Two different Agave blooms. One full of seeds and no bulbils, the other all bulbils!
The rest of the sights from the San Diego Botanic Garden. This next Agave stalk covered with bulbils was fantastic. I was itching to pick off a bulbil (no I didn't!), though I could not identify the parent. There was no sign, and the plant was so completely deflated it was unrecognizable as an Agave.
In contrast, this A. attenuata stalk was just beginning its journey. Bees were loving it.
The arc of the flower stalk is mirrored by its shadow:
In some shade, an out-of-the-common Agave, A. pachycentra, had a dramatically pale new leaf:
Back in brilliant sun, an Opuntia for you Opuntia fans:
The Aloes were the stars of the day: davyana
Elegans (I think):
Ferox breathtaking yet again, behind emerging vanbalenii
And possibly wickensii, which has that distinctive two-color effect. No sign, though, so do not trust my ID:
A mass of 'Grassy Lassie"
I don't remember which one this was:
Similar colors on a different genus, one of the last of a huge mass of Kniphofia blooms. The rest were done:
The garden had several Green roofs.
If not for the fascia, you might mistake this for a berm, but yes, that's a roof:
The mild zone 24 conditions (we were in sight of the Pacific) make this pristine lushness possible. In my 23, they'd be a little thinner, a little crisper. This, this, ladies and gentlemen, is what a completely happy Aeonium looks like:
Something called a "Spear Lily", Doryanthes palmeri, was opening. (Doryanthes info here.)
The Doryanthes looked something like a Furcraea with rattier foliage. Spots, burnt tips and edges. Ehhhh. After that pristine Aeonium clump, ehhhh. Perhaps a fully open flower makes the foliage tolerable.
There were two Furcraea actually blooming, which I'd never seen. The flower stalk was so tall I could not get a good photo. Individual flowers, way, way up there, were lovely, something like hellebores, only 25' (7 M) high.
Also blooming, white Echium. The hummingbirds were loving this, zooming through trails of equally ecstatic bees.
In nearby dappled shade, this backlit Adenanthos sericeus gave me pause. I killed one of these quite a few years ago, and still feel terrible about it. Probably always will.
Great visit. It was just the right day.
Beaucarnea with surfboard. In the San Diego area, you are never far from a surfboard.
I rarely blog about trees unless they are mutilated, but yesterday brilliant winter light called eyes to a searing blue sky, and rather than look at a big blue expanse, my eyes drifted to the trees framed against that blue, blue sky. We visited San Diego Botanic Garden yesterday, blessed with the kind of winter weather people visit California to experience, mid 70s F. Personally, I'd rather it rain, but the pure clear light made everything sing with color.
Eucalyptus with Alluaudia procera, Beaucarnea recurvata and Aloes:
Aloes marlothii( or x 'Hercules'?) and barberae:
A grand Dracena draco:
Look at the size of this Beaucarnea base! This area was strung with lights; the Botanic Garden has one of those Holiday Light events that botanic gardens often do at this time of year. No doubt they need holiday lights in Anchorage or Spokane, but San Diego in December has sunlight of a quality beyond need for anything else.
Encephalartos horridus, an out-of-the-ordinary cycad:
A baby Boojum tree, Fouquieria columnaris, backed by a Yucca and a golden cypress:
A hummingbird so secure it could relax and sit in a Banksia, there to suck up nectar in comfort:
A gorgeous Quercus suber against the sky:
The faded blooms of Stenocarpus sinuatus, still fantastical:
Various cycads in a carpet of blue Senecio, reflecting that sky...
Not a mutilated tree to be found. As I said, I'd rather it rain, but sunlight and warmth can be quite seductive at the end of December.
The foliage can color up quite splendidly:
The one I bought was not nearly as beautiful:
But the price was right!
Colored up or not, the red edging is interesting:
And the blooms are distinctive, arranged in a kind of Beatles haircut structure:
Unfortunately, getting my prize in the car, I snapped off the mop-top. Ah well, there's always next year. Pulling it out of the pot, I found the top half of the pot stuffed tight with roots, and the bottom half completely devoid of anything but potting soil.
Scrounging around the internet (just as I do at garden centers), I see there are several variations of Aloe capitata, so much so that one commenter termed it the "Aloe capitata group". There is capitata var gnessicola and capitata var capitata. Other capitata vars are quartziticola, silvicola, and angoavana. What are the differences? Slight variations in foliage and flower, apparently.
Aloe capitata
Aloe capitata v. cipolinicola
Aloe capitata v. gneissicola
Aloe capitata v. quartziticola
Aloe capitata v. slivicola
Aloe capitata v. trachyticola = Aloe trachyticola
Aloe capitata v. capitata
Aloe capitata x A. macroclada = A. imerinensis
Aloe cernua = A. capitata v. capitata
This is generally a solitary, non-suckering aloe, endemic to Madagascar, though I see one commenter says in the (relatively) lush conditions of southern California, his plant split at the growing point and eventually formed a clump of multiple rosettes. Another owner said his plant survived the high 20s F without damage, indicating that on those near-32F nights, I can sleep without worrying about capitata. Another source said it was a summer-growing species that liked dryness in winter, which it will get, since it's slightly out of reach of any irrigation. Must remember to water come summer.
We live by rumor, we plant nuts who comb the internet for information on obscure plants. We find a scrap here and there, of often conflicting information, which must be taken with a large chunk of salt. Any plant nut learns that while the internet is a fabulous source, it's not to be trusted. You may read the same information in several different places, but it could be that the information was simply copied from one site numerous times. Trust no one. This is a good thing. You learn not to take anything that seriously. Publishing companies and major media companies used to demand fact-checking; once upon a time there were standards. Now, not so much--it cuts into profits. And the wild west of the internet, along with post-industrial America's increasing disbelief in science, takes misinformation to a new level.
I should buy a few books or go to the library, and obtain more solid knowledge. I did get that Aloe on sale, after all. There's a few bucks left over. A few more good books, a few less plants.
I hope you don't take anything I say seriously. Just...enjoy the pictures.
