Clouds at Sunset

Wish it weren't so shaky, but ay caramba, the clouds were beautiful.  Took the video back on February 1st — I was at the Crafton Hills trailhead off Oak Glen Road, on the way home.

Aloe Walk Weekend: Sunday

Cannot. remember. its name [weeps]. Camperi...? 

Aloe Walk Saturday was terrific, and the next day was even better, if such a thing can be imagined. I'd talked to a fellow member of the Gates Cactus & Succulent Society earlier in the week and arranged to meet him on Sunday to pick up an Aloe marlothii. His garden was a marvel. I was too busy gaping at the aloes in the front and the drop-dead gorgeous Agave bovicornuta and the titanotas and ocotillos and greenhouses in the back to take many photos, but I had a great time.

And I made a trade — always a delight, especially when it happens out of the blue. We were looking at the ocotillos and I said that I had a hybrid (this one) in a pot at home and he said, "You do?!" Turned out he'd been looking for that hybrid, and I was happy to trade it away. Between the trade and the purchases, I wound up with a little Aloe ramosissima, my marlothii, a variegated Agave shawii, a little titanota 'Black and Blue,' an Aloe karasbergensis, and a lovely (no, seriously) Calibanus hookeri. Some cuttings as well. Note to self: your yard is not getting any bigger. I imagine there are people with dining room tables bigger than my backyard. (In related news, I look forward to the day when "How am I going to arrange all these plants?" is the biggest problem anyone on earth has to deal with :~/ )

This coming Saturday is the second Aloe Walk, with special Granite Hill Nursery goodness, so I'll be back. (Giving the San Diego Show and Sale a miss, this time around.) Then home for a flinty-eyed look at the backyard.

Sunrise in Arctic Bay

Sunrise from Clare Kines on Vimeo. "Three months after it set, the Sun reappears in Arctic Bay. Time lapse from about 10am to 2pm"

In addition to being the best birder in Baffin County, Nunavut, Clare Kines is a great photographer. Check out his Flickr photostream here.

Aloe Walk Weekend: Saturday

At the Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center. Mood: real darn happy. 

Just an excellent SoCal winter weekend. The weather was fine, there were lots of birds and beautiful aloes and agaves everywhere I looked, and I found cool plants at at the Discovery Center's Granite Hill Nursery. Even made a cool plant trade, yay. 

Saturday morning was the annual Aloe Walk at the JMDC, led by succulent master Buck Hemenway. (We actually spent more time with cactus and agaves than with aloes. A good group — Riverside Master Gardeners were there in force, taking lots of notes.) Buck and Yvonne Hemenway are in the process of moving to South Africa, and both were impressively bright-eyed on Saturday morning given the fact that they'd flown back from Africa on Friday. They've been very active (read "irreplaceable") in the local cactus and succulent societies for years, and it's a huge understatement to say they'll be missed. 

Some photos from the walk:

Aloe wickensii, now high on the want list.

Horrida? Lophantha? Tons of lophanthas nearby.

Ferocactus.

The grail...! Aloe marlothii. I have one of my own now, yay.

Looking northeast. 

Cylindropuntia City. 

There were agaves blooming everywhere.

Cochineal. You could do a total Lady Macbeth with this stuff, as Buck demonstrated.

Marah fabaceus, the California Manroot. Vine grows from a single taproot "as big as a man," or so they say.

This variegated Agave shawii just knocked me out. Traded for one the next day — a nice surprise.

Nutritious and delicious.

California's own: Agave shawii.

So beautiful. I got a little one at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden last year — still tiny.

My spoils. (Not shown: Mangave 'Bloodspot.' Such a wonderful day.) The lophantha and the titanota are for actual landscaping in my tiny yard, since I know they won't get too huge. The guiengolas are for the kitchen window. Kidding! They'll stay in containers and get humongous and need all kinds of protection from frost, not to mention snow, but I've always wanted a guiengola and when I saw the two of them sitting in the nursery, it felt like fate. $4.95...! 

Marlothii on my mind

OMG, they're everywhere. Good video, by the way. (Aloes, agaves start at 5:23.) I wonder where this was filmed...