I managed to get out and about with my camera yesterday morning to capture photos for Foliage Follow-up, the monthly meme hosted by Pam at
Digging, but I didn't get my act together to get my post up until this morning. Most of my shots were of succulents but I have to start with a photo of
Echium candicans 'Star of Madiera'. It doesn't usually bloom until April but it's already taking on a starring role in the front garden with its foliage alone.
![]() |
| 'Star of Madiera' loves this spot and its variegated foliage makes a strong statement here |
The succulents on the west-facing slope below the
Echium are also looking good.
![]() |
| There are too many different species to name individually here but the star in my view is the Sedum adolphii at the center of this photo. A lot of what I planted in this area, including the Aeonium arboreum, Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi', Kalanchoe luciae, and Senecio vitalis, were cuttings. |
![]() |
| The Agave attentuata at the center of this photo was also a cutting, as were the Aeonium arboreum and Oscularia deltoides (the blue-ish plant in the foreground with the violet stems). The grass is a California native, Festuca californica. |
Elsewhere in the garden, several other succulent vignettes caught my eye.
![]() |
| I showed another shot of this area in my recent lath house update but I love it and so will include it here too. The plants include more of my old standbys, Senecio vitalis (rear), Aeonium arboreum (middle), and Aeonium 'Kiwi' (foreground with Crassula lycopodioides). An Aeonium 'Sunburst' and Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty' provide touches of white. The area could perhaps use some stronger color to contrast with all those green shades but, now that the area has greater sun exposure (due to the neighbor's removal of a dense oleander hedge), perhaps that almost invisible Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' cutting will bulk and color up. |
![]() |
| Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' is doing a good job here dressing up 3 Hesperaloe parviflora 'Brakelights' |
![]() |
| On the other side of the path an Agave gypsophila is trying to hold its own against 2 spreading rockroses, Cistus x skanbergii and C. 'Sunset', which have already partially swallowed up a few Euphorbia rigidia. I may be forced to move the agave eventually but I'm still hoping that in time it'll gain sufficient size to stand up to the sprawling rockroses. |
![]() |
| I've been telling myself I need to cut the heads off these 3 Aeonium 'Sunburst' and replant this pot but the Aeoniums are so exuberant in this spot (even if they hide most of the succulents behind them) that I haven't had the heart |
I'll conclude with a look at some of the plants in my bromeliad pocket garden. Although planted just last October, the bromeliads, most of which were pups of larger plants in pots, and their companions, many usually grown as indoor specimens, are holding up well. Planting bromeliads in the ground is new for me but the plants are showing no apparent problems in adapting to their new setting.
![]() |
| The bromeliads here include Aechmea 'Mend' (the pink-edged plant), Nidularium wittrockia leopardinum, and Vriesea ospinae var gruberi. The bright pink upright plants in the upper portion of the photo are Dracaena marginata 'Colorama'. Other "house plants" included here are Peperomia caperata 'Rosso' and Scindapsis pictus argyraeus (aka silver splash pothos). |
For more Foliage Follow-up post,
visit Pam at Digging.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
