agave | Far Out Flora

Agaves Gone Wild!

March 15, 2013 by Megan | 4 Comments

Matti in a sea of succulents

On the way back to Wisconsin last Spring we hit up Santa Barbara after our central coast stop. We checked out San Marcos Growers in a cool electric golf cart. Since we hadn’t been to Lotusland yet, it was quite possibly one of the coolest plant excursions we’d ever been on. The place is huge and full of really cool plants. Please note that the nursery is wholesale only and not open to the public, but they have one of the finest websites around for succulent and rare plant information. Here’s a taste of their crazy Agave selection:

Agave americana var. marginata

Agave salmiana ‘Green Giant’

Agave ‘Cornelius’ – Quasimoto Agave

We need one of these. After getting stabbed by our big, kind of crappy Agave americanas all the time, I think we’ll be going with shrimpier agaves in the future. I couldn’t even look at these pictures before I knew we were moving back. It was too sad.

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Gardens by Gabriel, Central Coast Gardening God

March 12, 2013 by Megan | 12 Comments

On the way to Wisconsin: Megan, Kaveh, Gabriel & Matti

Back in late April 2012 we were hanging out on the Central Coast checking out some of the coolest succulent gardens around with Gabriel (Gardens by Gabriel) & Kaveh (Plant Propaganda) on our way back to Wisconsin. We took tons of pics, but haven’t blogged much about our trip back to dairyland. It was too sad for me to look at all the plants I thought I’d never be able to grow again. Now that we’re moving back it’s fun to look at all our pics of plants again. Big thanks to Kaveh for hooking us up with Gabriel’s totally rad gardens! We’ll be definitely be down for a visit once we’re back. *Not all gardens pictured below are Gabriel’s. The first two are Nick Wilkinson owner of Grow Nursery in Cambria. You guys are both gardening gods!

Beach succulents

I think those octopus like aloes are Aloe vanbalenii, but I’m not sure. I am really, really sure I want one. Here are a few more of my favorite pics from the tour below, but you can check them all out on flickr here.

Dudleya fun

Ruth Bancroft Garden Rocks

June 22, 2011 by Megan | 15 Comments

Scopelogena verruculata I love you!

This past Sunday afternoon we decided to get some heat, and headed over to The Ruth Bancroft Garden. It was 92 degrees. A little shocking when an hour earlier it was 60 degrees and foggy at the house. I blame the heat on our laziness about taking pictures of ID tags. I got Scopelogena verruculata only because I really want it. Apparently it has fragrant yellow flowers in Spring. We went nuts and took tons of pictures. They’re all here on flickr, but these are a few faves from the bunch.

Echinocactus grusonii "Barrel Cactus"

Matti and the giant Agave

Aeonium fun

February 25, 2011
by Megan
12 Comments

Succulicious

You wouldn’t know it today, but it was gorgeous about 2 weeks ago when we were re-tooling the back garden…SF has a 30% chance of snow tonight. Hey, the succulent corner experiment is coming along. Historically, this was the last … Continue reading →

Prickly Parts

January 14, 2011 by Megan | 4 Comments

Shaw's Agave - Agave shawii

It was as gorgeous morning when we cruised through the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. As you know we popped over to the Dudleya section first, but check out the color on this Shaw’s Agave (Agave shawii). BTW, Rancho Reubidoux has some excellent pics on the A. shawii flower spike.

Santa Barbara Botanical Garden (overview)

The garden is divided up in many regions and here’s an overview of their spiky succulent Desert Section. Lots of old growth plants live amongst these sandstone boulders.

Coastal Prickly-pear - Opuntia littoralis

Native to Southern California, this Coastal Prickly-pear (Opuntia littoralis) grows to about 3 feet tall, but can keep expanding far wider in dense clumps.

Agave parryi ?

No ID tag found on this guy, but think it may be the Mescal Agave aka Parry’s Agave (Agave parryi).

Giant Coreopsis - Coreopsis gigantea

This succulent has made our short list of our must have plants. Another native to CA, Giant Coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea) gets yellow daisy-like flowers and a thick fleshy trunk.

Agave species

Here’s something we haven’t thought of before. This Agave was planted on its side. Sorta like you just took the plant and chucked it in the garden. Well, it seems to be thriving. I wonder how it would look when it gets super big.