A Guide to the Best of Southern California : GARDENS : Malibu Succulents

AT SERRA GARDENS in Malibu, Don Newcomer grows and sells agaves, aloes and other cacti and succulents, specializing in Southwest native and South African plants. His interest goes way beyond aloe vera (which he doesn’t even stock); he can’t resist the unusual, such as distinctive succulent ground covers and sprawling agaves and twisted cacti. Most of the plants are available in 1-, 2- and 5-gallon containers, varying in price from $4 to $500.

Serra Gardens is located on 8 acres owned by Newcomer’s parents in the Malibu foothills east of the Pacific Coast Highway; his father started the plant collection about 20 years ago. Newcomer is particularly proud of Agave parryi var. huachucensis, a very small, hardy blue-gray rosette that, he says, is great for a border. He also stocks Agave americana, which can reach 12 feet in height, and Agave horrida, a 12-inch-high ground cover with slender leaves.

Plan to spend some time at Serra Gardens; if Newcomer isn’t too busy, he’ll take you on a lengthy tour--uphill and down, through the greenhouse and under the avocado trees. Plants are everywhere, not only in containers for sale but also growing in rows for future potting and as part of the permanent landscape. He calls his operation “extensive botanical gardens,” and that isn’t mere rhetoric. The collection’s variety is dazzling, and every plant is supremely adapted to life in our desiccated climate.

Serra Gardens, 3314 Serra Road, Malibu, is open by appointment only; telephone (213) 456-1572.