…the succulent so nice we had to say it thrice.  Hey, we made it to Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.  They focus mainly on California natives and have an impressive collection…including a ton o Dudleyas (aka Live-forevers).  Their 78 acre garden is divided up in about 6 sections, from their Desert Section to the Redwood Forest.

As self-proclaimed Dudleya Dorks, we rushed over to that section.  I know there’s about 29 species in total…and yeah, they seem to have them all.

These Britton’s Live-forever (Dudleya brittonii) where the first to catch my eye.  Sometimes called the Silver Dollar Plant, they have white chalky glaucous on their leaves that pop in the landscape and remind me of little sea urchins.

Above, there appears to be a flower starting to poke its head out.

Another CA native, Catalina Island Live Forever (Dudleya virens ssp. hassei) had some great red tips contrasting against the rest of the foliage.

…and just to the left is the San Clemente Island Live-forever (Dudleya virens ssp. virens).  I’m always amazed how subspecies, though closely related, can vary so much.

Frank Reinelt Live-forever (Dudleya caespitosa ‘Frank Reinelt’) glowed like a gem.  I wish we had a better pic of this guy, but I found that Garden Breizh has a nice shot of it.

Here we have Dudleya hassei again.  We bought one of these guys from Annie’s Annuals a couple months ago, but we never thought about putting it in an hanging basket.  It’s a striking plant, and can see why Dudleya hassei made it onto Cactus Blog’s top 10 Succulents of 2010.  More to come on the Botanical Garden.

– Far Out Flora