Berkeley Succulents


Berkeley Succulents29 Apr 2008 09:52 am

Senecio!

Senecio repens
Grant Street, Berkeley

Everybody loves the blue color these get in full sun. Dismayingly they go green in shade. So I would not recommend them in Bakersfield where they would need to be in light shade. Hah!

White flowers, puffy seeds, delicious alongside a sunny deck in the summer sun, dazzling in the brightness as I shade my eyes to watch the hummingbirds frolic in the aloe blooms, a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade at my side. Maybe with a touch of vodka.

Berkeley Succulents22 Apr 2008 11:29 am

Berkeley Succulents

Grant Street

Aeonium atropurpureum and a big beautiful Bulbine, not yet in bloom.

These aeoniums are the species that the more well known A. “Swartzkopf,” or Black Rose, are cultivated from. We have both of these at the nursery, and some other cultivars too. Subtle differences in color, height, leaf width, and sexiness are the primary determinants for our customers. Of course, these are the dark aeoniums. The green ones are pretty nice too.

Berkeley Succulents07 Apr 2008 11:18 am

At the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden

Berkeley Succulents03 Apr 2008 03:12 pm

Oxford Street
Well, there’s an Opuntia ficus-indica, and I see some Aloe arborescens coming into bloom. When I took the photo, I thought I saw some A. nobilis, but i can’t find it now. Plus, there’s a giant redwood tree. That’s Berkeley for you.

Berkeley Succulents28 Mar 2008 01:33 pm

Oxford Street
Aloe saponaria

It’s always nice to have a wall to let plants hang over. It’s a very scenic style of gardening. Everyone should have a wall. We do.

Berkeley Succulents24 Mar 2008 12:31 pm

Grant Ave.
Aeonium urbicum

Low-growing ground cover, spreads pretty quickly. Lots of yellow flowers. You could plant a field of them, and then you’d have a succulent green field.

…You know, I’m trying to add more garden-writing-style writing to go with these photos, but really, all I want to do is add some wise-a** comments. It’s a real tension in my writing. Which will win out this spring in the great snark vs. garden-writing smackdown? Well, I think we already know the answer to that one.

For instance, yesterday I watched Mulholland Drive on DVD and it was less confusing than I had remembered from when it first came out. Back then I thought maybe it was all a dream from the last moments before the blonde woman dies, but now that just seems ridiculous. She’s confused all the way through. Even when she’s clearly imagining the world as she’d like it to be, rather than how it is, that doesn’t mean she’s dreaming. She’s just a little psychotic, that’s all. She really believes not just that she should be on the verge of becoming a star, but that she is.

Well, I have failed again. No snark at all in that paragraph. No garden-writing either.

Berkeley Succulents22 Mar 2008 07:02 am

Aeonium holochrysum(?)
Oxford Street, Berkeley

I love these sidewalk plantings. Succulents do really well in cracks and crevices. In this case, there’s a lot of soil behind that retaining wall, so the plants are fully rooted back there. But it does change the way the Aeoniums grow. These are usually a taller species, not one of the ground covers, but here in coming out of the base of a wall, they’re smaller.

Berkeley Succulents13 Mar 2008 09:40 am

Oxford Street
Dasylirion longissisimum
I don’t know if I spelled that right. I should probably look it up. What do you think, should I spell check plant names before posting them?

Berkeley Succulents10 Mar 2008 08:28 am

<img width="432" hspace="5" height="371" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/whippets/grant06.jpg" /><br /><br />Grant Street<br />Spurges (Euphorbias). OK, so they’re not succulents, but they sure are a nice complement to any succulent garden. They’re low water. They’re deer-resistant. And the butterflies come by every day to pollinate away.<br /><br />

Berkeley Succulents05 Mar 2008 11:22 am

<img width="342" hspace="5" height="432" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/cactus/milvia02.jpg" /><br /><br />Aloe polyphylla and Cotyledon campanulata<br />Milvia Street<br /><br />That is a beautiful large spiral aloe. They’re very slow growing, and not hardy here in colder or wetter winters when they’re young, so often they don’t make it to that size. But this one was planted near some large rocks which can provide a bit of extra warmth and protection in the winter. <br /><br />

Berkeley Succulents27 Feb 2008 08:29 am

<img width="360" hspace="5" height="432" border="0" src="/blog/uploads/cactus/oxford08.jpg" /><br /><br />Oxford Street<br />In amongst the weeds we see an Echeveria, an Aeonium and an Aloe peeking through. It’s definitely weed season here - the oxalis are in bloom!.<br /><br />

Berkeley Succulents22 Feb 2008 02:21 pm

<img width="324" hspace="5" height="432" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/cactus/oxford07.jpg" /><br /><br />Oxford Street<br />Aloe nobilis<br /><br />

Berkeley Succulents21 Feb 2008 08:51 am

<img width="324" hspace="5" height="432" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/cactus/oxford01.jpg" /><br /><br />Oxford Street<br />Aloe arborescens - these are in bloom all over town now.<br /><br />

Berkeley Succulents11 Feb 2008 11:39 am

<img width="324" hspace="5" height="432" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/whippets/milvia01.jpg" /><br /><br />Milvia Street<br /><br />

Berkeley Succulents05 Feb 2008 05:50 pm

<img width="432" hspace="5" height="344" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/cactus/grant07.jpg" /><br /><br />Grant Street<br />Agave attenuata and Agave parryi under a large Yucca plus a Dudleya clump too.<br /><br />

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