Jim Gardner’s Succulent Showcase in Palos Verdes Amazing tips

Jim and Jan Gardner’s colorful, textural landscape near Los Angeles showcases hundreds of varieties of mature succulents and waterwise plants.

A retired MD, Jim’s the “succulent guy” at nearby South Coast Botanic Garden and an art potter as well.

For over 40 years, the Gardners have lived in the Rolling Hills Estates community of the Palos Verdes peninsula, which juts from the coastline like a burl on an oak. It’s a highly desirable habitat for plants as well as people, and a great place to view large specimens. Tropicals and succulents have thrived in this mild, maritime climate for as long as nurseries have made them available.

Palos Verdes peninsula, southwest of LA. The red dot indicates the botanic garden.

Jim is a self-described “biophile:” a person who enjoys interacting with nature’s life forms. “They stick to me,” Jim says of his collection of 1,300 potted succulents and cacti. Many are in containers made by Jim himself, who after 30 years in internal medicine at Kaiser’s South Bay Medical Center, became an artist-potter. His highly sought-after work is characterized by organic textures derived from items such as pine cones and tree bark. A long-time Cactus and Succulent Society member, Jim is the volunteer “succulent guy” at nearby South Coast Botanic Garden, where his pots are available at the gift shop and annual two-day Cactus & Succulent Show in April.

Jim makes it look easy to grow 20-foot tree aloes, airy epidendrums and sofa-sized deuterochonias (a spiky, colony-forming bromeliad). But like any avid biophile, he’s made his share of mistakes. Years ago, for example, when applying herbicide to an invasive grass, Jim sprayed his succulent euphorbias as well. “They turned to mush,” he recalls with a wry smile.

“Out in front,” he adds, “I trimmed the lavenders too vigorously and killed them, so that’s how these plants happened.” He gestures to a streetside garden lush with aeoniums, aloes and shrub euphorbias. Pavers that traverse the area appear grouted with dymondia, a low-water ground cover that withstands foot traffic. Other low-water ornamentals include tower of jewels (Echium wildpretti), with conical, deep pink, 5-foot bloom spikes; and a trunkless burgundy cordyline with white flowers that suggest shooting stars.

As you might imagine, it was a treat for me to meet Jim and Jan and see their garden, a visit made possible by Jackie Johnson, president of the Peninsula Garden Club, where I gave a presentation on Designing with Succulents. Jim graciously provided IDs for the main plants in my best photos—well, the top 60—40 of which are here for you to enjoy. I’ve posted on Instagram several short videos taken at Jim’s, but THE must-see is my newly released, 5-minute YouTube video: “Jim Gardner’s Succulent Showcase, Palos Verdes.”

Btw, Jim collects and hybridizes mangaves (Manfreda x Agave hybrids). You’ll notice these intriguing dotted and speckled succulents in some of my photos. Be sure to watch for a future newsletter in which I’ll explain why these increasing popular succulents deserve to be in your own collection.

And now…drum roll…my annotated gallery of the Gardners’ garden ~

 

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