Taft Garden Fridays; a look at the Agaves and Aloes

After visiting New York and starting to write about the gardens I saw there it occurred to me that I must be coming up on the one year anniversary of my visit to the Taft Garden in Ojai, California. A quick look at the photos I took that day confirmed it, I was there on November 18th! Time to share some photos...

This visit was my second to the garden, the first took place on Christmas Eve, 2015. That visit was magical, one of my very best garden visit memories ever—I wrote about it here.

My 2021 visit was lovely, but nothing like the first. Back then the garden was something of a secret, you had to know someone in order to visit. The directions were a little less than straightforward, it was an adventure! Now there's a website and an online reservation system.

Of course that progress means the garden has stepped towards being more of an institution, which is good for its longevity. It just means it doesn't feel quite as private when you visit.

Okay, that's enough of my rambling. I've broken my visit into two parts, this, the first, is all about the agaves, aloes and such. The second part—going up on Friday Dec 2nd—explores the South African and Australian plants. 

This pile of "to be planted" aloe cuttings were very near the entrance. Did someone just swing by and drop them off?

The garden's location in the hills around Ojai is gorgeous, picture postcard seclusion.

The tall aloes were just about ready to explode into full bloom

Ha, yes, the short ones too.

This table was interesting, I can only assume it was left from a guided tour or something like a Natural History Walk.

I loved looking at what they had collected.

Including bones...

I am not naming names here because there were very few labels that I could find and I do not know aloes. 

Hopefully you can just appreciate the beauty and form.

This I know! Cussonia spicata, the cabbage tree.

Oh, and I know this one too. It used to be Aloe plicatilis but is currently called Kumara plicatilis, the fan-aloe.

Now a look at their desert garden, which has expanded significantly in the 6 years between my visits. So many barrels!

At first I thought that bottom barrel cactus at the front was sort of shaped like a tagine, or like it was melting. Now I see there's a baby perched on top.

They're endlessly fascinating to me.

Even the fruits of this opuntia are covered with scores of brown glochids.

Agave shawii is such a stunning agave.

I wish it were hardy in my Zone 8.

More plants waiting to be planted. Maybe these were all part of a rescue effort? A nearby garden that was being dug up?

Free senecio!

The light and the rocks had this Agave parryi looking like a reptile.

Now I've walked on to the older desert garden area.

I think the tall plants with the trunk are Furcraea macdougalii.

I may have gone a little over-board with the number of photos I uploaded, but I wanted to share all the beauty!

There's even beauty in the less-than-pristine.

On their way in? Or on their way out?

Doesn't that opuntia just look like it's happy to be there? So animated...

The final image from today's post. I consulted my go-to agave expert Gerhard, he says the plant in front is an Agave 'Blue Glow' that's just a little greener than most.

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree L Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.