Berkeley Gardens Archives - Page 2 of 4

Berkeley Cactus

Opuntia “Maverick” on 10th St in Berkeley.

Everyone has a Question

I stopped by wanting to find out what this is.
From: Janice

Janice,

That is a Dasylirion wheeleri, and we do have a number of Dasylirions, including that one, in stock.

Peter

California Fuchsia

Epilobium canum hanging around in full bloom in Berkeley.

Cow's Tongue Prickly Pear

Opuntia linguiformis

Just off San Pablo Ave in Berkeley

Cactus Garden Berkeley

Cylindropuntia prolifera

Berkeley cactus garden.

Handmade Homemade Bamboo Planters

Available in Berkeley!

Hello,
My husband built two handsome and modern bamboo planters to stage our yard when we put our Berkeley home on the market. They do not work in our new yard so we are selling them and wondered if you or anyone you know might be interested in buying them? The pots have never been used, other than for staging, and are:

Handcrafted from Redwood that was sealed for exterior usage.

Built with weather resistant, galvanized metal

Designed for self-watering

Lined with Pond Liner

Built for bamboo but can also be used to plant vegetables, flowers or other plants

Larger pot is: 115″ x 31 1/2″; 31 1/2 ” high

Smaller pot is: 62″ x 31 1/2

Please see a photo attached.

Thank you!

Kellie

We don’t know anyone for those, but maybe you do our there in blog-landia. Let us know if you do!

Cactus and Succulents in Berkeley

4th Street, Berkeley

Aloe nobilis blooms and a Nopalea cochenilifera too!

This is actually in our front bed at the store. Nice!

Berkeley Cactus

San Pablo Ave, Berkeley

Flowering cholla among the bamboo.

Succulents Berkeley

Page Street, Berkeley

Cotyledon orbiculata in full bloom. Now that’s a nicely shaped shrubby and chalky succulent, just like your mother used to make.

And in case you don’t also follow me on instagram, here’s the instagrammed and filtered version that appeared there.

Which do you like better?

Louisiana Iris

Iris hexagona. Being a water plant we don’t carry it at our drought-tolerant cactus and succulents nursery. Yet. But maybe someday.

Cactus in Berkeley

Stannage Ave., Berkeley

This cactus is a Opuntia. Probably an Opuntia tuna-blanca which will get large orange flowers and large red edible cactus fruit. Tunas for everyone! Delicious.

Succulents for Everyone!

Stannage Ave., Berkeley

A nice garden with Agave attenuata and a red-flowering Penstemon. Nice mounds.

Succulent Gardens throughout the Bay Area

Just kidding! The Bay Area stops at the Berkeley border for my Berkeley Succulent posts.

Stannage Ave., Berkeley

Crassula tetragona is the Pine Tree Succulent. And here we have a nice grove of them with a ground cover of oxalis.

Bay Area Garden Gnome from Texas

I found this gnome from Texas on Page Street in Berkeley. Why is there a UTexas garden gnome in our neighborhood? I do not ask questions, I only take the pictures. Where’s my UMich gnome????

Berkeley Gardens

Kains Ave., Berkeley

I see a large-headed Aeonium “Sunburst” in front of a whole mound of Aeonium heads. Lots of Crassula, some Agave, and a Lemon Tree. Delicious! Too bad its all hiding behind a well-stacked rock wall.

Berkeley Succulent Garden

Kains Ave., Berkeley

That’s a Cotyledon to the left, a Crassula in the front, and numerous dark Aeoniums to boot. Nice garden!

Cycad, Berkeley

Camelia Street, Berkeley

This lovely and giant and very old and large Cycad is the ever popular Sago Palm. Not a palm, did I mention its a Cycad? Cycas revoluta. But you knew that already, didn’t you.

Berkeley Gardens

Camelia Street, Berkeley

Spurge, probably Euphorbia characias, and Artemesia. Sulphur yellow blooms? Check.

Anne's Rooster

Anne’s rooster is a Silkie x Ameraucana rooster. Nice!

Lavender Yarrow

We seem to be on a blooming perennials and shrubs kick this week. Must be the weather.

Achillea “Lavender Beauty”
Lavender Yarrow

German Hybrid; Native to Eurasia and North America
Herbaceous Perennial

Sun: Full Sun
Water: Low to Moderate
Size: Shrub to 3 feet

Lavender colored flowers. Attracts butterflies. Remove spent flowers for a late fall rebloom. Cut flowers last a long time, look great dried. Hardy to below 0°F.

Cactus Fences Make Good Neighbors

The Desert Sun has a suggestion of what to do with all your spare cactus. Make a fence! They have good ideas for using some of the taller prickly pear species, or if you prefer the more modern look they recommend a few different column cactus that will work for fences. Like the Fencepost Cactus, of course.

One first-hand account from mission days explained the cactus fence solved the problem of little suitable timber in coastal Southern California. The cactus fence was devised as a substitute. They were started by cutting paddles from well established cactus that reach the height desired. They’re inserted into the ground in a tightly spaced row where they root and grow quickly if watered. Prickly pear fences were not only perfect for containing livestock; they effectively protected the homestead from hostiles. No living thing on this Earth will penetrate a dense prickly pear hedge.

The cleanest living fences are made of fence post cactus, Pachycereus marginatus. These minimally spined upright cactus stems are ramrod straight, making the most amazing green walls. The best example I’ve ever seen was at the ethnobotanical garden in Oaxaca, Mexico where the fences are crisp and straight.

We use a giant cholla for fencing, both at the nursery and at home. Austrocylindropuntia subulata makes for a very good fence. Very spiny. Fast growing. Dangerous to try to breach. And pretty magenta flowers too. What more could you want?

Berkeley Gardens

10th Street in Berkeley

I don’t know the species, but this looked like a Grevillea to me until I looked more closely at the blooms and the flower structure is all wrong not just for a Grevillea but for any Proteaceae. Nice blooms all around. Any ideas?

Grevillea was named for George Grevillea. Actually it was named for Charles Greville, a founder of the British Royal Horticultural Society, even though the genus is from Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Indonesia, and Sulawesi.

Cactus for Christmas

Not Christmas Cactus, but Christmas lights on cactus. In Berkeley!

And on the agaves too.

Berkeley Birds

A new bird comes to Berkeley, and the birders rejoice.

This weekend, hundreds of bird enthusiasts flocked to a quiet southside Berkeley neighborhood to catch a glimpse of a beautiful North American breeding bird that has never before been sighted in Alameda County. The colorful Painted Redstart was still in the Elmwood neighborhood this morning…

“It has a distinctive call that sounds like ‘too weet’ with the emphasis on the ‘weet,’” (Lory) said.

We’ll post anything here at Berkeley’s own Cactus Blog.