The affects of the big freeze that we had here in Northern California in early December are starting to really show.
Some of the frost damaged foliage that was left in a state of blackened mush is starting to accumulate a variety of molds and that is a sad sign that a succulent plant is done for.
Other plants that normally start to push out growth during our mild winter climate are still sitting dormant and showing no signs of regenerative life.
I think it might be too cold for the winter dormancy to break.
Usually I see new growth on many of the aeoniums but they are sitting silent.
Hopefully N. California gardeners will start to see the pushing of new life in the next month in some of our succulent and bromeliad gardens.
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I don't know, Michelle. From your rather downbeat intro, I expected to see mush or at least a few browned leaves. But by the time I reached the last photo I was goggle-eyed again and wishing I could see your garden up close and in person. Looking gorgeous...
We just had a couple of weeks of hard freeze (worst in over 20 years) I'm not sure how to deal with it and have heard divergent views. fertilize and a fungicide. Or Nothing...just water.The bromeliads and succulents seem ok...but it may show later.
Thoughts?
Michelle lives in paradise, Heck, for her, 50 degrees is a cold front. LOL, I lived in Santa Cruz for 5 years and it remains my favorite spot on Earth. As a landscaper and gardenophile, I am not at all sure there is anywhere better on the globe to live. Garden Porn, I reckon!!! ;-)
I second Pam's comment! The colors and shapes are all just so rich!
Hi Pam,
Well those photos were taken during the summer, not recently.
Some of the plants in those photos did not make it thru that December frost.
Whaaaaaaaa. Hopefully those that haven't started developing mold will push out new pups in the coming months.
Steve, I absolutely LOVE the Santa Cruz area. It is horticultural paradise. A little bit warmer in some regions , especially near the coast.
Some of the very best wholesale nurseries are located within a stone's throw of Santa Cruz.
I LOVE the little person with a succulent head holding a tilandsia! Beautiful pics. We have some sad looking frost damaged aeoniums too...
Michelle, I am sad to hear aout your loses. Your garden is a rather tender jewel, but truely awesome in every detail. If I can help you find plants, let me know...
I am experiencing a lot of loses the last couple of years, as my knee being broken has made it almost impossible to control the landscapes I tend. Nature literally has run over a lot of the plantings. Wild grasses can be so aggresssive! As is American Wisteria and seedling Mulberies. Wild Mustard, your joy, my bane. And which past owner of my country house had the bright Idea to plant masses of Forsethia everywhere. Monsterous old dragons which can easily grow ten feet high and across in three years after being cut to the copiced. Very coarse and they bight back when you rub up against them while driving bbby on the lawn tractor. Even the deer don't eat them! And the rabbits, they have been naughty, too. I swear I can hear them out in my shrub gardens imitating the title charactor form the Little Racalls' "Wild Man from Borneo":
Um Um, Eat em up!"
But there is hope, I bought a gun. And, on a lighter note, one of my favorite pass times is shopping for replacement plants. What are you looking for? Patrick
I see your Crassula falcata, beautiful. Ours has just finish flowering. Your containers are fab.
Michelle, I just wanted to say that I realy like the photo of the succulants surrounding the carved bowl with the little head in it. That grouping is about as good as it gets. Beautiful! Patrick
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