Plant Highlights By Date
Lachenalia aloides
March 2025
Lachenalia is a genus of bulbs, currently placed in the subfamily Scilloideae within the Asparagus family, but formerly in the family Hyacinthaceae. Of the 133 species recognized in the 2012 monograph of the genus, the great majority come from the winter-rainfall region in western South Africa, though a few come from farther east, or northward into Namibia.
Grevillea lavandulacea ‘Penola’
February 2025
The home range of Grevillea lavandulacea is in southeastern Australia, in the western part of Victoria and the eastern part of South Australia. It varies in habit from low-growing prostrate forms to shrubs as much as 5 feet tall, and the cultivar ‘Penola’ is at the larger end of this spectrum, attaining a height of 4 to 5 feet.
Cheiridopsis speciosa
January 2025
Cheiridopsis is a genus of succulent plants in the Aizoaceae, or Ice Plant Family, with all of the speies native to the winter-rainfall region in western South Africa and the neighboring southwesern corner of Namibia. They are a variable group, but many of them have fat, fleshy finger-like leaves, as is the case with Cheiridopsis speciosa.
Aloe tongaensis (Aloidendron tongaense)
December 2024
The area where Aloe tongaensis occurs, in southern Mozambique and northeastern South Africa, is warm and tropical, so plants in habitat do not experience freezing temperatures. In cultivation, it can tolerate brief overnight lows a little below freezing, but not sustained freezes.
×Mangave ‘Silver Fox’
November 2024
One of the reasons for making hybrids between a Manfreda and an Agave is the desire to come up with a plant that has the sculptural solidity of the latter, along with the purple spots that can be found in the former. ×Mangave ‘Silver Fox’ is one of the ×Mangave crosses with only a faint trace of spotting, but it has a beautiful silvery-bluish leaf color with a hint of purple.
Agave microceps
October 2024
Agave microceps was first described from plants growing in the south-central part of Sinaloa, on the west coast of Mexico. At this locality, the population is only about 1600 feet (500 m) above sea level, growing on rocky low hills not far inland from the Gulf of California.
Parodia leninghausii
September 2024
Parodia leninghausii is an easy plant to grow, performing well as a potted specimen or in the ground. As with other cacti, it requires good drainage.
Fouquieria fasciculata
August 2024
Fouquieria fasciculata may have a single trunk, but often it occurs as a cluster of several trunks, together forming a shrub up to about 10 feet tall (3 m), or occasionally even more than this.
Tylecodon wallichii
July 2024
The species of Tylecodon are heavily concentrated in the winter-rainfall region of western South Africa and southern Namibia, though a few have large distributions that extend outside this area. While some species are geophytes, dying back to an underground tuber during the dormant season, others have swollen basal caudexes or conspicuous succulent stems.
Phlomis purpurea
June 2024
Among the shrubby species is Phlomis purpurea, native to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.
