This column features an upcoming program of the Santa Cruz County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Steve McCabe will present “Wild Adventures Exploring for Native Succulents” at 7 p.m. on Dec. 9 at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and Botanic Garden. More details are provided below.
McCabe is the emeritus director of research at the UCSC Arboretum, a long-time board member of the Santa Cruz Chapter of the CNPS, and a recognized expert on the plant genus Dudleya. He wrote the Dudleya section of the Jepson Manual of California Plants.
McCabe’s total will emphasize the Dudleya, so today’s column makes a “deep dive” into a single genus. That’s an uncommon focus for this column.
The photo gallery illustrates a few of the varied species of the Dudleya genus’ rosette form. The captions are edited from Calscape.org or San Marcos Growers.com.
Notes about the genus Dudleya
This genus is named after William Russell Dudley (1849-1911), a professor of botany who was the first head of the Botany Department at Stanford University and the Director of the Sierra Club of California.
The Dudleya dominates California’s native succulent plants. The Golden State is home to 196 succulent plant species, according to the California Native Plant Society’s Calscape database; Dudleya species represent over one-quarter of that total.
The Dudleya, native to California, Baja California and Guadalupe Island, is known by its common name, Liveforever. It is a member of the Stonecrop plant family (Crassulaceae). Wikipedia lists 67 Dudleya species in the wild, some of which have been cultivated as ornamental garden plants appreciated by succulent collectors, native plant enthusiasts, and gardeners. The wild species, particularly those in niche populations, are vulnerable to land development and poachers.
The species come in many forms. Some are large and evergreen, while others have underground storage organs and are deciduous. Most species readily hybridize, so many natural hybrids can be found in the wild.
Calscape.org (our valued resource) lists 53 species of Dudleya as California-native plants; additional species are native to Baja California or Guadalupe Island. Most California species are associated with the coastal scrub and chaparral plant communities. Two species are native to the Monterey Bay area: Coast Dudleya (Dudleya caespitosa) and Bluff Lettuce (Dudleya farinosa).
Many other Dudleya species also grow readily in Monterey Bay area gardens. My garden has included 10 species at various times. Currently, it features a Giant Chalk Dudleya (D. brittonii) and a Fingertips Dudleya (D. edulis), both included in today’s gallery and others.
McCabe’s ‘Wild Adventures Exploring for Native Succulents’
McCabe will describe his plant-hunting adventures on remote islands and the mainland of Baja California and California. He has documented and named five new species of Dudleya genus.
He will also provide ideas for growing Dudleya and other local natives in Santa Cruz County gardens. If one lives near a natural area, one technique from his experience is to pull the weeds and see what comes up. He now has three kinds of lupine, manzanita, buckwheat, oak, pine, ceanothus, tiny annuals, and poppies in his yard after weeding for several years. He will also briefly mention propagating monkey flowers, elderberries, and other plants from cuttings and layering.
McCabe also will review the new book “Dudleyas” by Jeremy Spath, Kelly Griffin, and Jeff Moore, authors and photographers. The book was published in May 2024. It is distributed by Sunbelt Publications and available from Amazon.com.
This book is a significant contribution to information about the genus. Its 300 pages describe the known species, accompanied by numerous photographs, most of which were taken in nature. It also includes sections on cultivation and protection from threats like poaching.
McCabe contributed to the content of this book and is credited with other specialists who added to this group effort. The book includes four of the five Dudleya species McCabe named. The most recent species he named came out after the book went to press.
As mentioned, McCabe’s presentation is scheduled at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and Botanic Garden. His talk is part of the CNPS’s monthly meeting, and interested gardeners are invited to attend with no admission charges. For directions to the Arboretum, browse to arboretum.ucsc.edu and click “Visit.”
This event provides an exceptional opportunity for both skilled and novice growers to learn about the cultivation of Dudleyas, which is “among the few ornamental succulents native to the West Coast of the U.S.”
This week in the garden
Here are additional tasks in the garden for the late fall. There’s always more to do!
Mulching: Apply a 2-to-4-inch layer of organic mulch around your plants to retain moisture, regulate soil temperature, and suppress weeds. Take care to keep mulch away from tree trunks to avoid rot.
Composting: Incorporate compost into garden beds to improve soil structure and fertility. Visit https://ucanr.edu/sites/mgslo/files/313433.pdf for an overview of composting.
Garden Cleanup and Pest Management: This task includes clearing garden beds of spent annuals, vegetable plants, and fallen fruit to reduce overwintering sites for pests and diseases and removing weeds to prevent them from setting seed and becoming a problem in the spring.
Tool Maintenance: Clean and sanitize tools to prevent the spread of diseases, sharpen blades on pruners, shears, and lawnmower blades to ensure clean cuts and efficient work, and store tools in a dry place to prevent rust and damage.
Enjoy your garden!
Tom Karwin is a past president of Friends of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and the Monterey Bay Iris Society, a past president and Lifetime Member of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society, and a Lifetime UC Master Gardener (Certified 1999-2009). He is now a board member of the Santa Cruz Hostel Society, and active with the Pacific Horticultural Society. To view photos from his garden, https://www.facebook.com/ongardeningcom-566511763375123/ . For garden coaching info and an archive of On Gardening columns, visit ongardening.com for earlier columns or visit www.santacruzsentinel.com/ and search for “Karwin” for more recent columns. Email comments or questions to gardening@karwin.com.
