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Tour: Berkeley Botanical Garden

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Puya Beauty
Sapphire Tower
Chilean Wine Palm
Sapphire Tower

Common name:Sapphire Tower
Botanical name:Puya alpestris

Other worldly is the best way to describe the inflorescence and flowers as they are a teal color that is seldom if ever seen in the plant world. The tall cone shaped flower spike emerges from the green bromeliad-like ground plant with leaves of one to two feet. The inflorescence explodes with hundreds of 3 petaled alien blue flowers and bright green horn like branch protrusions. Hummingbirds are sure to be frequent visitors.

Chilean Wine Palm

Common name:Chilean Wine Palm
Botanical name:Jubaea chilensis

This beautiful stately palm slowly reaches 60' tall and 25' wide. The smooth gray trunk can reach 3' in diameter. Mature trees have scarring from leaf bases on the trunk. Leaves are feather-shaped, dark green on the top and dull green on the bottom. They can be 16' in length. It has insignificant flowers. This palm prefers full sun in well draining soil. It does not tolerate hot weather and coastal conditions. It does tolerate some frost. It is drought tolerant once it's established.

Designer: UC Berkeley

Puya Beauty
Image: 3 of 20

Photographer: Vicki Anderson

Soils and Compost:

Incorporate compost 6" into your soil to retain water, reduce compaction, feed earthworms, and provide valuable nutrients to your plants.

Water Saving Tip:

Dig-up patches of weeds and undesirable grasses from turf areas.

Use water to grow the turf you want, not the weeds you don't want! Once you have eliminated what you don't want, add sod or over-seed to repair the bare areas.

Integrated Pest Management:

Drip and other smart irrigation delivers water directly to roots, allowing no excess water for weeds.