Lawton Ave.

These can be hard to ID, but i would humbly submit that it might be an Aloe maculata, one of the spotted stemless aloes known as the Soap Aloe. You can zoom in closer if you want to check out my fine ID work and see if you can suggest another name for it.

on Lake Merritt.

We’ve been contacted by the artists to participate in this project, and we hope to be able to contribute for the big giant floating succulent terrarium.

Here’s a very nice write-up of the project.

In the Bay Area, you don’t have to go far to find beautiful plants near sparkling waters. But, two Oakland artists have a more creative vision. They hope to showcase plants on water – with a giant terrarium that will float atop Lake Merritt.

The “Wonderarium,” a 3,000-pound, 8-foot acrylic sphere, is the dream of Yvette Molina, 38, and Sarah Filley, 39. They plan to construct it, fill it with an exotic array of brightly colored plants, light it with LED lights, and mount it on a floating platform. The target date for completion is in 2012, and the artists believe their project will appear to hover magically above the lake….

To encourage and build children’s interest in the project, the pair taught a carnivorous terrarium-building workshop at the UC Botanical Gardens, participated in the East Bay Mini Maker fair on Oct. 24, and are now brainstorming ideas for classroom visits, planned for the fall of 2011. Meanwhile, for the child in everyone, they created the carnival-like “mobile plant ambassador + succulent circus,” an ice-cream cart with a 24-inch Wonderarium prototype affixed to the front…. From the cart, they pass out succulents in ice cream cups, hoping to garner support for the Wonderarium.

I don’t have any snark to add to this at all. I guess I’m just not up to the full extent of all the responsibilities of my blogging duties. Oh, the humanity.

No, wait! That was some Grade B Snark! Certainly not my A-List best, but close enough for you, my loyal readers, right?!? Thank you and good night.

Or Queen Victoria’s Agave, depending on who you ask.

Pardee Street, Berkeley
Agave victoria-reginae and some Aloe arborescens too.

Derby Street

Opuntia ficus-indica

And a closeup of the pretty yellow flowers…. Read More…

Mabel Street

It’s a yellow one, and quite prolific, so maybe it’s Anigozanthos Yellow Gem.

Derby Street

Euphorbia myrsinites, also known as the Donkey-tail Spurge or I suppose the Myrtle Spurge. And a cat.

Derby Street

Very nice large Agave medio-picta with a pretty nice Opuntia ficus-indica that probably has lots of fruit every year. And a bonus California fuchsia (Epilobium) in bloom at the bottom of the photo.

Mabel Street

Gorgeous large Aeonium “Schwartzkopf” in summer-dormant mode, with a Crassula ovata and some Echeveria too.

Bonar St.

I see 3 types of Aeoniums and a bunch of smaller Echeverias too.

Parker Street

Curtis St. garden with both cactus and succulents.

Pardee St.
Aeonium subplanum

That’s a big gasteria in the median.

McKinley Ave.

7th Street
Agave potatorum about to bloom.

Carleton St.
Oscularia deltoides

Dawn and Marco let us come see their cactus garden.

Nice!

10th Street
Puya berteroniana – It’s the Turquoise Puya! I wonder why they call it that?

Leucodendron blooming on 4th St.

Hap decides to spend Easter morning in the garden.

An aloe blooms on Hollis St.

In front of the Novartis campus.

Aloe striata – Coral Aloe!

Aloe arborescens on Addison Street with a lovely blooming Kniphofia uvaria (Red Hot Poker) also.

These are in bloom all over Berkeley all winter long and this makes them quite popular.

Agave americana v. marginata – the kinder gentler century plant.

McGee Street

Opuntia ficus-indica and a large Agave americana v. marginata.

McGee Street

Dwight Way

Browning St.

Aloe arborescens. I like this plant when planted up against a structure more than when planted out in the median strip. I like the massing effect.

Here’s the same plant in a planting strip on Page St., and I don’t like the mounding as much.

It’s still pretty. of course, and the blooming is quite impressive. But I have my preferences and there is nothing you can do to make me change my mind.

66th Street

Opuntia “Maverick” and an Aeonium, probably A. subplanum. Plus a crassula and a small Opuntia subulata. The opuntia is a very fast grower, so since this photo was taken years ago, I wonder how big it is now? Hmmm….

62nd Street

Aeonium “Schwartzkopf”

These winter growing succulents are really taking off around here these days. Of course, this photo was taken over 5 years ago, so it must also have been a winter photo. Did you know that this was cultivated from the Aeonium arboreum species?