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Home > Products > Succulent Page > Ruth Bancroft Garden Tour & Agave Summit
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Agave celsii in the Ruth Bancroft Garden. |
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April 9th, 2004 was a great day to be in Walnut Creek at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. As many of the attendees to the Garden's Dry Garden Seminar were particularly interested in the genus Agave, much of our discussion centered around these "woody lilies" and the event started what was later called the Agave Seminars. Mary and Gary Irish, authors of the book Agaves, Yuccas & Related Plants, were there as were a number of the finest horticulturists from Texas, including Steve Lowe of the Tejas Bulbs and Horticulturist at the San Antonio Botanic Garden, Pat McNeal of McNeal Growers and Carl Schoenfeld and Wade Roitsch of YuccaDo Nursery. Tony Avent, the consummate plantsman and owner of Plant Delights Nursery had pulled us all together for what he called an "Agave Summit". The prior day we all met in the amazing garden of Betsy Clebsch, Salvia specialist and author of A Book of Salvias: Sages for Every Garden. Betsy, as always a gracious host, showed us through her wonderful garden and served up finger sandwiches while we chatted in her home. |
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Agave celsii in the Ruth Bancroft Garden.
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After the Dry Garden Design Seminar in Walnut Creek we headed over to the nearby Ruth Bancroft Garden where we were greeted by Ruth Bancroft, the grand dame of the Garden. The tour began with Brian Kemble leading the way. The garden looked great and we all had a multitude of questions. I was particularly intrigued by several forms of Agave celsii that I saw in the garden. These plants were quite different from the plant we grow as Agave celsii var. albicans. Another very interesting form of Agave celsii is one that Rancho Soledad Nursery has been calling Agave celsii 'Nova'. This beautiful plant has very broad silver gray leaves. Kelly Griffin of Rancho Soledad Nusery noted that he had collected this plant and felt that it was likely a hybrid between Agave celssii and some other Agave species.
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Agave celsii 'Nova' in a Santa Barbara Garden. |
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More Garden Images at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.
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