Gerhard's garden, a January visit

I ended my April 2025 blog post about my friend Gerhard's garden by saying I hoped it wouldn't be another 6 years before I returned (my most recent prior visit was in 2019). Who new I'd be back again less than 10 months later? While the trip that made this visit possible (driving back from Andrew's mom's funeral) wasn't one we planned or desired, we still enjoyed getting to see Gerhard, his family, and his garden...

I wish I would have had my camera ready to go when we pulled up, Gerhard was out working the garden along the public sidewalk with long tweezers in hand (like these) pulling debris out of his plants. It's one of those scenes that makes perfect sense to us gardeners (especially the ones with spiky succulents in their gardens), but might cause neighbors to wonder what the hell we're up to.

Look how clean!

Here's the other thing I remember from the start of that visit; Gerhard immediately mentioning that it wasn't a great time to visit. Not in a "I wish you hadn't stopped" way, but rather an honest assessment of how the garden looked, to his eyes. It was January 14th after all, who thinks their garden looks best then (well at least in the northern hemisphere)? But here's the thing, his garden looked so good, especially his variegated Agave ovatifolia...

Of course to my eyes everything in California looks great in the wintertime, I'm used to a grey sky, wet ground, and possibly a freeze-damaged garden. But seriously, by any standard this garden looked fabulous—and I have the photos to prove it...

I mentioned how much I liked this tidy rock edging and Gerhard said it was new... well done!

I almost emailed Gerhard to get ID on the plants I wasn't sure of, but then I decided that wasn't the way I wanted this post to go. Nope, instead it's just a plant appreciation post without a lot of details, other than the few I can provide. Plus, Gerhard is very good about IDing plants when he posts, so I'm sure you'll probably find most things called out on his blog, or in his most recent tour post, here.

Looking down the sidewalk side garden...

I think this is Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ × Agave titanota.

Ah that Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. aspleniifolius (the tree) inspires serious envy.

Yucca linearifolia

I think perhaps the fact that so many of his aloes were sending up bloom spikes, but not yet blooming, is part of why Gerhard thought it wasn't a great time to visit. Still, for my eyes, the buds are nearly as fabulous as the blooms. 

Oh, I know this one, Aloe marlothii. I have one that I've grown on from a tiny plant I bought back when I visited (the now closed) San Marcos Growers in 2009. My poor plant, forced to spend winters indoors, has never bloomed.

On the left, Arctostaphylos ‘Ruth Bancroft’, a manzanita hybrid of unknown parentage that showed up at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.

Yucca rostrata

Aloe ‘Erik the Red’, with Eucalyptus macrocarpa on the left.

Walking into the front garden, behind the fence, this bamboo culm caught my eye. I've walked right by this bamboo every time I've visited (6 times now) and never noticed just how cool it is. Gerhard warmed me those hairs were dangerous so I looked, but did not touch.

Backlit spines!

Agave albopilosa 

I think this is a Dyckia, but it might be a Hechtia. Whichever it is, it's super spiky. *Gerhard says it's Hechtia argentea*

Ditto.

Oh so many Agave victoriae-reginae! Unfortunately several of these fabulous, slow-growing, agaves sustained major damage over the winter—Gerhard wrote about it in this recent blog post.

Yucca queretaroensis on the left.

Agave nickelsiae

Beaucarnea recurvata, at the back.

Pellaea mucronata

Ferocactus herrerae

Mangave 'Praying Hands'

So beautiful! And in mid-January!!!

Agave desmetiana ‘Galactic Traveller’

And now we're in the back garden and looking at one of the newish planting areas Gerhard developed after the house was re-sided last August (which looks amazing by the way).

Bromelia pinguin ‘Qué será’

And on to the other (extremely exceptional) planting areas...

Maybe Agave victoriae-reginae 'Albomarginata'

New narrow cactus bed

Kumara plicatilis

Mangave 'Frosted Jade'

And with this photo, it's a wrap on my visit. What a garden, am I right? (hell yes I am!)

The Bit at the End

Okay, here's my chance to talk about how lucky I am to know Gerhard Bock and give him a proper shout-out. I've known Gerhard almost as long as I've been blogging. He started his blog in October of 2010, a little research tells me I made my first comment on his blog in January of 2012, he was commenting on my blog then too. I finally got to see his garden in September of 2014, and he posted about my garden in 2014 as well, after visiting during the Portland Fling. Gerhard also graciously offered to proof my book, Fearless Gardening, and he's been a tireless supporter. So that covers the basics, but what really comes to mind when I think of Gerhard is his generosity of spirit. He's far more tech savvy than I am and he's helped me out of more than one bind with the blog, photo storage, or just random computer issues, never hesitating to reply with a well-researched answer. He shares plants when I visit, and ships plants without a second thought (and packs them well too!). Gerhard and his wife Heather have put me up at their home several times and are the best hosts you can imagine. As I write this I'm looking forward to our getting to host Gerhard in just two short weeks, as he's coming up to Portland for Hortlandia and a few garden visits. It's gonna be great fun, plant people are the best!

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Looking for plants, in Thousand Oaks, CA

I wrote a quick post after our unplanned trip to California in January, but I only teased at the things we saw. Today I'll finally start sharing the fun photos. First up, palms at Starbucks in Thousand Oaks. Do I know what they are? Nope. But you guys, it was mid-January and I was sitting outside enjoying coffee surrounded by these adorable palm meets cycad meets fern creatures...

We decided to visit the nearby Conejo Valley Botanic Garden and see how things were going there, I've enjoyed my past visits (here and here).

Sadly they were closed. Seems the rain that fell in the first week of January may have done some damage.

I was bummed. I mean it had been dry for four days and they were still closed!

Since that plan was foiled I searched online for area nurseries and we set off for someplace called Natures Best Nursery... (the sign still says tree farm, but online they aren't so specific).

It was not to be.

Maybe that was okay though, as I don't need to shop with rattlesnakes.

Oh! Proof of snakes!

We decided to abandon the idea of looking for plants and set off for the Chumash Indian Museum (Andrew's desired stop that day), however on the way I saw this sign...

...it led us to California Bonsai Studio. I'm not really a bonsai fan, but hey, finally there were plants! That's the Agave americana clump we pulled a couple pups from (part of my plant haul).

The nursery/studio.

If I remember correctly this one is Portulacaria afra.

The fellow we chatted with, Colin Purcell, was one of those folks who can easily make his passion, your passion. He was a great bonsai ambassador.

Andrew and he chatted while I wandered and took photos. This rock planted with what I think is a form of Huernia definitely inspired me to think differently about how I'll plant up my mother-in-law's Stapelia I brought home from the trip.

This Selenicereus undatus had soaked up so much of the recent rain they'd had that it looked like it was about to burst.

Oh my, that's a project.

More Agave americana...

There had been blooms.

And many seeds...

Next stop, the Chumash Indian Museum. This cup made from the vertebra of a sword fish looked a lot like a miniature Willy Guhl hourglass planter (as seen at The Tropics, Inc. in Los Angeles).

Growing outside the museum, sugar bush, Rhus ovata.

Our next stop had us trekking across the brambles toward a stream that Andrew wanted to show me. Andrew in shoes with socks, me in flip flops. I stopped when my feet and ankles started to burn, then itch. Beautiful, but painful. We didn't make it to the stream.

Final stop of the day, Camarillo Nursery.

Lots of palms...

And blooming aloes.

The nursery was large, and we walked all the way to the end. Well, I suppose I could have gone a little further had I been willing to crawl through that hole.

Spiky! Ceiba speciosa I believe.

Look at those picturesque mountains in the distance.

Agave pumila

Agave horrida

Blooming Mangave (against the pole)

Pedilanthus bracteatus (tall slipper plant)

Orthophytum magalhaesii

My last photos from Thousand Oaks are these of ferns at our hotel. Someone was painting the front of the building and had cut back the plantings.  I'd never noticed the fern creeping along the ground, even though we've stayed here several times.

I wonder if it might be Nephrolepis cordifolia? Anyone know?

The Bit at the End

Since I referenced the Willy Guhl hourglass planters I lusted after when I visited The Tropics, Inc. I thought I'd link to a blog post on Martha's recent visit and the good things she saw there, find that here.

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.