The first two questions visitors ask Patrick Anderson when they see his garden devoted to succulent plants are “What were you thinking?” and “Why these plants?” Patrick’s answer goes straight to the reason most people garden: “These are the plants that have turned me on my whole life, and what could be more fun than to use them on this kind of scale?”

Patrick never planned to make a destination garden, which his Fallbrook, California, property has certainly become. In fact, it is not a formally designed landscape at all. But one look at the garden makes it clear there was a method to Patrick’s wonderful madness.