succulents Archives - Summer-Dry | Celebrate Plants in Summer-Dry Gardens

18 05, 2023

Agave striata

Agave striata

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:37:49-07:00Categories: Blog, succulents, Nora Harlow|Tags: nora harlow, succulents|

There is a place in almost every garden for the calming effect of architectural or sculptural plants. These provide vivid contrast in texture and form to the blowsy, undisciplined character of many of our favorite perennials and shrubs. Some are grasses, some are yuccas, some are dasylirions, and many are agaves. Agave striata, with the common name of narrow-leaved century plant, is a distinctive example. Agave striata with Yucca baccata (behind) and Yucca parryi var. truncata (in front) Agave striata is a fairly small plant, two to three feet tall and wide, with a spherical rosette of

5 01, 2022

Aloe arborescens

Aloe arborescens

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:33:09-07:00Categories: Blog, Garden Plants, shrubs, succulents, Nora Harlow|Tags: great plants, nora harlow, shrubs|

There is nothing timid about Aloe arborescens. At six to eight feet tall and at least that wide, with multiple, densely packed rosettes of thick, succulent, bluish gray-green leaves, this adaptable, shrubby aloe takes the stage wherever it is planted. Native to summer-rainfall southeastern Africa, the torch aloe, as it is often called, also thrives in mild-winter, summer-dry climates. Aloe arborescens Not content to dominate by size alone, in winter this aloe sends forth upright spikes of intensely red or red-orange, tubular flowers that rise two feet above the leaves. A mature plant with dozens of flowering spikes

17 05, 2016

Agave parryi

Agave parryi

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:26:19-07:00Categories: Blog, succulents, California Native|Tags: nora harlow, shrubs|

Agave parryi Agave parryi is quite variable, some forms or varieties an ethereal blue-gray, others a silvery gray-green, some with leaves that are broad and rather blunt on top, others with narrower and more elongated leaves. But all are elegantly symmetrical, and all bear leaves with distinctive dark brown to maroon to almost black marginal teeth and an equally dark, viciously sharp terminal spine. Agave parryi grows fairly slowly to about two to three feet tall and wide, and most spread by offshoots or “pups.” As the plant grows the leaves open from a tightly packed central core,

3 05, 2016

Dasylirion

Dasylirion

Nora Harlow2024-06-27T19:26:18-07:00Categories: Blog, shrubs, succulents|Tags: california native, nora harlow, shrubs|

Dasylirion wheeleri in succulent border with barrel cactus in foreground A boldly architectural plant for big drama in pots or in the ground, Dasylirion wheeleri (desert spoon or sotol) forms a dense, symmetrical rosette of long, narrow, silvery blue-green, somewhat twisted leaves with aggressively hooked teeth along the margins and attractively frayed straw-colored tips. Over time plants develop a short, stout trunk, which may not be noticed unless older brown leaves are removed. Native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, Dasylirion wheeleri is rather widely available in the trade. Several other dasylirions are available with a