Hi, I'm Debra lee Baldwin
in Sharon Cook's garden
in Rimrock north of San Diego
a rocky neighborhood
So we're here right before sunset
At a social gathering
I am the only one who's
out in the garden
Looking around,
taking photos
While everyone else is
inside
I can hear the clatter
of dishes and
laughter
But as far as I'm concerned
This is where I want to be
Can you blame me?
And then look at this
great architecture!
In keeping with the
Southwest style, the
homeowners have
done a lot with cactus
and succulents
Come see my favorite
plant so far
Look at this pachypodium
in bloom
Isn't that gorgeous?
The succulent part of
the plant is its trunk
Which is quite spiny
And that's where the
moisture storage happens
So the rest of the plant
has these rather thin
leaves and delicate flowers
This is Pachypodium lamerei
a wonderful succulent tree
from Madagascar
Let's explore the rest
of the garden
She's done a lot
taking out a lawn
that used to be here
and putting in
hard-packed decomposed
granite and then flowing
islands of garden around
these magnificent rocks
You know, one thing that
you don't think much about
when you're planning a
garden is reflected light
Now photographers think
about that a lot
But this Portulacaria afra
over here
look how bright that is
It's getting reflected
afternoon sun from
the setting sun
and there's another
reflection over there
of a window.
This is
Agave angustifolia 'Variegata'
and this is
Agave parryi 'Truncata'
And there's more to see
She has some Agave bracteosa
some crassulas
A really cool dasylirion
multiple trunked
San Pedro cactus
or Echinopsis pachinoi
Multiple arms that
remind me of
organ pipes
Now there is an
organ pipe cactus,
and this isn't it.
She's got a lot of
cool things in pots
Bird of paradise
underplanted with
Sedum rubrotinctum
Pachypodiums do
really well for her
Notice how these
plants cast these
marvelous shadows
Really good designers
think about the way
the sun and shadow
interact with what
they're positioning
So you get more bang
for your buck if you've
got great shadows
The pachypodium's shadow
is almost like having
a second tree
A flower that looks like
a dead animal
You notice the fur here?
In its native South Africa,
the plant is pollinated
by insects that feed
on carrion
The common name is
carrion flower
And if you get real close
and sniff it
it smells like rotting meat
And look at the color of it
It kind of looks like meat
that's gone a little bad
Isn't that wild?
I love it.
So it sounds like the
party's catching up
with me
I'd better go back inside.
I'm Debra Lee Baldwin