Far Out Flora

Gardening in the Outerlands of San Francisco

Cresting Succulents

November 28, 2011 by Matti | 13 Comments

Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' crested

Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'

We’re starting to get a sweet collection of cresting succulents these days. Check out this Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’. Fab color and adds a lot of punch amongst the green and gray succulent. Parents of this cultivar are Graptopetalum paraguayense and Echeveria gibbiflora. Crazy how some plants can cross breed between genera.

Graptopetalum paraguayense crested

Graptopetalum paraguayense crested

I believe this was the first cresting succulent that we had in our garden. Back in the day, we picked up some Graptopetalum paraguayense cuttings from a buddy. Turned out that a couple of them started to crest. We’re not exactly sure how, why or when cresting happens, but found this article from the Cactus and Succulent Society of America that explains some of it. Seems that the growing point starts to go a little funky where the single growing point turns into a growing line or plane. Then the plant may form a crest or fan shape. It’s not limited to just succulents, but can occur on a variety of other plants. Yesterday, we noticed that one of our Euphorbia flowers is starting to crest. Strange.

Echeveria 'Doris Taylor' crested

Echeveria 'Doris Taylor'

Here’s a cresting Echeveria ‘Doris Taylor’ which we added to our collection a couple of months ago. Recently, we saw one available over at Urban Bazaar, which was awesome. Sometimes known as the Woolly Rose, parents are thought to be Echeveria setosa and Echeveria pulvinata. It has hairy leaves and normally grows in a rosette.

Aeonium 'Sunburst' crested

Aeonium 'Sunburst'

Another fun succulent that I picked up from work is this cresting Aeonium ‘Sunburst’. You can really see the flat stem here caused from the growing point happening over a line. BTW, cresting is also known as Cristate.

NOID crested

NOID crested

Okay. These next two, we aren’t exactly certain what they are. Would love some help on IDing it…or even some guesses. If I had to take a bet, I would say this on above is some sort of Pachyveria.

NOID crested

NOID crested

Here’s another to we’re not exactly sure, but think it’s another Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’…just growing under different sunlight conditions in our garden.

Senecio vitalis crested

Senecio vitalis crested

Here’s a crester we no longer have, Senecio vitalis. The succulent was growing in a container and I think it got tossed during one of our revamping our garden sessions…oops.

Echeveria 'Winter Sunset' crested

Echeveria 'Winter Sunset'

We just planted this last one, Echeveria ‘Winter Sunset’ crested form. It has a cool looking stem and the rosettes are curving more than I could hope for. Does anybody have some fave succulents cresting in their collection? Would love to hear about them. Post some pics on our Facebook.

– Far Out Flora

Marvelous Magic Garden

November 11, 2011 by Megan | 10 Comments

Viola Frey Sculpture

I’m taking a little break from my Wisconsin blog-o-rama fest (there’s only one, maybe two more left, I promise) to show you some pics of a super sweet private San Francisco  garden we had the privilege of visiting back in mid-October. Right away we recognized the sculpture by Viola Frey. This amazing space was created by Aerin Moore and Christian Cobbs of Magic Gardens (their website is rad & they even have a nursery in Berkeley that I’m kind of embarrassed we haven’t visited yet). Here are a few of my favorite pics from the visit, but you can check them all out here.

Recycled wall

 

Aeonium 'Cyclops'

Sultry Salvia confertiflora

Succulents out front

Senecio vitalis & friends

 

Dreamy Euphorbia rigida

Passiflora bee party

 

Sweet Succulents In Our Garden

August 26, 2010 by Megan | 8 Comments

Echeveria love

Way back in the day we only had one Echeveria gibbiflora. Now we have at least three decent sized ruffle heads. We’ve had quite a few sunny days recently, so I took a bunch of pictures of our succulents out back.

Dunce caps are starting to happen

How adorable is this Orostachys iwarenge from Annie’s Annuals? I can’t wait for the cool flowers.

 

Sexy Kalanchoe sexangularis

We have a lot of random things jammed in all over the place. I’m not so sure this guy is really sexy, but I like it.

 

Santa Barbara Liveforever - Dudleya traskiae

I’m pretty sure this is a Dudleya traskiae from Annie’s. It’s been around for awhile.

 

A bunch of stuff

I hacked the sad looking tops off the Senecio vitalis recently. Ever since I let the evil parasite dodder attack it, it’s never been the same. I thought it was a bizarre orange part of the plant, but it turned out to be choking the life out of the Senecio. It took me hours to peel it off.  The Crassula falcata is looking a little tough, but it has a bunch of buds.

 

Aeonium spathulatum var. cruentum

I love this cute little guy. Another one from rock star Annie’s Annuals. We usually head straight for the succulent section.