Several years ago, I posted the first version of my “Twelve Days of Cactus” on GGW. This is an updated (and I hope improved) version that has a corresponding YouTube video complete with music. The “first day” of both is the same—that dove in a prickly pear tree is just too good not to use again. Now, see if [...]
No doubt you know that Garden Design is a fabulous “bookazine” for those who love luscious photos of gorgeous gardens and superb design. It’s a huge honor and a high point of my career to be profiled in the Spring 2016 issue as a “groundbreaker” (See “Succulent Chic,” pp. 32-35). Consequently, I took the opportunity to come out as a cactus lover. Well, [...]
Sunflowers and nautilus shells exhibit a geometric spiral that is found in many cacti and succulents. I thought you might enjoy some examples. Isn’t nature amazing? This is Aloe polyphylla, the spiral aloe. Next, some cacti. These are Sempervivum arachnoideum (cobweb houseleeks). This is a Medusa euphorbia. And another mammillaria. If the spiral form of [...]
Prickly pear cactus pads sometimes form hearts. I wonder what the plant is trying to tell us: “Be mine but don’t touch me?” This last is a mammillaria. (You can call her Ma’am.) Here’s a bit of trivia: I used to think that mammillaria got their name because they’re rounded like mammillary glands. But no, [...]
Shadows are as much a part of a Southern California summer as sunshine itself. These play with the imagination like a midsummer day’s dream. Above: Flowers of a columnar euphorbia. Above: Aloe flower and stair rail. Above: Gazania bloom. Above: Cyphostemma buds and leaf. Above: A garden chair seat. Above: Pilosocereus pachycladus. Above: Echeveria agavoides. [...]