Agave americana - In Bud

Agave Americana

in Bud

Stanford University - AZ Gardens

In Between Raindrops - Succulents and More Stanford University

Can you spot my happy pooch Jasper posing in front of the Stanford family Mausoleum?
He wanted me to show him off more - so I put a great big version at the bottom of this post!

The Stanford Succulent Gardens, known officially as the "Arizona Garden", is a great walk with or without a favorite pooch alongside. We're enjoying a short break between rain storms - though you'll never hear us complaining after several years of drought! - and this outdoor arboretum is the perfect place for a low-key outing. 

That Agave Americana- also known as a Century Plant - is so exciting to see in bud! Jasper Dog and I are going to go as often as possible to keep an eye on that once in it's lifetime bloom.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave_americana

http://bgm.stanford.edu/groups/grounds/special/arizona

Slow Travel: Stanford Succulent and Cactus Garden (Arizona Garden)

At this time of year there's quite a bit of fruiting and flowering going on among the cactus. My mother used to make cactus jelly when I was a kid living in rural Arizona, and it makes my mouth water seeing the nopales

Walk past the Stanford Family Mausoleum - A lovely spot - And head vaguely west to the cactus and succulent garden. http://bgm.stanford.edu/groups/grounds/special/arizona

The garden is not heavily visited - though it has a regular cadre of visiting walkers and dogs.

Don't Prick Your Dear Paws - California Agave In Bloom

Agave in Bloom

Pooch and I both daydreaming

Don't prick your Dear Paws

Shall We Dance ? Stanford Arboretum Cactus Friends

Alluring Stag Horn Cholla dancing withBeavertail Pkicklypear 

Shall we Dance?

On a bright cloud of music, shall we fly?

Shall we then say goodnight, and mean goodbye?

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II;RICHARD RODGERS, The King and I

Making Trouble in California - We call it Highway Ice Plant

Don't we all just love those good old succulents? How about this rather pretty little plant,  Carpobrotus edulis, also known as Highway Iceplant? It's been planted generously round many parts of California  since the early 1900's, up until citizens in the 1970's finally spoke up and said it was a really bad idea. 

Unfortunately Carpobrotus edulis is a really bad neighbor, moving in from lands afar and then taking over. It's a coloniser, yah know how that is, right? Those folks come with beads (or in this case seeds!) in hand, and the next thing you know there's no room for the old folks to roam. You'll find large mats, like the one above at lovely local beach sites, along highways, and old railroad tracks - where it was planted to keep our soils from rolling down hill. It did do that, but it also spread, spread, spread. And it just keeps on spreading.

You can read more about highway ice plant invasion problems at this Invasive Plants of California Wildlands site.

Western Gardens Field Trip: Sunset Open House

In late spring Sunset Magazine opens it's doors for it's open house, or Celebration Weekend. It's in my own neighborhood and I love to go.

This year I biked over and plunked down my twenty bucks first thing on Sunday morning. Good thing I got there early as I found that one of the talks I wanted to hear was already starting. It was about planting meadows (from turf) to replace lawns. I went back later for my very favorite talk by succulent author Debra Lee Baldwin and the owner and creator of Succulent Gardens. I love their succulents. Spent all my cash in their booth (made a trip to the ATM for more!) on more echeveria for my garden. I highly recommend taking a field trip to the Succulent Gardens fall open house. I'll be back there this year for more beauties. The Santa Cruz county area is gorgeous too.

There are always a lot of good talks at the Sunset Open House. I go for the garden talks but the food and wine are extremely popular as well. In between talks I moseyed on over to check out the tiny houses and demo garden. There's always some kind of vacation house or something similar and it's like touring a playhouse. This years tiny houses were really tiny mobile homes that work like a cottage - though I urge caution in assuming that you could really downsize as most building and safety departments won't permit this type of house for temporary or permanent living. Special situations do allow for them though, so check them out. They cost around $60,000.

Because I live in the area I've walked through the Sunset demonstration gardens many times, but for those who don't come often, just walking the beautiful western style grounds is a pleasure. The celebration includes lots of wine (tasting also I think and maybe beer too - you can tell that's not my thing but it's a big part of the do) and delicious artisinal type food, but seating is really limited. You want to eat early if you want a table - or duck out (return later) and walk over to roomy, green Burgess Park about a mile away and picnic there. There are also representatives from many vacation areas, outdoor and garden products with lots of samples. If you're looking for ideas for your home or yard you'll get plenty.

Current Clip from Succulent Gardens re: their open house. They have lots of activities and classes there but this one is a blowout event and really fun.
"September 26-27, 2014
Succulent Extravaganza!!! Our Fourth Annual at our nursery! Check back for line up of speakers and all the details. "

Moss Landing Power Plant (CA Field Trip, Monterey area)

Moss Landing Power Plant, Castroville, CA. On a field trip with mah belle seour. We went there to go to Succulent Extravaganza, for the sake of our gardens, and we stayed on for the scenery. 

Never been there? It's not far from Monterey. Ocean, nearly deserted soft sandy beach, harbor, and loverly farm land - California at it's bestEst.

Resources

If you're a succulents fan, you can't do better than to stop in at Succulent Gardens. http://sgplants.com 

Check to make sure they're open and bring cash/checks - no credit cards.

Succulents: La última

¿Cuál es 

más suculento?

~ ~ ~

They don't make 'em 

more succulent!