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Cactus and Succulent Show Highlights

August 18, 2009

Plant Information

Held by three local cactus and succulent societies, the InterCity Cactus and Succulent Show drew hundreds of aficionados of these plants to Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Collectors of these weird and wonderful plants brought their most prized specimens to the event to compete for ribbons and medals. Let’s take a look at some of this year's entrants:

Adenium obesum subsp. swazicum

Adenium obesum subsp. swazicum, commonly called the ‘Desert rose,’ is an African plant related to oleanders and garden vinca. It is summer deciduous, losing all its leaves in the summer and relying on water and nutrition stored in its caudex, the large fleshy structure that appears as a mass of swelling roots at the base of its stem. Plants with a caudex are referred to as ‘caudate’ and are much in demand by collectors because of their monstrous,  unusual nature and because they are fairly easy to grow in containers. 


Aztekium ritteri

Aztekium ritteri is native to a single valley to the state of Nueva Leon in northeast Mexico where it is found growing out of almost vertical limestone and gypsum cliffs. Its genus name comes from its resemblance to the stair-stepped structure of Aztec temples. It is thought to be one of the slowest growing cacti on earth. 

Cyphostemma seitziana

Cyphostemma seitziana is a pachycaul succulent, a type of caudate plant that has a swollen stem that appears as a bottle shaped structure. It’s found in Namibia where it grows in desert areas.  It produces small flowers followed by fruit, but be careful, even though Cyphostemma seitziana is in the same family as table grapes, the fruit are poisonous to humans and animals. 

How to Spend More Time on MySpace, Less Time on Your Place:  Moving to a Low Maintenance Garden.

August 11, 2009

Plant Information

Dear Arboretum Plant Info,

As my wife and I grow older we’ve found that spending the time out in the garden necessary just to keep things looking decent takes a lot out of us. Instead of spending time in our garden exhausting ourselves weeding, pruning, and cleaning up we’d rather spend it chatting with our grandchildren on the internet. What can we do to make our garden “low maintenance"?

Signed,

Facebook Grand-Dad


Dear FBGD,

I assume you can’t pry your grandkids off of their computers for an afternoon of gardening with grandpa at your place; so in lieu employing your loved ones as day laborers I would suggest the following:

  1. Replace your lawn with a low water use groundcover.

  2. Replace all 'out of scale' plants or plants that require pruning to make them look good with smaller scale plants that do not need pruning. This will prevent weeds and cut down on weeding. Ideally the mulch layer should be at least 3 inches thick.

  3. Be sure to add new mulch at least every year. Note: This mulching routine might fail if you have a landscape of California natives. These plants are adversely affected by organic mulches because of the nitrogen formed when the mulch breaks down. California natives prefer inorganic mulches like gravel or decomposed granite. 

  4. Increase the amount of 'hardscaping' and unplanted areas in your landscape; fewer plants, less maintenance. 

  5. Mulch with shredded bark or other slow decaying organic materials.  

  6. Use low water use plants, they grow slower so they don't need as frequent pruning as higher water use plants.

  7. Do not fertilize. Broadcast fertilization isn't necessary for even high water use landscapes. There are individual exceptions, though (fruit trees, roses, azaleas, etc.). Adding nitrogen to plants makes them grow faster, thus you have to prune more.


-Arboretum Plant Info

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