Andrew's Top Ten (Today)

Manzanitas/arctostaphylos, he pointed at A. x 'Austin Griffiths', but said any of the three counted—I photographed Austin, with his little sister 'Monica' photobombing on the right, Andrew wrote: "Trunk color, smooth bark contrasted with cinnamon peels—plus I like how 'arctostaphylos' feels when you say it"

Opuntia species: "Flat slabs stacked at odd angles, memories of parents yard in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico"
Dasylirion wheeleri/Desert spoon
"Thin blue leaves with sharp teeth, domed crown—produces sotol"
Echium wildpretii
"Fuzzy leaf, fast growth to tall height and cone of 1 million blooms"
Tomatoes!  
"summer fun/sunshine for inside of me"
Aloe plicatilis, now Kumara plicatilis: "Bold trunk with giraffe-tongue leaves"
Pitcher plants/Sarracenia species
"Leaves like Dr. Seuss musical instruments"
(what are you laughing at?)
Tephrocactus
"No leaves, no trunk—drawn by a mathematician"
Corokia cotoneaster
"Hanford bonsai—thin angular with tiny tiny leaves, spaced out"
Haworthia tessellata
"Miniature, geometric, dinosaur pattern, pencil-thin bloomspike"
That's it—today at least. I'm sure if I asked him tomorrow I would get an entirely different answer.  Perennial favorites like Clifford (the Magnolia macrophylla) and Sammy (the tallest Yucca rostrata) were passed over, and I think it was a more interesting list because of it. I really enjoyed seeing what he saw, and how he saw it, as we walked around the garden—hopefully you saw something new too! This was a fun exercise that you might consider doing with your non-gardening partner.

Weather Diary, Aug 23: Hi 84, Low 58/ Precip 0

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