Far Out Flora

Gardening in the Outerlands of San Francisco

Tag Archives: Echium candicans

Outer Sunset Super Garden

April 26, 2012 by Megan | 22 Comments

Sweet Succulent Planter

Last Friday before I headed to the San Francisco Botanical Garden I had to pay a bill, so I took a different route to the muni stop than normal to hit up a mailbox. I busted out my camera when I saw this awesome example of a succulent planter. Lots of different colors and textures, plants that are practically impossible to kill in our neighborhood and common enough people won’t steal them (succulent theft is a problem here).

Super Sweet Succulent Container

Then I saw this in front of the next house and kind of freaked out. Seriously? Agave attenuata ‘Kara’s Stripes’ and a bunch of other cool plants thoughtfully arranged in containers. There are tons of succulents in our hood, but not usually put together with this much care.

The Container Craziness Continues

Wholly crap, it doesn’t end! Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’ looking hot next to a golden Sedum with a dark purple Aeonium backdrop. Then something crazy happened. The owner of the house was out front saying good-bye to visitors, saw me freaking out taking tons of pictures and invited me out back to check things out.

Really?

Look at the beautiful raised bed down the center full of edible greens! This is how I envisioned our garden in a perfect world, but we drew the line at messing with hardscaping. As renters you have to draw the line somewhere.

Kalanchoe 'Fang' & friends

Dudleya pulverulenta (I think)

Man, this is embarrassing. You’d think I could easily pick out the difference between D. pulverulenta and D. brittonii by now, but I can never tell unless the two are both next to each other. My guess is for D. pulverulenta since the leaves don’t seem as narrow as the brittonii.

Lettuce land

Echium candicans

Big thanks goes out to Alan who let me check this fabulous garden out. I didn’t get to meet his wife/garden designer, but she did an amazing job!

 

 

Fiery Aloe Spikes

January 12, 2012 by Matti | 22 Comments

Aloe arborescens - Krantz Aloe

Aloe arborescens - Krantz Aloe

The Aloe arborescens are going crazy down in Pacific Grove, CA.  One of the best spots to see these blooming succulents is along Ocean View Blvd.  Take a stroll along the coastal path from the Pacific Grove Marine Gardens Park over to Hays Perkins Park…you won’t regret it.  (Update:  Sounds like the  parks are mislabeled and should both be considered Shoreline Park.  Thanks Katie.)

Aloe arborescens - Krantz Aloe

Aloe arborescens - Torch Aloe

Aloe arborescens goes by a lot of common names such as Torch Aloe, Candelabra Aloe, and Krantz Aloe to name a few. Common names are often descriptive such as Torch for its red flower spikes or Candelabra for their large leave rosettes. But the common name Krantz Aloe puzzled me. Turns out, it comes from the Afrikaner word, Kransaalwyn, which loosely translates to rocky cliff. In habitat, these succulent Aloes thrive in rocky ridges from sea level…all the way up to high mountain elevations. Seems the largest concentrations of them are found in southeastern continental Africa.

Aloe arborescens along Sunset Dr in Monterey Bay

Aloe arborescens along Sunset Dr in Monterey Bay

Having some fun with the iPhone, we stitched up a Hipstamatic of that same Aloe clump.  One thing we did notice was how stressed out the Aloes where still looking. The lack of rain this winter has kept the foliage looking redder than limey green.

Aeoniums in Bloom

Aeoniums in Bloom

The hiking trail meanders on for over a mile right next to the water.  Frolicking down the footpath, we found a number of Aeoniums blooming too.  Man, love those yellow conical clusters.

Matti and Max

Matti and Max

Max the Border Collie got to stretch his legs too; the place is pretty dog friendly as long as you keep them on leash.  Oh, check it out. Besides the Aloes…the Echium candicans (Pride of Madeira) were popping their purple spiky inflorescence. Aren’t those a fab combo?

Echium candicans & Aloe arborescens

Echium candicans & Aloe arborescens

Echium candicans - Pride of Madeira

Echium candicans - Pride of Madeira (syn. Echium fastuosum)

Echium candicans (syn. Echium fastuosum) produces oodles of little flowers on their bloom spikes.  Great plants for attracting pollinators.  If you’re ever down in the Monterey Bay area, we highly recommend taking a detour to this garden path.

– Far Out Flora

Ripping Even More Stuff Out

September 30, 2011 by Megan | 8 Comments

Sad Echium candicans

Tis the season to go crazy ripping things out & moving them around. I’ve been on a rampage lately.  Earlier in the month I went nuts on a succulent section. No plant is safe right now. This little corner was so pitiful I didn’t even bother taking a decent before pic of it (sorry about the glaring sun). About every three or four months I get pissed off at the Echium candicans for dropping it’s crappy little leaves all over the spiky Aloe below about to be pulled out. It starts with a couple snips here & there, but always ends with the Echium looking very sad. It’ll fill back in, in a couple weeks. Does anyone think my aggressive pruning could be the reason it’s never bloomed (we’ve had it for at least three years)? We threaten it verbally every Spring when all the other Echiums are blooming all over the place, maybe we made it sad?

Ripping it out

The Aloe you see strewn about was bought when we first moved here in a two inch pot. It’s hard to believe how huge it got in only a couple years. Someone in the neighborhood hit the free succulent jackpot with this rearrange. When we have extras, they get thrown on the curb & we tweet about it. I think we put out five succulent cutting filled flats this time.

Looks a little sad, but give it a few months

Matti brought home a Banksia blechnifolia from the loser pile at work (to the left of the piece of wood holding up the rickety fence). It’s our first Banksia & sounds like it loves life in sand, on the coast. It’s a prostrate, shorty. As long as I remember not to fertilize it with anything that has phosphorus it in. Eventually we’ll have to move the deformed Echeveria subrigida & Agave vilmoriniana (they were both crammed in an unfortunate spots earlier).

Senecio cristobalensis

This corner was too sad for before pics. It’s still looking a little crazy, but much better than the mess it was before. I ditched two of the Dahlias due to powdery mildew & just being sick of them. Check out the nice trunk forming on the Senecio cristobalensis. Maybe this winter it won’t get totally pummeled by the rain & winds.  There’s a Phygelius in the container where our Dianthus superbus sat unhappy for about six months. In another couple months, I’ll probably have to redo this section again. Now that we have ridiculous quantities of plants, moving stuff around has become my favorite thing to do.

Fuchsia fulgens

After doing a little flickr searching, I realized that I didn’t even take pics of my Fuchsia glazioviana massacre a couple weeks ago. Of all the Fuchsias we’ve grown (we currently have over ten) F. glazioviana has been my least favorite. Crappy little flowers you can barely see, along with runners going all over place… it had to go, so I could move poor Fuchsia fulgens in to the spot of glory it deserves (it was crammed behind our Cestrum).

This weekend two of our favorite nurseries are having shin-dings. Succulent Gardens is having their extravaganza today & Saturday & Annie’s Annuals is having their fabulous fall party (plus all plants will be 20% off, this goes for online orders, too). I”ll be working at Annie’s party on Sunday, so stop on by & say hi.

August 5, 2010
by Megan
4 Comments

Half Moon Bay Nursery

Half Moon Bay Nursery has been one of our favorites since moving to SF. I stopped by the other day and took some iPhone pics. Not sure why I didn’t bring the good camera with. A bunch of cute little … Continue reading →