Desert 'Alpines'

The miniature crevice garden in the South African Plaza at DBG; pictures taken today.

As you can see, there are some dead plants, mostly Ebracteola wilmaniae and (looks like) Euphorbia clavarioides. 

 

I am planning the conversion of our backyard, about 4000 sq ft of largely St Augustine, into a grassless landscape of hardscaping and native plants. I’ve been an avid gardener of rock garden plants in the east and in my new garden I want to grow small Xerophytic perennials and dwarf shrubs that can adapt to this dry and droughty environment of Austin. The soil structure I have to work with is one of about 18” of clay over a limestone hard pan (caliche). It’s pretty clear that drainage is going to be an issue in growing the plants I want.

Titanopsis calcarea showing its first flower. Picture taken 10-24-14. 

 

Bob

At the end of this week my wife and I will be headed to San Francisco through Reno, Nevada. We'll be spending one evening / morning in Reno. Anyone know of the best rock garden nurseries in Reno?

Thanks for any info!

 

I'm building a hardy cacti bed, does it matter what kind of gravel I use. Our local rock is lime stone, or should I use pea stone, river rock or granite, mixed with concrete sand and garden soil.  And in which proportions. I'm in Ontario Canada. I'm hoping to plant Echinocereus, Escobaria and some of the smaller Opuntias

May 2013
http://unkowndestination.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-trip-to-my-favorite-gard...

I went out this afternoon and took a picture of my Yucca harrimaniae that i grew from some collected seed. The largest plant in the picture is actuall three sprouts. all these come from one plant that came up then branched into three and then started sprouting up all over. I am not much of a devotee of this genus so i dont know much bout them but i looked it up and this plant is now over 12 years old and has yet to bloom---is this normal? I plan to rebuild this part of the garden this spring and i dont think i will be able to dig this thing up and move it(it has a huge underground root).

I spent a couple of weeks with my sister, who lives about 10 miles due east from San Diego. She has 2.5 acres, mostly in fruit trees, but the back portion of her property is left wild. Here are a few photos of the wildflowers, just beginning to bloom.

I'm sorry I don't know the species names for most.

Yucca baccata and other yuccas in snow pics.
http://unkowndestination.blogspot.com/2012/12/snow-for-christmas-and-start-of-snow.html