A Xeric Garden

A dwarf agave with rosettes less than 12 inches wide toughs it out in pure Florida sand. My guess is that it is one of the many forms of Agave potatorum. The genus Agave is native to the New World from the southern United States to South America but it reaches its greatest diversity in Mexico.

I have been watching the endeavors of a local gardener with keen interest. Apparently having grown weary of tending a lawn, this gardener removed all grass from a small front yard and is growing tough desert plants. Although markedly different from the typical pseudo-tropical south Florida garden, it shares with such gardens the presence of plants from far-flung regions of the world and a lack of any native plants.

Euphorbia tirucalli is native to Madagascar and is characterized by a highly toxic and caustic sap. It has also been linked with Burkitt's lymphoma, a typically rare cancer that tends to be associated with regions where Euphorbia tirucalli is extensively used as a hedge plant. The pictured plant is a cultivar with brightly colored new growth called 'Sticks on Fire.'

An Opuntia species with a growth habit similar to the native semaphore cactus (Opuntia corallicola); however, the native semaphore cactus is markedly spiny and tends to have pads of a lighter green color.

The so-called Madagascar palm is not a palm at all. It is Pachypodium lamerei, a spiny-stemmed succulent from Madagascar in the oleander family (Apocynaceae). It should be handled with care since the spines are extremely sharp and can cause severe injuries or infections if they happen to impale the knuckles or joints of the fingers.

This aloe is very similar to Aloe arborescens from Africa; however, the rosettes are much smaller than that species. I am guessing that perhaps it is a small-growing hybrid of Aloe arborescens.

Images and text © 2012 Rufino Osorio

Daylilies

Day-lily flowers are usually bright and showy, but they last but a single day.

On Saturday, May 26, 2012, I stopped briefly at the garden of Robert Hopper and photographed several of the half dozen or so cultivars of day-lilies that he is growing. Garden day-lilies are derived from species of Hemerocallis, a genus native to Eurasia. One species with orange flowers, Hemerocallis fulva, is an extremely aggressive and invasive pest plant that has escaped from cultivation nearly throughout the United States and eastern Canada. A second species, Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus, with yellow flowers, is almost as widespread outside of cultivation, while Hemerocallis minor has escaped in Oregon. Due to their tendency to escape from cultivation and become invasive, gardeners should not cultivate day-lilies that regularly form seed pods or that form large vegetative colonies from underground rhizomes. Fortunately, modern hybrid cultivars have less of a tendency to become invasive since they usually do not readily form seeds and they commonly grow in better behaved clumps.

This day-lily cultivar has cheery yellow flowers and is growing with the native Florida greeneyes (Berlandiera pumila).

Images and text © 2012 Rufino Osorio