Cactus Blog

An aloe blooms on Hollis St.

In front of the Novartis campus.

Aloe striata – Coral Aloe!

Aloe arborescens on Addison Street with a lovely blooming Kniphofia uvaria (Red Hot Poker) also.

These are in bloom all over Berkeley all winter long and this makes them quite popular.

Agave americana v. marginata – the kinder gentler century plant.

McGee Street

Opuntia ficus-indica and a large Agave americana v. marginata.

McGee Street

Dwight Way

Browning St.

Aloe arborescens. I like this plant when planted up against a structure more than when planted out in the median strip. I like the massing effect.

Here’s the same plant in a planting strip on Page St., and I don’t like the mounding as much.

It’s still pretty. of course, and the blooming is quite impressive. But I have my preferences and there is nothing you can do to make me change my mind.

66th Street

Opuntia “Maverick” and an Aeonium, probably A. subplanum. Plus a crassula and a small Opuntia subulata. The opuntia is a very fast grower, so since this photo was taken years ago, I wonder how big it is now? Hmmm….

62nd Street

Aeonium “Schwartzkopf”

These winter growing succulents are really taking off around here these days. Of course, this photo was taken over 5 years ago, so it must also have been a winter photo. Did you know that this was cultivated from the Aeonium arboreum species?

9th Street

Agave attenuata

8th Street

Opuntia ficus-indica is one of the most delicious of all the delicious cacti.

The past 2 days I posted photos of a cereus and an aloe from over 5 years ago.

Today I have the pictures of them as they are today.

7th Street – Aloe arborescens – much bigger and fuller with more bloom stalks.

6th Street – Cereus – dead, behind the no parking sign.

7th Street

Aloe arborescens

Continuing with  my series of succulent photos from around Berkeley that were taken over 5 years ago, we see the ActivSpace building had some pretty full blooming aloes back then. They’re even bigger and bloomier now. Maybe I should do some comparison photos. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Since that photo was taken, they opened a lovely and delicious french bistro that then closed, reopened under new ownership, closed again, and now a small sandwich shop has taken its place. The best I can say about the current sandwich shop was that the french bistro was delicious.

I found a stash of old Berkeley Succulent photos. I don’t know how old they are, but they’re not posted on the blog, so maybe they were posted on my previous blog 5 years ago or more. So they’re new to you. I checked the archives, and they are from before 2005.

Enjoy!

6th Street

Cereus hildmannianus, probably subsp. uruguayanus. Possibly C. repandus.

This particular plant I drive by every day on the way to the nursery, and I can tell you that this photo is a record of the plant at it’s prime. It’s no longer at it’s prime. In fact, it’s now dead. You can still drive by and see the wasted corpse of the plant if you want, but it’s not as pretty as this when it was thriving.

Burnett St.

Agave americana v. marginata

Russell St., Berkeley
Probably was an Agave americana.

That yard between the apartments has no other plantings. I wonder how long they’ll leave the dead agave there as a centerpiece? What will they eventually replace it with?

Sacramento Street

Opuntia subulata (Austrocylindropuntia subulata) is the big centerpiece of this Berkeley apartment building streetfront. But there’s lots of Crassula ovata and an Aloe nobilis and a nice big Aloe arborescens in the background too.

Carleton Street
Pelargonium sidoides

It’s a natural cough suppressent from South Africa, or so they say. I make no medical claims.

But it does make a nice mound for your front yard. And it does have an unpronounceable common name. And it blooms a lot too.

It’s a stunning display of kniph’s in bloom in a sidewalk strip in Berkeley.

Carleton Street
Kniphofia uvaria “Primrose Beauty”

Oy, that’s big.

Hi Peter,

Nice talking with you today about cacti. Here is a photo of the one I mentioned in San Leandro. It really is quite spectacular. If you want to see it in person its right next door to the Starbucks as you come off highway 580 at Dutton Avenue. If you know where to look you can see it from the freeway. Enjoy. If you want a higher resolution image let me know.

Thanks

Tom