In fact, I parked right in front of this pair of Agave ovatifolia 'Orca': My tour started at the Wholesale Office where boxed specimens of succulents, palm trees, cycads, and tropicals get visitors drooling. I guess some things are meant to be a mystery. Even so, some photos in the post don't have a plant ID. I was constantly asking Ryan for IDs as we were driving and walking around, but then I'm big on knowing what everything is. Since Rancho Soledad is primarily a wholesale nursery, most plants aren't labeled they don't receive labels until they're pulled for an order. The map on the Rancho Soledad website makes the nursery seem quite compact. Ryan drove me around on an electric cart and showed me parts of the nursery few customers get to see. I first met him when he was the horticulturist at the Ruth Bancroft Garden he later moved to a wholesale succulent nursery in Vista, California, where I caught up with him in November 2018. ![]() I got a personal tour of the nursery grounds by my friend Ryan Penn who now works in propagation and sales at Rancho Soledad. For a cool $20 million you can buy this 16½ acre ranch three miles away! I bet San Diego County looked very different when Jerry Hunter bought the property in 1960. The sprawling nursery is at the end of Aliso Canyon Road in a rural area increasingly dominated by multi-million-dollar houses on large lots. Rancho Soledad Nursery is located outside the small town of Rancho Santa Fe, about 10 miles inland from the coast. Popular agave hybrids like 'Blue Glow' and 'Blue Flame' are just two of their many introductions. Rancho Soledad was one of the first nurseries in the world to establish its own in-house tissue culture lab to produce landscape-worthy plants on a large scale. Founded by legendary plantsman Jerry Hunter in 1954, Rancho Soledad has been a pioneering force in the California nursery industry for over half a century. We will incorporate comments we receive from others, and welcome to hear from anyone who may have additional information, particularly if they share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.In September, I had the opportunity to visit Rancho Soledad Nursery in North San Diego County. We also note those observations we have made of this plant as it grows in the nursery's garden and in other gardens, as well how crops have performed in our nursery field. Information displayed on this page about Aloe melanacantha is based on the research conducted about it in our library and from reliable online resources. The specific epithet comes from the Greek words 'melas' meaning "black" and 'akanthos' meaning "thorns" for the decorative thorn lining the margin and keel. Aloe melanacantha comes from arid parts of Namaqualand and Richtersveld north to southern Namibia, where it is found growing in rocky and sandy soils from 160 to 2,300 feet in elevation. Makes an interesting and attractive container plant. Plant in full sun in a well drained soil and irrigate infrequently - a drought tolerant plant that is prone to rot if it receives too much water or if soil does not drain well enough. In winter a simple unbranched spike rises to about 3 feet with with red-orange flowers that fade to yellow. The leaves are further distinctive with a single row of long spines along the margins and keel on the lower side of the leaf - these spines are yellow and soft on young leaves but blacken on older leaves. ![]() This is an archive page preserved for informational use.Īloe melanacantha (Black-spined Aloe) - A slow growing nearly stemless rosette-forming succulent that is usually solitary or with only a few clustered ball-shaped rosettes that are about a foot tall and wide with narrow 6 to 8 inch long triangular rough-textured brownish-green colored leaves that blush red with drought stress and curve upwards and inwards towards the middle of the plant. Note: This plant is not currently for sale.
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