Favorite Photos & Nurseries

The last few days have been blazing hot (for Laguna) so I've spent afternoons in the shade reviewing my collection of succulent photos. Why do I have a collection of succulent photos? When I first started making succulent arrangements, I couldn't get enough of succulents. In containers or in the ground, it didn't matter. Friends kept giving me tips on places where they'd found great ones. When time allowed I'd stick my camera in my purse and head out. The photos in this post are some of  my favorites. They still inspire me.

My all-time best-loved photo is this shot of a vintage truck with agave. I took it at Island View Nursery in Carpenteria. Two of my favorite things - succulents & rust. This is a must see nursery not only for its unique outdoor artifacts & plants but also for the greenhouses full of tropicals & asian antiques. Total happiness is a visit there.



Along the paths leading to the main buildings are succulent gardens. There's nothing like succulents & rocks.

Except maybe succulents & dinosaurs. This metal sculpture is one of several surprises on the grounds.



The spikiness of agaves & palms is accentuated by the graceful curves of Mexican sage flower stalks.

Inside is wonderland. I dare you to come out of this building empty handed. I won't bore you with all the photos I took, I'll just tease you with the last one below.

The first time I visited Island View Nursery was with friends who were overnighting in Carpenteria. I drove down from Buellton where I was living at the time & we went nursery hopping. Later I visited again with my daughter. The third time I remembered to bring my camera. This photo is the transition from one green house to another.

Months later & further down the coast I visited Cedros Street in Solano Beach. This planted truck, about 3-4 feet long, may have been my inspiration for planting vintage toy trucks. It's on the grounds of Cedros Nursery, a plant candy store. This part of San Diego county brims with quality succulent nurseries & stores. I've found varieties that I couldn't find anywhere else. Plus the shopping is FUN.

A block from the nursery is Chickweed, an outdoor boutique run by 3 ladies who pot plants. They've sourced a potter who supplies them with handmade ceramics. The ladies do the planting. Oh, to be able to make pots again! They're gifted designers & their combinations continue to inspire me.



Three more handmade pots with imaginative plantings.

A little further along Cedros is a pottey whose name I don't remember. Succulents look great with their glaze colors. Many of their pots are featured in Debra Lee Baldwin's book, Succulent Container Gardens. Debra's book is my bible.

These succulents grow at The Camp in Costa Mesa, another cool shopping location. The grounds & store fronts are planted with succulents & other low-water plants, like this combination. I'm impressed with the large rock ground cover around the plants.

Love these blues yellow & greens against the red wood.

In Newport Beach is Roger's Gardens where they've planted the parking lot with succulents as well as parts of the grounds inside the nursery. Walking the parking lot is almost as good as walking the grounds, if you're a succophile like me.

This foursome is planted in the middle lower level of Roger's Garden. This area gets morning sun and afternoon shade 3/4 of the year. The big agaves and aloes grow like show specimens. Inspired landscape design.

White rocks, blue & green succulents on a shady hillside.

Closer to home is Dana Point Nursery, the succulent motherlode.

The woman who creates the succulent arrangements has worked for the nursery for over 20 years. She is a legend, fast & very very good. This 3 foot wide hanging moss basket is the best composition I've ever seen. It sold. Damn. I'm still inspired whenever I pull up this photo.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Clara's Amazing Garden

Clara lives in Bluebird Canyon, a micro-climate, like Laguna's other canyons, where winter frost is fairly common. Clara's garden is at the very bottom of the canyon so she's able to grow a surprising variety of plants. 

Clare invited me over to see her new sun deck & Asian Lillys while they were still in bloom. To view the garden we started from her back deck at street level & descended the shaded walkway leading through tree ferns, tropicals, shade plants galore.

Besides flowers and plants to admire are some wonderful garden sculptures.



Three frogs trying not to get involved ...

A Gargoyle thinking....

 Under a redwood tree a birdhouse waiting for a family.

Just above the canyon floor facing the afternoon sun, is Clara's new deck. She works, works-out & gardens. At the end of the day she takes a glass of wine down there to admire the fruits of her labor. Before the deck was built Clara & Jake, her husband, had to remove a two story high Giant Bird of Paridise plant that had outgrown its position. While they were digging and hauling they realized this location was the sunniest place in the garden and would be perfect for a sundeck & some SUCCULENTS!

Newly planted succulents fill in the construction chinks.  A terra cotta god guards, while the ducks maintain their row.

Speaking of ducks....

Clara is a serious gardener. She recycles & composts. She grows flowers but also fruits, herbs & vegetables. She has a unique way of keeping snails & bugs under control. She keeps ducks. They're a bit hard on the lawn but are really efficient at finding protein snacks. They seem to like being in a row too.

Looking at the house from the sun deck you can see the duck house with its open door. Every evening the ducks must be put away or coyotes or racoons will kill them. A few have gone that way over the years.

The Asian Lillys were in bloom. Clara's house has cut flowers year round.

This is Babe, the black Lab, sniffing around the compost bins.

Hidden among the grasses,  the duck pond.

Just above the pond, along the lower fence line is another path leading to Clara's vegetable & flower terraces.

Behind the wire barrier, protection from the ducks, are squash plants. Leaves of rhubarb and cannas are a few of the vegetables & flowers growing side by side on the terraced slopes above the lawn. Just out of view are berry vines, herbs, you name it. I forgot to say that Clara is a fabulous cook. What she grows her family and friends get to enjoy. Her salsa is legendary.

Some giant Red Sunflowers towered over me as I navigated the soaker hoses on an upper terrace.

Just past the Sunflowers, Clara checking out a noise in the trees above her. On the right, what's left of a big crop of sweetpeas. Never mind, the Lillys are blooming. Daisys, dalias & many others will take their place soon enough.

Its hard to grasp with photos the size & scale of Clara's garden. It looks like Eden doesn't it? You can barely make out the chain fence under the pine trees at the top of the yard & on the other side a palapa belonging to Clara's neighbor. This garden is big. It has apple, nectarine, orange, apricot, peach & avocado trees & probably more I've forgotten to mention.

After making our way down the terrace steps out of the vegetable & flower garden I looked back & saw an orange tree beside an apple tree, both bearing fruit. Now how does she do that?

Just underneath the apple & orange trees are more Asian Lillys stealing the show.

Just before we left the lower garden Clara pointed out an area I'd missed. Behind a great mound of tall grasses was this delightful birdbath sitting in deep shade.

Below the house, in shade most of the day, but lit up late in a summer afternoon, we saw this combination of ginger, canas, tree ferns, camelia trees and flowering somethings that Clara said hadn't bloomed at all until this year. Some of the tree ferns are higher than a house. I was in overwhelm by this time.

On our way up the long path to the house Clara pointed out one of my favorite Kalanchoes (the green/beige sculptural thing) & a stone temple that had earlier been in shadow. 

A few steps  further on we spied this fabulous buddha peaking out from behind some folliage.

Somewhere along the path this bowl appeared.

Some pots set down & left have slowly been covered with ficus vines. Notice the duck just above the pots.

 Gargoyle better figure it out before the ficus takes over.

I missed this on the way down. Babe is one of a series of Labs who've lived here.

If you've ever tried to grow burro's tail succulents you'll appreciate this one. Must be 4 or 5 feet long.

On the upper deck is a south facing area where sun loving plants do well. Lots of cuttings and repotted plants start here.

What an amazing garden! On my way out I took this shot of one of Clara's newly planted Tuberous Begonias. It will do well, like all the other plants that are lucky enough to grow in Clara's garden.

A Short Walk in the Hood

Being a fan I tend to notice succulents wherever I go. My neighborhood is a goldmine, it turns out. After noticing them in my neighbors' gardens in surprising combinations I decided to document my discoveries in a two-block area around my house.

 Some well preserved bungalows with cottage style gardens are right across the street. Nestled in the plant mix are succulents. That was surprising to me because I thought this type of garden needed lots of water. Can succulents do well with regular water? Some can as long as the soil drains well.

Common senecio bluefingers add contrast & grow well near the curb where they get morning sun.

A few doors down the street is a cute bungalow with traditional white picket fence and boxwood hedge. Who would have thought a row of aeoniums & euphorbias (sticks on fire, my fav) would show up between the two?

A block away are some professionally landscaped areas in front of multi-family buildings. This combination is a strikingly beautiful example how succulent plants can be used. Among the plants metal (or stone) sculptures add an architectural element to the landscape design.

Another view with fan palm leaves.

A few doors down the street is an example of  really creative landscape design. The grounds are very formal with waterfall, bronze sculpture, classical urns etc. Succulents show up everywhere and seem to blend right in. Above are small Norfolk Island pines, euphorbias and agaves.

Bluegreen agaves, red begonias, chartruse pittosporum & white boulders set off the formal plantings behind.

Just inside the main entrance are a pair of stately urns holding some rather humble succulents. These urns receive only early morning sun. Adaptable plants they are, this may be just enough.

To soften a blank wall near the parking area a group of potted succulents.

Hidden from the street is a raised sun deck with succulents draping the rail. Behind the deck is what looks like a forest of majestic Norfold Island Pines. When I think of the traditional use of succulents in low-water desert like settings and then see combinations like this, I'm amazed, delighted.

Green euphorbia peaking through branches of Norfolk pine.

Up the street from my house is a rock wall where plants have been left alone to combine as they will. Behind them an old jade tree adding another layer of color.

Across the street from the wall is this delightful color combo. Blue green agave, blue flowering statice, purple fountain grass with yellow blooms of an artemisia. All are drought tolerant sun lovers.

On Linden is this great succulent grass combo. Red plant is kalanchoe luciae (paddle or pancake plant.) Nice how the plants pick up the stone and brick colors of the hardscape.

A few doors up the hill from the grass combo is this magical streetside garden with magenta blooming calandrinia (succulent that does best with regular water), kangaroo paws in the background, a pittosporum bush with fruit tree behind & other color plants to add interest.

Further along this curbside garden is this little aeonium rosette cluster.

I hiked over one more block and discovered this succulent (elephant bush) blending with ivy and nandinas so effectivley that it almost disappears.

A few doors down this street is a great example of lawnless low-water landscape. I love the kalanchoe beharensis growing against the house. They're so scuptural. The bluegreen groundcover's name escapes me but I recognize the clumps of blue fescue grass. It looks like a waterless garden but I see sprinkler heads popping up. Everything here does better with a little water on a regular basis.

In an unlikely setting next to a curb a well-loved cactus with iron work & yellow flowers.

Here's another unusual combination. This garden is totally tropical. Look how well the aeoniums in pots blend in with the birds and bananas. Nice gate color! I couldn't resist imagining some "sticks on fire" euphorbias behind the rosettes in those pots though.

Just past the gate is this railing shot with u guessed it, more succulents. I started off this slow photo walk with one idea of how to use succulents in a garden and came home with a much broader concept, thanks to my neighbors and those really great pro landscapers. Hope you enjoyed the tour. And thanks for hanging in there.