May Succulent News & Events
We've an exciting May ahead! Here's what you can look forward to, succulently speaking, during this merry month.
Sat., May 17, 9 to 3: Join me at Wanda's
I'm a docent (guide) during the Fallbrook Garden Tour in Wanda Mallen's garden (yes, THE Wanda Mallen, shown above in her garden with yours truly).
Fallbrook Garden Tour, info and tickets
A group of professional landscape designers recently toured Wanda's two-acre estate, so that tells you there's more to see than merely (!) her renowned potted collection of rare and oddball succulents. Mature, exotic trees---many in bloom---provide an ideal microclimate for cycads, in-ground succulents, and numerous other lovelies. PLUS you can tour six other gorgeous gardens!
Sat., May 24, 11:45 am: My Presentation on Aeoniums
You'll see colorful Aeonium cultivars (courtesy of Altman Plants), learn their pedigrees, and get cultivation and care tips. I'm bringing these and more to show-and-tell and possibly pot-up (if time allows).
Note the new location: Grace Church, 1450 E. Vista Way, Vista, CA. Ample parking.
Should you attend a Cactus & Succulent Society Show-and-Sale near you? Absolutely! Find out why in my recent interview with Fiona Ng, Weekend Editor, LAist (NPR).
In and around your own garden
Grow showy hesperaloes
Currently in flower is a landscape succulent that's good planted in multiples: Hesperaloe parviflora. Blooms that line tall, slender stalks vary from red through shades of pink, orange and yellow. These desert natives with upright, slender, gray-green leaves grow several feet high. Use them for easy-care, dry-garden filler plants.
Hesperaloe 'Brake Lights' (Monrovia photo)
A Hesperaloe cultivar with vibrant red blooms is 'Brakelights', perhaps because in Arizona---where it grows in street medians---drivers slam on their brakes for a closer look.
Ice plants ablaze
Who says there's no neon in nature?
Ice plants serve as unobtrusive, ground-cover succulents until all hues break loose in spring. Now's the best time to select colors. Find ideas and IDs on my site: Ice Plant Uses, Photos and Varieties.
In your back yard now: Aw...
Also on my calendar is "watch for baby birds." You can tell them from their same-sized parents by the way they flutter, beg, and cheep-cheep-cheep. Nothing cuter. Enjoy and discover nine kinds of fledglings:
Attending the Fallbrook tour? And/or the Palomar CSS Show-and-Sale? LMK in the Comments!
Coming soon to my YouTube channel: "Collectible Succulents Anyone Can Grow." Insights from engaging experts at the recent biennial CSSA convention.
Related Info on this site
Wanda’s Collection of Weird & Wonderful Plants
Wanda Mallen’s collection of weird and wonderful plants on two acres in Fallbrook, CA, is a must-see for succulent enthusiasts. For 25 years she’s directed husband Gary Vincent in planting (sometimes jackhammering) the property’s decomposed granite substrate. “The good thing is DG drains well,” Wanda says. The result is a many-layered landscape unlike any other.…
Red and Pink Aeoniums, Varieties and Care
I was excited to see “Carnival” Aeonium cultivars at Oasis Nursery in Escondido, CA. A spokesperson for Altman Plants (which owns Oasis) told me these pink-and-ruby beauties “are going out to garden centers as a limited item through April.” To create new hybrids striped with red, pink, cream, green, or yellow, breeders likely crossed dark…