The Journal of Cultivation

Care & cultivation.

Bench notes from thirty years of California specimen growing. Each guide is written by Al, edited against the living plants — not from memory.

7 long-form guides·8 genus primers·New entries weekly

— Featured guides

From the bench, in long form.

Care · Pachypodium·3 min read

Growing Pachypodiums

Pachypodiums were some of the first exotic succulent plants I became enamored with. The first specices I purchased was Pachypodium lamerei. This is most likely the first for many a collector, because of its high availability. Pachypodiums are indigenous to Africa and Madagascar. There are 25 plus species and subspecies. They are in the Apocynaceae [...]

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Care · Euphorbia·3 min read

Growing Euphorbias

The family of Euphorbiaceae is large and diverse. It is estimated that there are in excess of 5000 species from around the world. Of this group there are hundreds of succulent Euphorbias. Many of the succulent Euphorbias originate from Africa and Madagascar. However many Euphorbias originate from other countries like the common Poinsettia which is [...]

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Care · General·3 min read

Growing Bonsai

In this section we will be going over the care of bonsai, specifically succulent bonsai. True bonsai has very specific parameters. When creating succulent bonsai it is difficult to follow traditional rules. With succulent bonsai we are still trying to capture the look of mature plants from the wild, in a container, and a smaller [...]

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Care · Pachypodium·5 min read

Growing Succulents

The term "succulent plant" can refer to many different plants. Basically a succulent, is a plant that stores water in either its roots, stems, or leaves. This deffiniton can apply to common garden plants such as daylilies. For purposes of this article we will be focusing on succulent plants that mostly originate from dry, arid [...]

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