Far Out Flora

Gardening in the Outerlands of San Francisco

TED’s Garden

December 20, 2011 by Matti | 5 Comments

Dudleya attenuata

Dudleya attenuata

You know the term, a man’s man? Well if there’s such thing as a gardener’s garden…this is the place.  What a treat it was to visit Ted Kipping’s private oasis over in the Glen Park neighborhood.  When Ted isn’t traveling to exotic locations seeking out rare plants in habitat or working his business at Tree Shapers, he’s constantly tweeking his garden.

Scleranthus biflorus

Scleranthus biflorus

Ted has several hypertufaesque containers tucked in throughout his space. After I stopped drooling over that first pic of the Dudleya attenuata, I saw his Scleranthus biflorus, which was looking lusher than ours.

Lewisia cotyledon

Lewisia cotyledon

I had a bunch of those…wow, why didn’t I think of that moments.  Here’s a plant we have in our garden, but his Lewisia cotyledon looked way more cooler than ours.  He does some amazing mini landscapes, and certainly influenced us to make our alpine container about a month back.

Dierama bee love

Dierama bee love

Megan tells me that Dierama are hot right now. The bee and me would have to agree.  Sometimes called Fairy’s Fishing Rods, they fall in the same family as Crocosmia and put on quite a show.

Begonia foliosa var. miniata

Begonia foliosa var. miniata

Agave parryi

Agave parryi

Agave parryi, always a fav.  Slow growing, its gray spiky foliage spans to about a 30-inch diameter.  Stunning accent plant, indeed.

Bromeliad fence

Bromeliad fence

His Bro Fence was sweet. Ted shared with us a little trick.  He uses a variety of Bromeliads to fill in holes and gaps within his garden until he finds just the right plant for that space.  Since many Bros are easy to transplant and move around…they work well for his technique.  Small potted plants work the same way.  Brilliant.

Brugmansia & Blue Sky

Brugmansia & Blue Sky

Gratuitous Brugmansia and blue sky shot. It was one of those gorgeous fall days.

Plectranthus awesomus

Plectranthus awesomus

Score! Ted dropped us a couple cuttings including a pinch of this shady loving limy Plectranthus.  It’s gonna look great on our shady side.

Hey, if you get a moment, you must check out Ted’s Tree Shapers and see what makes him one of the most skilled Arborist in the Bay Area and beyond.  You rock Ted!

– Far Out Flora

Australian Astroturf: We Love & Kinda Hate You

September 27, 2011 by Megan | 11 Comments

Happy Scleranthus biflorus

What’s the deal Scleranthus biflorus? We’ve tried to grow this a couple of times & have killed it every single time in a container & in the ground. After murdering so many of these in the past I was hesitant to bring one home again, but we had an opening on the sunny side of the garden. They have seemed to hate part shade & regular water from our previous experiments (I think Matti thought it needed a lot of water & gave it extra). This time around I split it up in to two chunks. This one above is right next to the sidewalk that gets a quick hose down once a week & is doing A-okay with its new Aeonium friends.

Not so happy four feet away

So about four feet away, maybe even three I stuck this unhappy camper in the ground (same as happy camper above). Notice the drip line just sticking out like a sore thumb a couple inches away? That’s the only difference between the two. A little bit of water drips out once a week for about 30-45 minutes.  Seems like it dislikes average to what some would consider in almost pure sand, low water. Anyone else had success with this one on the coast with helpful hints? We really want to make it work.