Succulent garden

[Peter]

The light was nice in my succulent garden the other day so I thought I'd snap a few photos:

[Peter]

Continued:

[SubTropicRay]

Very nice garden.

[palmmermaid]

Very nice garden of succulents.  Looks like you have a pretty steep slope to deal with.

[Kris]

Dear Peter  

lovely stills of a lovely garden and i could see a buzie lady in your stills,i really enjoyed it !

Thanks & Love,

Kris  

[Carlo Morici]

Really nice, where is it?

Is the first Aloe shown A.vaombe? And the branched Pachypodium? Looks like P.rutenbergianum, but it should not branch so early.

Carlo

[Peter]

Thanks for the replies.  Carlo, that first aloe is a hybrid called A. hercules, which is a cross between A. bainseii(can't remember the new name) and another Aloe which I can't think of right now-Steve or Ron help me out!  Fantastic grower, very robust.  In the second post, the second image is of Aloe 'goliath' which is a cross between bainseii and A. vaombe, also a great grower.   And yes, that is P. rutenbergianum; I have two-one of which is unbranched and about 5' tall and just flowered(on the right hand side of image#3), and this one which probably was damaged early which caused it to branch.

[Carlo Morici]

Aloe bainesii is now called A.barberae. I like it and I also love A.vaombe.

A.barberae and P.rutenbergianum are true trees. Your succulent garden will become a dense (succulent) forest in some years.

Carlo

[Peter]

Yes, well we'll see how big the rutenbergianum's get here.  I don't think they'll achieve anything close to the size they get in the wild, but who knows as it's a fairly new tree for California.  It will get pretty crowded in there eventually though; might have to thin it out at some point in the future, but that's a good problem to have :-).

[mppalms]

I'm jealous.  I can't grow any Pachypodium outdoors year-round other than succulentum.  You have it too easy!

BTW, does anyone know where I can find Aloe 'Hercules'?  I assume it gets some of the hardiness of A. dichotoma plus the better structure of A. barbarae (bainesii).   I have some ISI plants of dwarf A. barbarae (wonder what that means given that the original can grow to 60') originally from Mozambique.  I'm hoping they will flower at some point and I will be able to share seeds..

Jason

[Paul S]

Carlo, we need to get Hercules into Europe somehow!  Anyone know where we could get bare-root plants or stem cutting?

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

(Paul S @ Jun. 29 2007,09:41)

QUOTE

Carlo, we need to get Hercules into Europe somehow!  Anyone know where we could get bare-root plants or stem cutting?

Hercules seekers...good news...Rancho Soledad just released their TC'd Aloe Hercules in 2 gal...not cheap, around $50...

Paul...I belive they will sell stage 4 liners overseas. Check out Rancho Tissue Technologies on the net.

Very cold hardy...mine were barely touched last January at 20 F ..

[paulgila]

i like the way its totally "velez-ed"!

great garden!the palm fits in well,too!

[Paul S]

Steve - thank you.  I've contacted them.  Now all I need to do is persuade some nurserymen mates of mine that they NEED to get Hercules.  but there is all sorts of other stuff there, too.  Aloe pillansii!  Not that it would be hardy here, but... do you grow this beauty?

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

(Paul S @ Jun. 29 2007,14:11)

QUOTE

Steve - thank you.  I've contacted them.  Now all I need to do is persuade some nurserymen mates of mine that they NEED to get Hercules.  but there is all sorts of other stuff there, too.  Aloe pillansii!  Not that it would be hardy here, but... do you grow this beauty?

Pillansii has eluded me to date...but it's on the list.

Herc would do well in England, I'd think. They will grow where it's cooler.

[Paul S]

Well, thats one thing we do well here - cooler.  Here we are at the end of June and it struggled to about 70F today.

Hercules seems to have something of the hybrid vigour about it?  They list another hybrid called Goliath, which sounds intriguing.  Is that familiar to you?

[mppalms]

Thanks for the reference, Steve in SoCal..

There's nothing like tree Aloes and palms in the garden..

Jason

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

(Paul S @ Jun. 29 2007,15:01)

QUOTE

Well, thats one thing we do well here - cooler.  Here we are at the end of June and it struggled to about 70F today.

Hercules seems to have something of the hybrid vigour about it?  They list another hybrid called Goliath, which sounds intriguing.  Is that familiar to you?

Goliath is a bit top heavy...seems to want to fall over. May do better in your cooler climate(slower growing).

Herc gets a massive 'footprint' under itself, which is one of it's admirable features. No doubt it will get Jubaea like in girth.

I'll try and post some picks of mine this weekend.

[Paul S]

Please do.  It looked great before.

What is the other parent - barberae and ?

[Walter John]

Love it, well done.

[Peter]

Here are a couple of photos of a 30yr. old hercules growing in Socal:

And here is a dwarf A. barbarae in my own garden:

[Paul S]

Wow.  Is the other parent dichotoma?  It seems to have the best of both.

In those 30 yrs what would be the coldest temperature the plant has seen?

[Kris]

Dear Peter  

what is the cycas at the foot of that herculeus ? and the chair

placed beside this plant gives us a picture as to how tall it

has grown in 30 years !

thanks & Love,

Kris  

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

Sorry Peter, your thread is quickly turning into a Herc thread...that's what you get for posting a pic of one...

Here's my biggest, started from a large cutting 2 years ago. It's well rooted, I just haven't remove the supports yet.

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

Here's my TC plant that I got as a small 15 gal last summer. It grows like a weed. Note the lower leaves with minimum frost damage, and how much it's grown since January freeze...amazing.

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

These are from a garden in Santa Barbara..

[Peter]

In 30 years, that Hercules has seen temps in the teens(fahrenheit); mine went to 20d this year, and I think Steve got even colder.

[Kris]

Dear Steve  

your house looks great ! and its is like a snow white fairly tale

kind of location..the breha's,the roses,staues,the water horse

collecting device,i cannot believe my eyes and the windows

having a wooden door though only ornamental it looks

fabalous.

i have never been a lover of flowering plants,but iam scared

for how long can i stay like that !

and the little cycas in the middle near that staue is well placed.

thanks for the feast,

love,

Kris  

[Paul S]

Thanks Peter.  

And Steve, lovely pics.  it is some plant.  It is also looking hopeful that we can get some into Europe from Rancho Soledad, too, so thanks for the heads up re TC plants.

20F is near enough -7C.  I haven't seen that level of cold for about 12 years.  I know that is only part of the picture, but you've got to start somewhere.  Very encouraging.  Something else that would be useful - if you fellows have the time and don't mind - would be other comparative damages in the same time frame.  So how did Aloe ferox get on?  Aloe arborescens?  Aloe maculata?  Aloe reitzii?  Aloe pratensis?  Any aloe that can take those sort of temps in your climate?

We grow a few here - I'll chuck in details later if anyone is interested - but I'm always on the lookout for hands on experience from you guys in case I have missed one to try.  Like 'Hercules'

[Fouquieria]

Well here's another Herc pic from a garden in Fallbrook.  This pic is about 5-6 years old and I forgot to take another one of it when I was there this last February.  

Cactus King nursery in Encinitas use to have some quite large potted ones.  They do seem to be quite vigorous.

Hercules is a cross between A. dichotoma X A. barberae.

Goliath is a cross between A. vaombe x A. barberae.

I've even read about a rare cross between A. pillansii X A. barberae.

[Walter John]

did I see roses ?

[Carlo Morici]

Mmmhhh...

Aloe barberae in Sorrento (So.Italy)

Carlo

[Peter]

Couldn't resist posting a photo of the largest A. barbarae I've ever seen.  This one is growing in Loran Whitelock's garden in Socal.  It's about 40 years old; Loran tells the story of carrying it on his back up the hill to it's current location; I think he said it was about 5' tall at the time.  It's now absolutely huge; at least 25' tall and wide, and the trunk has amazing girth; much larger than the specimens at the Huntington.  This photo is lacking a human for scale, but I think you get the idea.

[Carlo Morici]

This became a thread on giant aloes!

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

(Carlo Morici @ Jun. 30 2007,18:29)

QUOTE

This became a thread on giant aloes!

Don't blame me..Peter started it  

Paul...My Bainsii's got whacked pretty good, but will survive. They are more or less in the same area.

Kris...I have copious pics of my CIDP's getting a haircut...before/during/after...when I get a chance.

If you ever come to San Diego, you can stay here in Paradise with me and my wife. Could be a low cost vacation,,???

[Kris]

(STEVE IN SO CAL @ Jun. 30 2007,20:23)

QUOTE

Kris...I have copious pics of my CIDP's getting a haircut...before/during/after...when I get a chance.

If you ever come to San Diego, you can stay here in Paradise with me and my wife. Could be a low cost vacation,,???

Dear Steve  

Myself and all other phoenix lovers world wide are dieying to

see those CIDP trimming Stills...and we all hope to see those

process soon ! and a advanced special thanks for that.

and as for the invitation to fairy tale garden of your's,its very sweet of you to invite me over to your place.like most even iam anchored to my work and my city at the moment.i can think of travelling maybe after 6 or 8 years from now..

that's how things are here_thanks a lot.

Lots of love to you & your family,

Kris  

[mppalms]

Well, I'm inspired to find a 'Hercules'.  I guess I'll need to visit Rancho Soledad on my next business trip down to the San Diego area.  I can't seem to find anyone who will ship in quantities < 100 or so.

I think I'll also try to cross the Aloe 'medusa' (dwarf A. barbarae) with A. dichotoma when it flowers.  Perhaps a new and interesting hybrid will result.

Jason

[palmmermaid]

(Peter @ Jun. 30 2007,18:20)

QUOTE

Couldn't resist posting a photo of the largest A. barbarae I've ever seen.  This one is growing in Loran Whitelock's garden in Socal.  It's about 40 years old; Loran tells the story of carrying it on his back up the hill to it's current location; I think he said it was about 5' tall at the time.  It's now absolutely huge; at least 25' tall and wide, and the trunk has amazing girth; much larger than the specimens at the Huntington.  This photo is lacking a human for scale, but I think you get the idea.

Is that a Zamia horridus at the base of this magnificent aloe?

[Paul S]

Opened up again.

I cannot for the life of me persuade any of my nurserymen friends (or ex-friends ) to import a batch of TC 'Hercules'.  Expletives deleted.

Anyone any other ideas?  I wonder if it is possible that a cutting/small plant might fall into a box and find it's way across the Atlantic by mistake and earn eternal gratitude of recipient?  Getting desperate here...

[bahia]

Jason,

You should give Richard Ward a call at The Dry Garden Nursery, Oakland, Ca.,  510 547 3564, to see if he currently has any Aloe 'Hercules', as he usually sells this when he has made a buying trip down to Southern California.

Paul,

You should check out the list of Aloes being grown at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek on their web site to get a better idea of the hardiest Aloes grown here in northern California.  They get colder than you do in winter, but also do erect structures to protect the least hardy species in winter.  The summer baking would be a huge difference between your situation and Walnut Creek.  Here locally in Berkeley, I can tell you that Aloe arborescens takes a big hit in bad freezes, A. ferox seems to be hardier, and A. saponaria is the most ubiquitous.  H. reitzii is in my opinion very susceptible to rotting out without perfect drainage and full sun.  A. speciosa and A. x spinossisima  and A. thraskii did well here this past January with bouts of cold down to 27F, with no damage.

If you want to reply to me off forum, and let me know the best way of getting cuttings of A. 'Hercules' to you, I would be glad to do it.  This is not exactly common around here, but it isn't rare, either.