Friday, April 3, 2020

Part Two of my 2019 visit to the Ruth Bancroft Garden

Yesterday I began a tour through the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California, with photos I took in 2019, today we continue...

The spiral aloe, Aloe polyphylla. I had one of these with a good spiral going, unfortunately I was careless when I took it out of the shade pavilion greenhouse one spring and it was burnt so badly by the sun that it would have taken forever to grow out of the damage, I just tossed it.

Last spring Alison of the blog Bonney Lassie brought me a baby plant she grew from seed, it's amazing how much it grew over the summertime. I'm being very careful with this one, no sunburn— and no snails!

Another amazing Agave ovatifolia...

The agaves are numerous in the garden.

The flowering plant is a sonchus of some sort, I'm not sure which one, but they're all in the dandelion tribe.

Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt'

Agaves I'm not going to attempt to identify...

Agave 'Sun Glow'

I have no memory whatsoever of the plant these "cheese curl" blooms were attached to. **UPDATE: according to Gerhard these wacky blooms belong to Acacia denticulosa**

The nursery! Wanna buy some plants? I know, me too...

Opuntia sulphurea 'Penca'

They were getting ready for a plant sale the day after our visit, so there were extra tables set up. That's new visitor/education center building behind the plants.

Leucopermum 'Veldfire'

Doesn't this sign seem to say "you know you want to come back here, but you can't... so there!"?

Wowsa! This aloe was next to the parking lot. **UPDATE: it's an Aloe karasbergensis, thanks Gerhard!**

This guy is just daring you to try and park there. Doesn't it look like he could slide right off the wall and on to the front of your car?

$225 and this beauty went home with someone.

I'll finish this post with a look at the "fence gang"...

This is a smart way to secure a plant while it roots.

I hope you have a chance to visit the garden sometime soon, after things return to some semblance of normal...

Weather Diary, Apr 2: Hi 52, Low 40/ Precip .07

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

16 comments:

  1. The "cheese curls" plant is Acacia denticulosa aka sandpaper wattle. I've been wanting one for years, but don't know where I'd put it.

    The stunning aloe next to the parking lot is Aloe karasbergensis, a fickle beast (I just lost my fourth one to rot).

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    1. Thanks for the names! Fourth one eh? Yikes.

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  2. To shop in their nursery would be a succulento-phile's dream. The agave oozing over the wall looks like a giant octopus in 20 000 League's Under the Sea type movie. Kindo of creepy but cool too.

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    1. I agree about the agave...I swear it moved a few inches while I was watching it.

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  3. Great shots Loree, thanks for sharing.

    The Agave ovatifolia look really healthy and I have never seen pleating effect before. It's almost as though they have been crossed with a Veratrum!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed! And yes...I agree about the A. ovatifolia. I think they might be 'Vanzie'.

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  4. Their plants look so healthy and beautiful and that Aloe polyphylla is stunning! Who would ever tire of looking at it?

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  5. I want to shop that nursery! And I'd love to stroll through the Forbidden Zone. The cheese curl plant is rather fascinating too. Although that struck me as a perfect description of the plant, it failed to generate any prospects from Google.

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    1. Gerhard says it's Acacia denticulosa.

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  6. Love those shade sails almost as much as the plants.
    rickii

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  7. I'm glad Gerhard was able to identify the cheese curls... I was going to call them Cheetos! I used to think the spiral aloe is Photoshoped, but not any more. Its amazing to have an agave that was started from seed and I'd love to see it starting to spiral.
    The flowering sonchus is kind of gorgeous and I only wish is had populated the neighbors's lawn instead of dandelion.

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    1. Nope...that aloe is very real! I have a Sonchus canariensis that usually blooms right about now. No blooms this year though...

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  8. Ingenious with the rooting cactus! What a special place, I really like the Leucospermums, the blue Agaves, and the spiral Aloe.

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  9. Can't wait to go back and have a look again once the world returns to normal. How much longer?!

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