Cyphostemma juttae
The days are getting shorter, the weather wetter and like it or not, winter – IS – coming. Nothing makes you miss a summer vacation to a hot cactus wonderland like a couple weeks of good old fashioned British Columbia rain and gray. Let’s take a moment to forget the wet boots and mud puddles and reminisce of warmer days.
Add this one to your bucket list if you have a fascination in exotic plants, The Huntington Botanical Gardens is truly a national landmark. Famous for it’s large amassment of established rare flora, the garden has one of the finest collections of outdoor cacti in the world. Beyond succulents, the property also has many other incredible plant collections organized into over a dozen specialized gardens. Wander through a lush bamboo forest into a dry Australian prairie, up through a Camellia forest and across a bridge to the Japanese Gardens. Whether you’d like to visit a cloud forest in a glasshouse, indoor bog or art museum, anyone with good taste will find satisfaction in a trip to this awe inspiring location.
To start off I’ll share some of the photos I took in the succulent gardens. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in my entire life.
Upon entering you’re greeted by agaves and aloe trees.
Large Agave attenuata in a sea of Aeoniums
In Canada we grow our aloes in terracotta pots, here they grow as big as trees.
This euphorbia was well over 15 feet tall.
A large Pachypodium (madagascar palm) in flower.
While my Cyphostemma juttae grows painfully slow, this one looks better than ever. I love fat plants.
Speaking of fat plants, Tylecodon paniculatus.
More aloes that rival small trees.
Large euphorbia.
A favorite of many caudiciform collectors, one of the largest Dioscorea elephantipes in cultivation.
Gnarly caudex.
A twisted labyrinth of cacti and succulents.
The geometric shapes of euphorbia never cease to amaze.
I was happy to have encountered this clump of Haworthia forming these incredible emerald hills.
It looks as though these notocactus leninghausii are looking at someone. Is it something I said?
I’ve never seen so many specimen worthy succulents all packed into on location. This shot reminds of me a Richard Scarry picture.
A rather charming clump of a personal favorite, Parodia magnifica.
Oreocereus celsianus.
Mammillaria geminispina
Impressive clumps of Echinocereus grusonii were abundant throughout the garden.
Although not exactly rare in cultivation, the size of these clumps is certainly impressive.
Need I say more?
Mammillaria compressa looks good on it’s own.
..but looks better in mass.
This one looks well defended.
Don’t touch.
There were also abundant large specimen agave in all shapes and sizes.
Lovely spiky rosettes.
An oldgrowth Queen Victoria Agave.
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Please note the large agave bloom spike center stage.
They just grow bigger down here.
Field of echeveria
Aeonium cristate
Aeoniums
A towering yucca tree in bloom under the hot Californian sun.
Knobby Cactus. (ID PLEASE)
Fresh from Mars, they’ve landed.
Speaking of knobby cacti check out this impressive Lophocereus schottii var. monstrose.
…And now for some flowers
Stapelia gigantea in bloom, mind the odor and take it from me, do not get down on your knees and take a big whiff. You might want to eject your lunch, they don’t call it a carrion flower for nothing.
Aloe blooms.
Whew. Are you’re legs sore? Hearts warmed? Heat Stroked and Sun Burnt? No… Oh wait, we’re still in Canada aren’t we.
Theres no place like good old wet home.
Thanks for joining me on this tour, and thank you Huntington Gardens for preserving such an incredible destination. Stay tuned for more photos of other parts of the Huntington Gardens.
I love living in Victoria, but it does have it’s limitations. What’s a plant geek to do when he exhausts his local sources? Head down south of course!
We took the 101 all the way down to L.A and what a pleasure it was to ride on new roads, unexplored. The coastal highway through Washington, Oregon and California is absolutely to die for and one couldn’t hope for better scenery. For someone with a botanical eye you’ll find extra interest in the large variety of unusual plant habitats. Driving through coastal forests, into dunes and deserts, sandy hilltops and subtropical jungles, it’s a tough ride indeed. Still through the arduous journey of greasy spoons and motel box-springs, we carried on in search of some of the most famous botanical gardens the West Coast has to offer. To start off on a high-note I’ll begin with one of my favorites, UC Botanical Garden @ Berkeley.
Being exceptionally shortchanged on enthralling botanical gardens, a Canadian needs to head south if he’s seeking the exotic. I’ve read about the botanical gardens at Berkeley for some time now and I’m thrilled to have finally been able to visit them. San Francisco is a Zone 10, making it just a little bit easier to grow a subtropical garden. Wouldn’t you know it I saw all my favorites, and some new things too. This place must be the holy grail for growing strange and unusual plants, the city’s lowest recorded temperature is a mere -3C ( 26.6 F). Bingo!
Let’s take a look at some strange specimens shall we?
A large impressive Dudleya brittonii (Chalk Dudleya) greeted us at the entrance. San Marcos Growers has a great description right here.
They had a mighty fine fern house full of many spored obscurities. Behind the glass an incredible mixed collection of orchids and carnivorous plants.
This Elaphoglossum peltatum (Elephant Fern) really caught my eye.
Perhaps the people of the south are no longer impressed by giant opuntias, but this one had me shocked and amazed. This one was so old growth it had branches like an old tree. Needless to say it was bigger then the car that got me down here, it must have been quite old indeed.
Every this way and that I saw another impressive succulent display. Here we have a very large clump of Euphorbia coerulescens growing happy as can be outdoors. Sure makes you feel silly for nursing along a small cutting in a windowsill. I digress…
Euphorbia coerulescens
The more south I drove the clearer it became. Could we all have have giant aloe trees in our back yard down here?
Drum roll please! I was also lucky enough to spot a recently flowered Boophone haemanthoides. South African bulbs remain a personal favorite.
Oldgrowth cyphostemma juttae looks like gnarled rock.
Amaryllis belladonna blooming amongst exotic cycads.
Euphorbia clavarioides tucked between some rocks.
What a lovely aloe polyphylla you have there.
Sure, try to tell yourself this isn’t the coolest thing you’ve ever seen. Correct-o-mundo!
Oh? And then there were the agaves. So much larger then the ones we grow at home.
Some were even flowering, reaching well above the canopy.
It seems I was a day too early, these agave buds are about to pop!
UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens is a lush to say the least. A true paradise for any aspiring botanist, naturalist and/or human being.
Dianthus rupicola simple elegance.
An exotic brugmansia
Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata otherwise known as a grass tree.
A quick peak into their tropical house yielded a treasure of large established strange and unusual.
This bird of paradise is well over 20 ft tall.
They also had this incredible art piece in which various lengths of glass tubing brought in light into a dark room, thus making the tubes appear to glow.
Dazed and confused in a cactus garden down south.
Thank you for joining me on this tour.
