Visit Southern California's cactus hybridizer's own garden! Brent Wiegand is a good friend of mine. A few weekends ago, when I was attending my daughter's college graduation ceremony in Southern California, I took the opportunity to visit

Visit Southern California's cactus hybridizer's own garden!

Brent Wiegand is a good friend of mine. A few weekends ago, I took the opportunity to visit my daughter while attending his college graduation in Southern California. Brent is known for creating the wildly popular aloe vera hybrid, but in recent years his attention has focused on cactus hybrids, including collecting and making his own. Brent lives on a 1.5-acre plot of land outside Wildomar and sells plants from his backyard nursery by appointment. When I drove down his street, I immediately knew which place was his. It's easy to see why: front of the house and back of the house. The vast majority of succulents.

Aloe vera, agave, cacti and other succulents, plus cycads and palm trees: this is what I love about the landscape.

Brent's forecourt is like a succulent garden. To the right of the house is his private nursery.

This is definitely not an ordinary home

I can't forget the sheer number of aloe vera, including Aloe Vera, Branched Aloe Vera (including hybrids of the two), Hercules Aloe Vera, and Aloe Macroflora.

Brent's greenhouse is well worth seeing. Cacti were everywhere, inside and out, and a lot of them bloomed while I was there.

Cactus Pillar 'Serape'

  ‘Super Windigo’

Lobivia cactus, which is a small cactus with smaller flowers.

More photos of the garden around the Brent house