Guess who I ran into

 at the Ruth Bancroft sidewalk sale?  GERHARD of succulentsandmore fame! 

New sidewalk planting, well new to me.

The first time I visited the garden was March 24, 2013.  After our move from Portland to (briefly) Santa Clara, then to Livermore, CA.  I was completely floored by the visit. It changed the way I wanted to garden. 

I found this photo of our first visit.  My son Vincent collecting agave or aloe pups.  Time flies!

We must have spent time exploring Walnut Creek, a week prior we visited Lindsay Wildlife Rehab . 

 This grizzly bear attacked Vincent, thankfully Sophia was there to save him!

Returning to present day, RBG had received it's last order from San Marcos Growers.  So many plants, they had to put a good amount in the parking lot.  25% off.  #1 on my list, Aloidendron  'Samson' a striking tree aloe. The following blurb from San Marcos Growers website:

 This hybrid between the very tall reddish pink flowering Aloe barberae from Natal and the yellow flowering more shrubby Aloe ramosissima of the Northern Cape was created by aloe enthusiast Sarmis Luters. 

We purchased our stock plant of this cultivar in the auction of the Aloe Summit held at Lotusland in 2013 and named it 'Samson' in 2016 at the time that we first started selling this plant. At that time, we were unaware of any other aloes having this name, but since we have become aware of other hybrid aloes sharing it, including a plant only listed as a Quiver Tree (Aloe dichotoma) hybrid from De Wett Aloes in South Africa and a Aloe dichotoma cross with Aloe barberae (the reverse of the parentage of the popular Aloe 'Hercules) that is offered by Rancho Soledad Nursery. This name confusion has prompted Jeff Chemnick at Aloes in Wonderland to use the name 'Spartacus' for this same plant instead. As this plant's parents have been reclassified as species of Aloidendron, this hybrid would correctly be called Aloidendron 'Samson', Aloidendron 'Spartacus' or whatever other superhero name gets applied to it. 

As luck would have it, there were 4 available.  As I was walking toward the back tent, one was being whisked away on a cart.  Ah, run!  I nabbed the 2nd one, the last 2 were quickly snagged. 

Back home with the beast, no damage.  In all the excitement and adrenaline rush from the day, 

I managed to get this out of the car myself.  It even has a little bloom! 

It was so great to run into Gerhard and his friend, Michelle.  We shopped, Gerhard picked out the best Agave victoriae-reg. 'White Rhino" for me. He has the most exquisite 'White Rhino' in his collection, so I was in good hands.  If I had 2, I'd want to wear them as earrings. 

Then, time to walk the garden.  I took a lot of photos,  here is a glimpse. 

Aloe ferox, I presume.  I need to go back in a month or so to see all the aloes blooming.  

Causarina glauca 'cousin itt' fit for napping on. 

The newish crevice garden was insane.  About this time we ran into Walker Young, Manager/Asst. Curator of the garden. Of course, a friend of Gerhard. What a lucky morning for me on both counts. 

He talked about how he went about picking the rocks from different quarries.  A behemoth job! This little fern looked so cute tucked in (sorry I don't remember the name).

Grevillea showing off.

Then Walker walked us over to the protective structure, one of my favorite beds. Gerhard is zooming in on something! 

Walker was going over information so quickly, and I kept getting distracted by my surroundings.  I missed part of this conversation, but I believe he went away for the weekend with the protective covering in place.  This agave bloom spike grew faster than he thought it would and got a little kink in it's neck. 

Stapelia 

I'll finish out with some combo shots that really got to me.  Wow.  

Agave nickelsiae, so pretty it hurts. 

Perfect trio of Agave victoriae-reginae.

Love all the swoops happening. 

I don't usually love ground hugging smaller aloes, but dang when they bloom it's a wonder.

Though it's silvery, this made me sing "bushy bushy blond hair doooo, surfin' USA"! 

and that's a wrap!  Then I saw this Lachenlia punctata in the distance, and had to go over to take a photo.  Do you ever disregard a plant, and then years later have an "a-ha" moment? That's pretty cool.  

A few minutes later,  I couldn't resist another purchase.  Lachenalia quadricolor.  Gerhard encouraged this behavior.  

A pretty great Friday.  In addition, I couldn't resist an Aloe recurva & fosteri.  

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!