Monday, August 17, 2009

Just like flowers – only better

Sometimes I find myself mentally comparing certain plants to flowers; usually they are succulents, but not always. As I was taking pictures for last Saturdays Bloomday, I took photos of several of these plants. Their structure, and sometimes their color, just look so flower-like. Do you agree? Oh, and I say "better than flowers" because they last so much longer!

Aeonium ‘Schwarzkopf’
Aeonium ‘Sunburst’
Aeonium ‘salad bowl’
Echeveria hybrid ‘afterglow’
Umbrella Palm, Cyperus involucratus
I bought these last 2 from the Rare Plant Research booth at the Yard, Garden and Patio show a couple years ago. They had no tags, they were on a table with just a sign and a price. I love them, but have no idea what they are. There was something else fun in the garden to take pictures of on Saturday, meet Loki…
Loki came to stay with us for a few hours, one of our neighbors rescued him from the backyard of a house she was watching for a friend. His tags had a number for a vet in Ohio. No offense to this little guy, but that seemed a bit far for him to travel on his own.
We put a lost dog ad on Craigslist, and he was spotted and returned home. Turns out the dog sitter had “lost” him. His family recently moved here and they were away on vacation. Luckily this story has a happy ending and a good lesson for us all: if you move be sure to update your pets tags with correct contact info right away!

9 comments:

  1. Ah, succulents...fabulous! I can't pass them by when a new one appears. Found one at Cistus named 'Oddity' (Echeveria), but it reverted to a more ordinary form over time.
    Good advice re tag updates. It would be heartbreaking to lose a pet as adorable as Loki.

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  2. So glad the pug is back home safely! Wow, you are quite the pug magnet. Your point is a good one. At least he wasn't dumped! That's what I thought was going to be the story. Phew. Good work, Sherlock!

    Your succulents are stunning. Do they call that pattern a rosette? If so, I guess the shape must be naturally remniscent of a rose.

    Thanks for your comment on my SF post, and all the plant IDs! I really don't know too many that I saw there, so it will just be pictures pictures pictures when I get around to putting more up. I have a million ideas for gardens and streets for you to check out, I'll try to email you before your trip. It's a little more subdued in October but still so pretty. I'll get working on a list and also have some book ideas that might be useful if you don't already have some.

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  3. Loki looks too adorable. I would not have minded keeping him!
    I love the perfect symmetry of many succulents. I think your last one is Echeveria "Black Prince".

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  4. Ricki, I must admit that there was a small part of me that was hoping maybe Loki would be staying with us. But since Lila (our chug) wasn't particularly enamored with him, and he already had a family, it's better this way.

    Karen, good call on the terminology...I believe you are right, a rosette. I really appreciate any SF suggestions that you can make. The Botanical Gardens and Flora Grub are already on the list, as well as UC Berkley (the husband LOVES college bookstores)...but we still have some time to fill.

    Nicole, thank you for the ID! I agree about Loki (see my comment to Ricki) but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

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  5. I can tell you where to eat if you like Asian food-Dosa ( south Indian), Osha ( Thai), At the Door, Slanted Door (Vietnamese), Samovar
    (teahouse with many exquisite small plates of different cuisines, inlcuding Moroccan).
    Sundays there is a gardener's market at the Ferry building-not sure if its on in Sept.

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  6. You're going to SF soon? If you want, I have an eat.shop San Francisco book you can take, it has good places to go. There was a good nursery in there, if I recall. And restaurants, although I'll be damned if I could find anything vegetarian to eat there, so I can't personally recommend anything.

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  7. Nicole, thank you! You are talking my husbands favorite language with those recommendations!

    Megan, we aren't going until October...I would love to borrow that book! Thank you! Was the nursery Flora Grubb? I am a little over all the PR it's been getting, but I figure it must be for a reason so I will be checking it out for sure.

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  8. Looking at the book now - Cactus jungle is one that looks good. Flora Grubb is in there, too. I get tired of hyped places too, but the book describes that place as having a chinese chippendale garden set that could be the piece de resistance for a fantasy Golden Girls lanai, so I'd be inclined to check it out just for the reference to the Girls.
    I have also bookmarked these on my travel wish list, I think an editor from Fine Gardening recommended them on Flickr:
    http://www.gamblegarden.org/
    http://www.filoli.org/

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  9. AnonymousJuly 21, 2010

    I just fell on your blog googling "echeveria afterglow" -> the other 2 echeverias below are Echeveria pulidonis (with the pink lines around the leaves) and echeveria 'Black Prince'

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