Desert Bouquet

Color spike

Our ongoing tour of SoCal succulent nurseries continued Saturday with a visit to Mariscal Cactus & Succulents in Desert Hot Springs, just across the freeway from Palm Springs. One of three locations (the other two are in Escondido and Fallbrook in San Diego county), this outpost of Mariscals has been open only since last December. Rain was falling in steady sheets when I woke at 5am … but by the time we set out for the nursery it had stopped, leaving heavy cloud cover and windy, frigid air. As we traveled down the 10 Freeway toward the desert, the clouds were spectacular, the surrounding mountains blindingly snowbound even at their lowest levels … and it was getting colder. By the time we reached the propellers of Palm Spring’s windmills, and the nursery itself, it was teeth-chatteringly cold. But, pulling into the parking lot I could feel that ol’ succulent excitement … and no matter the windchill, I had to explore what looked like a succulent paintbox under the clouds. Row upon row of juicy leaf  color was calling …

Desert paintbox

The only thing more riotous than the succulent color on display was the over-the-top cock-a-doodle-doo-ing of a gang of roosters at the caretaker’s house next door. This only added to the sense of giddy excitement I felt seeing all my succulent favorites in one place: the hot-hued, the cool-colored, the frilly, the trailing, the rosette-shaped, the flap-jacked, the blooming and the budding. Click twice on the pictures to share the excitement.

Downbeat tones

Some specimens were more low-key color-wise, and had an almost metallic tonality. Copper, pewter, lead, rusted iron, even concrete, share the same color palette as these plants; I wondered how these would look in my carved rock pots …

So shapely

Along with the succulent color story is the visual excitement provided by foliage of every description. Splayed, thrusting, tiered and tentacled, succulents run the shape gamut in ways I never tire of. I just wish I could have all of them … Oh, then there’s this:

D'oh'nt touch!

… Bart Simpson as mutant teddy bear. So cuddly, it’s hard to resist lifting him from his plastic pot … except you know you’d end up with a fistful of needles.

Graphic

I love how the self-contained, yet geometrically complex, structures of certain succulents lend themselves to repetitive graphic displays. Whether baby cactus or echeveria rosette, seeing them arranged just so is a delight for the eye.

The roll-out

So, did I buy anything? Oh, yeah … here’s the haul. I limited myself to what I could load on the trolley but think I did pretty well, coming away with a sweet selection of old favorites and new loves.

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Mariscal Cactus & Succulents’ out-of-the-way setting only adds to its charm … set between mountains on two sides and surrounded by sandy openness, it feels like a bouquet in the desert. By the time the final tally had been rung up, rain had begun falling and it was time for lunch. While Paul loaded the car I asked for directions to a nearby restaurant … happy to hear that a good Mexican place was just down the road. We needed fuel because we’d passed something amazing at a stone yard a short distance before the nursery, and wanted to check it out before returning to Riverside. Check back tomorrow for that post — it’ll be rockin’…

Mariscal Cactus & Succulents is located at 66085 Dillon Road, Desert Hot Springs. For further information, including hours and other locations, check their website here.

Blog # 2 by :Posted by Gerhard Bock

Before we left the Palm Springs area, we made one last stop. A few weeks ago I’d come across a Craigslist post from a new succulent nursery in the town of Desert Hot Springs just a few miles off the I-10 and I wanted to check it out. I had expected a small specialty nursery with a modest selection of 4-inch plants. Boy, was I in for a surprise! Mariscal Cactus & Succulents is huge, and while they do have a large stock of 4-inch plants, they have an even larger stock of plants in 5-gallon containers and up, ranging all the way to 8-foot cacti in 24-inch tree boxes. I’d never been to a nursery that offers so many large specimens of succulents.

The Desert Hot Springs location is one of three; Mariscal’s main nursery is in Fallbrook in San Diego county. According to their website, they grow 500 different varieties of succulents.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I ended up buying a few plants—just a few, no more than a generous handful.

For me, one of the most impressive man-made sights in the Palm Springs area is the giant wind farm off I-10. There are 4,000 wind turbines and they generate enough electricity to supply Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley. Apparently they were featured in the movie Mission: Impossible III, which I have yet to see.

Just a few of the 4,000 wind turbines dotting the desert  on either side of I-10

I had such a blast on this trip that it was hard heading home, back to our everyday routine. But at least I have the many photos I took to tide me over until our next trip to the desert, whenever that may be.

Joshua tree right along Highway 395 in the Mojave Desert