Succulent Experts
Great Ideas from Patrick Anderson’s Garden
Below are a dozen great ideas from Patrick Anderson’s garden in Fallbrook, CA. But first, a bit of backstory… Visiting Patrick Anderson’s garden in 1998 was the first time I had seen a residential garden that featured large aloes and agaves. In my YouTube video, “Patrick Anderson’s Succulent Garden,” I take you on a tour of the residential garden that…
Read MoreAnnouncing the Second Edition of Designing with Succulents!
When publisher Timber Press proposed a celebratory 10th anniversary, second edition of Designing with Succulents, I figured all I’d have to do is change a word here and there and add a few photos. So I agreed to what seemed like a reasonable deadline—six months. But as soon as I dove into the project, I realized so…
Read MoreAre You a Plant Collector, Gardener or Both?
As she researched her book, The Bold Dry Garden, it dawned on Sunset’s garden editor Johanna Silver that plant collectors are not necessarily gardeners, and vice-versa. The subject, Ruth Bancroft, is both gardener and collector—as is Brian Kemble, the curator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA. Since 1980, Brian has helped Ruth (now age 108)…
Read MoreNew Succulents
New Succulent Plant Introductions Let’s say you’re in the nursery business and can crossbreed popular succulents so their offspring combine their parents’ most desirable traits. What would you aim for? That’s what I found out on a recent visit to Altman Plants, the largest grower of succulents in the US. I was there to photograph Altman’s spring succulent introductions—new beauties…
Read MoreDIY Succulent Driftwood Designs
DIY Succulent Driftwood Designs When you make succulent driftwood designs, the plants resemble undersea flora, and the wood hints at something you’d see washed up on the beach. The two combine to make a special, almost fantasy-like composition that works well as a patio centerpiece or special gift for a friend. Driftwood pieces (from Sea…
Read MoreRick’s Aloe and Butterfly Garden
The current population of monarch butterflies is a mere 4% of what it formerly was. These once ubiquitous butterflies are on the brink of extinction. Anyone with even a small garden, in any part of the US, can help reverse this sad trend. I knew that Rick Bjorklund’s garden in San Diego would delight me with its aloes,…
Read MoreLophocereus schotii (Totem Pole Cactus)
Succulent expert Don Newcomer showed me a rare columnar, spineless cactus from Mexico: Lophocereus schotii (totem pole cactus). It can be chubby and lumpy, tall and skinny, or columnar and spiral-forming. Lophocereus (Pachycereus) schotii has spines. The monstrose form has club-shaped trunks with spineless protuberances. There are three monstrose varieties: fat (obesa), spiral (spiralis) and skinny or totem…
Read More