Some details from Jud’s garden. It was this beet red crassula and Coppertone Stonecrop (Sedum nussbaumerianum) that first drew my attention to this bit of detailed planting. The crassula looks like C. pubescens ssp. radicans.
The longer I looked, the more apparent the garden maker’s intentions became. A golden barrel cactus picks up the gleam of the Coppertone Stonecrop. This is also a fine example of how rocks are simultaneously used to create flow through the garden and also to highlight specific plants.
Playing with texture and color, the garden maker starts a dialogue with the viewer. When you begin to hear it, as if by magic the vignette enlarges, expands, and ripples outward. Sedum, barrel cactus, and now playing along, I noted the biscuit-colored blooms of the crassula. Nearby are the saw-toothed, lance-shaped bursts of deep green Agave lophantha.
I trace the lines of another pale-colored cactus arching over the Agave lophantha
Whose long arms playfully frame shifting views.
A coral-colored aloe comes into focus.
Step back, and the details become the whole.
Love that coral aloe. Stunning colour. But the whole arrangement is nice.
It’s very well done. It’s making me reconsider my planting plan for the dry border that run along street in front of hedge material I massacred earlier this year.
Wow. That last photo is lovely,so much going on.
Great images! I love all these spiny friends =)
RD, that color really pops, doesn’t it?
Kris, you’ve got hedge material along the street too? I need to prune our shabby box hedges — least fave thing to do.
Jenn, there’s so much going on in this garden, but there’s lots of groupings that cohere like the one above.
Jessica, we need to get you some spiny friends…
What a great continuation to your previous post. I’m glad you focused on the details. They’re so often ignored when we visit somebody else’s garden.
Gerhard, I’m going to do one more on agave ID. Hope you can help!