Road Trip-The Living Desert Ranch

 
If you are in the Austin area, like I was this past week, or not even close but just need a destination for a road trip, or have a burning desire to add to your cactus collection, I would suggest Living Desert Ranch in Spicewood, just a hop, skip, and a jump from Austin west on Hwy 71. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

I have frequented the Living Desert for more years than I can remember, dating back to the original location in Bee Cave, down the road from the new location in Spicewood, and always enjoy my stops there to buy yet more cactus that I really don’t need and to visit with Darrell Dunten, the owner. Darrell and his wife Yvonne, started the business in 1978 after moving to the Lake Travis area and trading a 9 to 5 job for one, as Darrell put it, that is eight days a week!

This is the original location. I took this right after he had to move. Now there is some ugly concrete and brick car lube place there, and they cut down all the trees! What a waste.
 
You will  have to be on the look-out and ready to turn at 22701 Hwy 71 into the new Living Desert Ranch. The greenhouse sits back on the property away from the busy highway, and that is a pleasant change from being right up on the highway  like before.

I asked Darrell if they ever regretted making the change, and he shook his head no. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do-take something we love and turn it into our occupation? And he did, enjoying the geometrically-designed plants that can endure a harsh environment that reward the faithful with beautiful flowers.

 

Darrell is also an artist who can create beautiful paintings, but he also uses that talent to create glass and metal sculptures for the garden, and uses glass pieces as hardscape touches with cactus plantings.

 

Things have changed for Darrell: he lost his wife Yvonne to ALS in 2010; his son Jared was left a paraplegic from a tragic swimming accident; the business made the move from Bee Cave to Spicewood. But life goes on, and the Living Desert continues.

His son Jared, his wife Kimberly, and their twin sons Levi and Asher, live on the grounds of the Living Desert, and Jared has further developed his own artistic talent in spite of his paralysis and has his art gallery open at the Living Desert. Darrell has a new love in his life, DeAnna Lynn, and the Living Desert has diversified from being just a cact5us nursery, also offering itself as a destination for corporate meetings, wedding, reunions, overnight stays, and other occasions.

Jared now paints with his mouth and produces lovely pieces, like the one below.

Even if you think you aren’t a cactus and succulent fan, the Living Desert is still an interesting stop with lots of things to see, art to appreciate,  and ideas to offer for your landscaping.

 

And who knows? You might even find out you like cactus after all.

 

For more information and pictures of the Living Desert, check out my cactus blog at www.cactusarecool.wordpress.com

But The Agave Lives On

If you read last week’s blog, “Death of an Agave,” you know that my oldest, biggest agave ended its life by blooming. But what I didn’t mention is that besides blooming to procreate, agaves also produce babies, called pups, and I found eight that had hidden under their parent, just waiting to start their new lives. I chose the largest one to carry on in its parent’s place and put the rest out in the nursery area. Some of them are pretty small and may not make it, but I suspect more will make it than don’t.

I found seeds from the bloom stem everywhere as I cleaned the bed to plant the baby. They were stuck in the Spanish broom and littered the ground all around the area. It will be interesting to see if babies spring up around us from seeds that were carried by the wind.

So let’s see. I am 66 now. If this one blooms in about 15 years like its parent did, I will be 81. Since genetics and gender are on my side, there is a good chance I will be around to watch it bloom as well. And won’t that be fun! I’ll roll my wheelchair out each morning to check its progress, and I will still marvel at the sight of that bloom reaching for heaven.

Something to look forward to in my old age!

Death of an Agave

April 4, 2012 – My worst fears were answered; my oldest, biggest agave was gearing up to bloom.  Normally, a cactus/succulent enthusiast looks forward  specimens blooming. Well, I will certainly enjoy this bloom, but agaves are monocarpic, which means they  bloom once in their life, and then they die. And that I am not looking forward to. Look right in the middle of the plant and you will see the pointed tip of the bloom stem, or mast, as it is called, beginning to form.

April 11, 2012 – Once the process starts, the mast grows really fast. This picture was taken a week later. Agaves are sometimes called century plants because it seems like they live a hundred years before they bloom and die. Not so. Depending on the variety, soil, moisture, and growing season, they can bloom starting at around 15 years of age. This one is probably about 15. When I planted it, I was not into keeping up with details like that. Now I am more aware of keeping up with the ages of my plants.

April 19, 2012 – The process continues. This is two weeks and a day later.

April 25, 2012 – These two shots were taken on the same day. Notice in the close-up that the flower buds are beginning to form. The trunk is hard and solid as wood. Also note the Spanish broom blooming yellow by the agave. Everyone needs a Spanish broom; they bloom in the spring and the scent is wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 30, 2012 – As the mast grew and the buds formed, it created an interesting and  pleasing picture with just its shape, seen here at sunset.

May 16, 2012 – The buds are beginning to take shape. The mast is now six-weeks old.

 

May 27, 2012 – The buds are beginning to open. I am standing by the plant as a point of reference. At 5’3, I am not very tall, but you can see the bloom stem is tall. The bigger the agave plant, the taller the mast will be. My plant is an agave parryi; agave americana grows even taller than this.

 

May 29, 2012 – The buds are opening more and more.

June 6, 2012 – These four pictures were all taken on the same day, even if the sky is lighter in the second one!  I wanted to show the full effect of the plant’s imposing presence, from far away to close up. This is the agave in bloom at its finest, nine weeks after the process began.

August 29, 2012 – Time is taking its toll. The blooms have all fallen off, the mast and plant itself have started the dying process.

 

September 10, 2012 – After five and a half months, the time had come for the agave to be put to rest. I preferred that it come down while it still had some dignity left since it had shared its beauty with us for so long.

I prefer to remember it this way, still leaving its indelible image on the landscape. You were a good one, little agave.