengola Hundreds of Agave attenuata, this one right outside my patio I was able to explore Lotusland on my own – a very special exp ..read more

What we call the Gold Country is the area on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada where gold was discovered by James Marshall on January 24, 1848, triggering the California Gold Rush. Marshall found gold while working on building Sutter’s Mill, a water-powered sawmill on the South Fork of the American River in the settlement of Coloma. And that’s where my frequent partner-in-crime Kyle and I were headed last weekend, not to pan for gold, but to visit a modern-day pioneer who is establishing a small succulent nursery outside of Coloma. Amie Frisch in her greenhouse After leaving the ..read more

What is beginning, you might wonder. The “it” in the title of this post refers to cactus flower season. For a few weeks now, peeps in Southern California and Arizona have been flooding social media with photos of their flowering cactus. Finally, we’re catching up here in Northern California. Kicking off the season for me is Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’, which produces one of the most spectacular flowers of any cactus. It literally causes people driving by to slow down or even stop (we live on a quiet street so there’s not much traffic). This year, our ‘Flying Saucer’ has 20+ flower buds on two s ..read more

Last year, I had the opportunity to visit the jaw-droppingly beautiful garden of garden designer Cricket Riley in Walnut Creek. One element I particularly loved was a sea of white-flowering California poppies in front of her house. The creamy hues of the poppy flowers contrasted perfectly with the pale blue of the Agave ovatifolia. I immediately knew that I wanted to do something similar in our garden. Eschscholzia californica ‘Buttermilk’ in Cricket Riley’s garden Agave ovatifolia surrounded by ‘Buttermilk’ poppies I wasn’t able to find seeds of the poppy variety Cricket u ..read more

A couple of days ago, I gave you a heads up about the upcoming Sacramento Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale (May 3-5, 2024). But we're not the only California club holding an event this spring: April 13-14, Watsonville: The Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society's Spring Show & Sale will be on April 13-14 at the Portuguese Community Center, 124 Atkinson Lane, Watsonville, CA 95076. [More info] April 13-14, Rancho Palos Verdes: The South Coast Cactus & Succulent Society will have their Show & Sale the same weekend, April 13-14, at the ..read more

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) in Exposition Park was established in 1913. With an extensive collection of over 35 million specimens, ranging from fossils and minerals to botanical and zoological specimens, it’s the largest museum of its kind in the western U.S. as well as a renowned research institution. One of the highlights is the Dinosaur Hall with its impressive displays, including the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex. Judging from the masses of humanity during our visit in November 2022, it’s the museum’s biggest draw. Official greeters The main reason why I wan ..read more