Gideon Smith - Succulent Paradise: Twelve Great Gardens of the World

I had never had a garden of my own before, and didnt know that the more garden you have, the more you want, and the more you do, the more cries out to be done.

W. Somerset Maugham (18741965), English playwright, novelist and short story writer; owner of Villa Mauresque, Cap-Ferrat, French Riviera.

SUCCULENT PARADISE

Twelve great gardens of the world

GIDEON F. SMITH & ESTRELA FIGUEIREDO

It was a pleasure working with the team from Struik Lifestyle who made this project a reality: Linda de Villiers, Helen Henn, Gill Gordon and Laetitia Sullivan are due our gratitude for having done an excellent job, and they deserve our thanks for their input into the final product, which you hold in your hands. We are also indebted to Madame Suzanne Marnier-Lapostolle and Mr Marc Teissier for supporting our request and granting permission to include Les Cdres private botanical garden.

HALF-TITLE PAGE Agave attenuata. TITLE PAGE Agave parryi var. parryi (left), Agave cocui (right). OPPOSITE (left to right) Agave nickelsiae, Crassula capitella, Agave victoriae-reginae, Astroloba smutsiana, Ferrocactus pilosus. FRONT COVER Obesa Gardens, Eastern Cape (EF). SPINE Aloe mutabilis. FRONT COVER FLAP Huntington Desert Garden, California. BACK COVER (Top row, left to right) Karoo Desert Garden, Western Cape (EF); Obesa Gardens, Eastern Cape (EF); Obesa Gardens, Eastern Cape. (Middle row, left to right) Jardn Botnico, Mexico; Jardin Exotique, Monaco (EF); Karoo Desert Garden, Western Cape. (Bottom row, left to right) Les Cdres, Cte dAzur; Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona; Huntington Desert Garden, California.

Over the last few decades we have become increasingly aware of the fragility of our planet. We are now only too aware of the devastating impact we are having on our natural environment, resulting in the loss of natural habitats and so much of the diversity of species with which we share this world. We understand today that we cohabit the planet with about 400,000 different plant species, which provide the basis of life in most terrestrial ecosystems, generate habitats for most of the worlds animals, and provide us with the natural resources we need for food, shelter, many medicines, fibres and fuel. The almost infinite variety of life on the planet not only supports us but also includes some remarkable and unique life forms some of the most extraordinary being succulent plants.

Succulent plants are among the worlds greatest expressions of plant evolution. To achieve a successful life and efficient reproduction in an often unforgiving environment, they have adapted their structures, forms and functions to meet the conditions they face. Many are adapted to thriving in ecosystems where water is scarce, at least for long periods each year. Other plants are succulent because they live in habitats where water is hard to obtain, such as areas of high salinity. Many plants from these environments have adapted a remarkable range of features to conserve water, and to protect themselves from other species who would like to benefit from their succulence in a harsh environment. Succulent plants can be found amongst about 75 different plant families, and not just in the handful of families that we might first think of; cacti (Cactaceae), houseleeks, stonecrops, wallpeppers and plakkies (Crassulaceae), vygies or midday flowers (Aizoaceae), and milkweeds or spurges (Euphorbiaceae) which, between them, include more than 6000 species.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the range of incredible plants that we count as succulents has attracted the attention and interest of collectors, gardeners, hobbyists and enthusiasts worldwide, often building collections that inspire awe and wonder in those who see them. Some of the enthusiasm for succulent plants has done them no good at all far too many succulent plant species are rare or endangered in the wild, many of them due to over-collecting. However, in other cases, this enthusiasm has resulted in the development of wonderful collections that are world-renowned centres for the study and display of succulent plant diversity. Such are the gardens depicted in this book. These gardens have also become essential centres for the conservation of succulent plants, working individually and collectively to safeguard species diversity and to raise awareness of the urgency of plant conservation.

This fascinating and beautiful book provides a unique view of some of the finest succulent gardens in the world. These are botanical gardens with remarkable collections, which go way beyond displays for pleasure and recreation. Botanical gardens are defined by having documented collections to meet a combination of purposes: scientific research, education and conservation, as well as for display. Around the world, more than 2000 botanical gardens have become vital centres where the worlds plant diversity is being studied and conserved, some of them specialising in succulents.

When fully illuminated by bright sunlight, the narrowly cone-shaped inflorescences of aloes become fiery torches of dazzling beauty. The branched, candelabra-like inflorescences of this stately Aloe wickensii var. wickensii drive the point home.

My congratulations to Gideon Smith and Estrela Figueiredo who have brought us such a treat, describing these twelve major succulent gardens. One might ask what is the purpose of this fine book? Certainly it will delight, inform, guide and educate those of us who want to know more about the wonderful world of succulent plants and the great gardens featured. But I am sure that it will also inspire an appreciation of the achievements of the people who created, and who maintain, these garden riches. I hope it will also motivate more of us to follow their efforts in any way we can, and to safeguard the irreplaceable plant treasures these gardens contain the species that make up our diverse Plant Kingdom.

Peter Wyse Jackson, MA, PhD, FLS

President, Missouri Botanical Garden
and George Engelmann Professor of Botany, Washington University at St Louis
St Louis, Missouri, USA
July, 2012

Dating from the mid-18th century, the Jardn was laid out in small, angular beds that reflected the knowledge of plant relationships at the time. This differs from how modern botanical gardens are arranged, but it reflects a trend that is firmly rooted in history and tradition.

Over the last 400 years, domestic and amenity gardens have steadily progressed beyond being almost exclusively established for the utilitarian value of the cultivated species. Increasingly, plants were grown for reasons other than as sources of food, medicine, clothing, construction and shelter materials, or other reasons directly related to human welfare. At more or less the same period, exploration made the Americas, Africa and the East increasingly accessible, and the infinitely rich botanical treasures so discovered found their way into the greenhouses and conservatories of Europe. Inevitably, this led to the rise of botanical gardens, particularly in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Great Britain where, to this day, accessioned material from their former colonies is carefully tended, displayed, studied and used in the training of successive generations of botanists and horticulturalists. But, to be sure, the beauty and aesthetic value of plants have always fascinated humans and, throughout past millennia, plants have been grown for their flowers and foliage.