Landscaping with succulents.

I see a lot of lovely shots of individual catus and succulents here on this website but not too many pix's of gardens landscaped with cactus and succulents. ( with the exception of the recent Huntington Botanical garden thread )

Does anyone landscape using succulents and cacti as their main planting pallette ?

My garden is a 50 /50 mix of big bold subtropical foliage plants mixed with succulents ( hardly any cactus due to the wet winters ) .

I'd enjoy seeing photos and hearing about how others are using succulents as a main landscape plant in their garden design/installation.

wow that is so gorgeous!It looks so lush and tropical. Sorry I don't have anything like that to share with you.I do use mexican sage like you have in the photo but that is about it.


This message was edited Mar 21, 2006 8:53 PM

I do. But ours is a very new garden, years of collecting cuttings and now it will start doing something. It took me five years to get this far..lol This photo is from this past fall. So far, I've collected a few more species and also planted to Queen Palms right near the end of this area. I wish it looked like yours does.

This is another area that just got some Horsecripplers and Turks Caps put in about two months ago. So far, two Turks Caps rotted on me with this rain.

This area had the Turks caps.. this year I am going to get some Cardboard palms somehow, even if it kills me..lol.. That is my elusive one for now.

Love everyone's pics!!! Despite being in VA, I'm replacing the 1st 1/2 of my front lawn with C & S. Prickly Pear, Cholla, Agave, Yucca, Sedums big and small..can't wait to see the "finished product" Ya'll's pics have just inspired me that much more!!!

Gourd,
Your garden is coming along beautifully.
I like the decomposed granite path. The color is soothing and blends with the surrounding foliage wonderfully.

I had considered using that color D.G. in my garden but used the grey granite fines instead due to the cost factor . ( 10.00 a yard vs. 65.oo a yard. )

On my shady side of the garden ( E. with a large oak tree canopy cover ) I broke up an old 2 foot wide concrete straight path and relaid it in a more sweeping layout.

I primarily use cacti and succulents to landscape. I live in southern Baja California, Mexico between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas. Here's a link to my garden blog for photos, etc.

Diane's Baja Desert Garden Blog: http://cabopulmo.blogspot.com/

Your garden looks fabulous. We have a house in San Anselmo that we will be selling this summer. I'll be up ther for a month or two and I'd love to see your garden in person sometime if you have the time and inclination. Gorgeous!

Adios, Diane

Diane,
If you happen to be in Marin around the weekend of May 21, The Garden Conservancy and I are hosting an open garden day at my Novato garden.
There will also be 5 other private gardens open to the public that day in Northern Marin.

If your not around on that date, just give drop me an email and we can work a convenient date out.

All of your gardens are paradise!! I am bookmarking this thread because when I need a little dose of sunshine, I can come here.
Diane, I visited your website and - what can I say? I think heaven must be filled with your garden. It is absolutely breathtaking. Thank you for posting your link.

Devient, I just love your garden, is that a cordyline in the second photo? I think cordylines are a native plant of New Zealand and I know they are used quite a bit in the States. I have a couple of Ioniums (not sure if that is spelled correctly!) and a sedum called autumn joy.
Gourd, mine is a new garden too and it is a mix of all sorts, but I do love the succulents. I have had them for about four years and grew them on from a piece I plucked from a plant outside a roadside cafe - feel a bit guilty about doing that but I gave in to temptation!
Baja, you have the most wonderful site, I did enjoy looking at all the photos, not only plants but wildlife too and your lovely piece of garden art of the standing man . And you are also an artist - gosh what a range of talents you do have. I will have to do another posting to ask if anyone on the forum can give names to my little succulents ( purchased from a school fair but with no name attached, know one is called an echiverium from your pictures but would like to know what the other two are called.

These are the succulents that I would like to know the name of, particularly the dark one with the flower spike thanks

Beautiful ferrymead!! You might want to start a new post with your pic and something along the lines of "ID please" That will get more attention and won't be lost in a thread. Love your yard...looks like a piece of paradise.

ferrymead,
Yes, that is a red foliaged cordyline called Red Sensation.
good eye !

I like the way inwhich you blended the aeoniums with a cottagey look in your New Zealand garden.
The water feature looks inviting with all the lush plantings surrounding it.

I'm not sure of the correct name of that succulent.
mind fart. perhaps it is Echiveria 'Black Prince' ??

Have you ever seen a magazine published in New Zealand called "Alfresco" ? It is a really cool cutting edge / artsy gardening magazine.
It has a lot of inspirational design photos of great New Zealand gardens.

everyone's pics are just awsome. Deviant, I am speechless. On the first pic you posted, there is a variegated echeverria (?) that is leaning against pole. name pls. it is incredible.

I also just adore the purple echeverria planted across the path from the cordyline. what a color echo!

and I thought I was into cacti/succulent, just because I had a 5-6 strawberry pots filled with them, ha! I got a long way to go!

Yeah Vossner but think of your beautiful Gingers!! How are they doing?
Chantell

Vossner,
It is an Aeonium " sunburst".
This aeonium reached the height of 3 feet tall and about 20 inches wide.

I have another Aeonium called "cyclops" that is about 4 feet tall plus some.- and about 2 feet wide at the head.
It is really an amazing site to see, especially today now that the giant geranium madrense is blooming right next to it with its neon pink flowers and huge huge foliage.

My garden is finally waking up from this long wet Nor. Cal winter.

Deviant, can you say more about the orange trumpet shaped 'flowers' in your photo on 3/22 at 8:38? are they glass? They are very, very cool looking. How about a closer photo?

So you are in northern CA? What zone? Maybe same as mine? I'm starting to put more succulents into the garden, but I always worry about the wet winters. Except for the sedums, most of mine are in pots in the greenhouse.

Ferrymead, I love the way you wove your succulents into the perennial bed. It's lovely! I'd like an ID on your black echevaria as well. I have that one, too, and don't know its name.

Devient, looked up images of 'black prince' echiveria and it looks to be a match. When I first got it, the colour of the leaves were much darker and it has lightened as it has grown.Once the blooms are open this could confirm the name, thanks for that.
No, I have not seen the N.Z. magazine called Alfresco, I now have difficulty reading print so I tend to walk past the magazine racks but I must try to find one.
I will try to send a post with a hyperlink about Cordylines to the trees and shrubs forum, haven't managed to work out how to do hyperlinks after once unsuccessful try but will try again.

Chantell, I will send a pic of the succulents in the pot asking for I.D. Only now need to know the name of one now- just love how helpful everyone is with names.

Over the years, I have always thought of these plants as just "desert" type plants and haven't learned much about them. I am slowly learning how nicely they can be incorporated into a real garden.

In 2002, there was a local garden tour in my town and one of the homes had a lot of succulents in her garden. Most of them were potted, but the way she potted them was fascinating. Here are two pictures from this garden. Maybe it will give someone else some ideas.

Donna

This was at her window...stunning

Donna,

I have been desert gardening and landscaping for many years. We all consider our's to be "real" gardens. (It is the only kind of gardening that is forgiving enough to survive my brown thumb.)

There is some question in my mind about trying to make Southern Calif., which meets the qualifications of a desert to look like the beautiful "Hawaii" with lush tropical plants and flowers is "real" gardening in Southern Calif or is it a Disney Fantasy make believe garden? Just a thought...hmmm.

bob
:>)

Donna, thanks for sharing those, I love the way she nestled other pots within larger pots, that's a great idea I think I will try!. Everyone's images here are great inspirations.
Happenstance's garden was an inspiration to me, I toured it twice.She mixed in cactus and succulents throughout her garden, a lot like deviant_deziner's, with a mixture of a bit of the tropics as well. Because of her sharing a few succulents with me, I started adding to my collection last year and am still adding. All are in pots still but I am getting ready to start adding them to the fringes of my beds. I am not so much a controled gardener, only growing what's well known, safe, common, I like the mixed, unusual, no rules, collector, ecIectic look, something different everywhere you turn. Would probably drive a designer crazy!
I really miss Happenstance here and hope she doesn't take too long in returning once her new home is complete.

Hi Bob,
I do understand where your coming from about SoCal's desert type weather and how some try to make tropical landscapes also. I think much of it comes on exactly "where" you live here as there are so many micro climates within 5 miles of every home.

I live 3 miles from the ocean and we have a nice gentle breeze most of the time, so many of my shade type plants can take more sun that other gardens. If I drive 3 more miles inland, it is so hot in the summer that their homes need air conditioning and their plants need the right type of environment. Many people think we can garden like in Hawaii because we are in the same gardening zone, but alas it is not true. We don't have the constant warmth, humidity and drainage like they have, so many of our tropical plants aren't as lush and in our mildly cool winters, some can freeze on us.

I just looked at your homepage and realized how close to one of our other members (drdon) you are. I hope you can try to come to his DG RU that he is hosting in July. You will be amazed at the type of plants and gardening that he has done in your same gardening zone.

Sue,
Don't you just love the way the pots spill over on each other? That's what caught my eye too and why I took the picture. I have lusted over Happenstance's gardens since she joined. I really miss her here and even sent her an email a couple months ago, asking where she was. I've never heard back, so was glad to here that it's just busy time for her at the new home.

Donna

Hi again Deziner!

thank you for sharing your wonderfully creative garden. It looks very natural with its mixtures of plantings that include many succulent and non-succulent desert plants . I visited Marin 2 of the last 3 years and drove through Novato, and appreciate the great difference in your climate and ours. Marin area is a unique place and enjoys a very special environment.

Donna,

I believe Dr. Don lives in Temecula. There is a HUGE difference in Temecula climate and West Bonsall NW Vista climate!
Could you tell me what a Daves Garden (DG) RU? is? Sounds interesting. In July?

I owe Dr. Don a plant. Perhaps I may bring it along!

We are 7 miles from the sea and have ocean views from our hill and nothing to obstruct the sea breezes.

I do wish that we could find somebody to put a feminine touch to our gardens (undergoing renovation all winter). These gardens shown here are magnificent.

Diane of BajaRad

Hi Diane,

We stayed at the resort just south of Cabo Pulmo at Las Frailles. I don't remember her husband's name (maybe Wayne), but Ellie was his wife. They owned the resort. She had some beautifully grown plants there in her landscape garden around the resort, I sent her some Beaucarnea seed from our plants in the late 90's.

The desert in your area is one of my favorites. You have learned to appreciate it, I can see that with your touch and your innovative use of them in your gardens.

I am sure you have seen the Ficus Palmeri tree south of you maybe 10KM. I spent a morning there on one of our visits photographing that magnicent tree. It supports a little microculture there all of its own. I really want to preserve this thread so I apologize for getting a little off topic.

I must put this link in so again I apologize this is a natural desert garden!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/568102/

bob
:>)

Bob,

Haven't been back to this thread..sorry.

A DG RU is a get together of DG members where we get to meet each other, trade plants, eat some wonderful food and talk gardening. Here is a link to some pictures from the RU he hosted last year. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/524248/

Here is a link for this years RU... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/559332/

I hope you can try to make it.

Anyone...
I have acquired several small succulents (don't know their names) that I would like to put in my garden. I have read that the soil needs to be fast draining and since I have a clay type soil, is there anything I can add or do to be able to put these in selected spots?

Thanks,
Donna

Donna,
I too have that nasty clay soil - the following is a small list that has been suggested (and worked) for me in the past: Pumice, Course Sand (as in builder's sand NOT play sand), Vermiculite, Pea Gravael, & Perlite (although this one tends to "float" upward with time)
I also read in another forum about the use of crushed lava rock or lava sand if you can find it.
Hope this helps.
Chantell

Thanks Chantell, I just happen to have left over builders sand and gravel from a paver project I did last fall. I will also look for some of the lava rock too. :-)

Donna

Hi Donna,

thank you for the info. very helpfull

Many of the beds around our house are on clayish soil. I deal with it by building small mounds of fast draining soil.
HD has1 CU FT bags of Supersoil Cactus mix and it is great. any smaller succulent is happy to be growing on top of a 6" deep mound of that stuff.
I cover the mounds with weed block, cut cross slits where the plants go, and put the plants through the slits into the soil.

Next is to dress the mound after the plants are in. it can be covered with any mulching material, gravel, spragum moss, etc. We use river rocks of various size.

This mounding process keeps the plants feet from ever getting into that soggy clay whenever we have these downpours lasting days that we get here in S. Cal. every few years.

I have mounds that were made over 20 years ago and are still working well. Most of them have been "recharged" several times.

bob
:>)


This message was edited Apr 3, 2006 7:30 PM

This message was edited Apr 3, 2006 7:31 PM

Bob,
I didn't know HD had bags that large of cacti soil...I go through so much of it, it seems.
Thanks!
Chantell

chantell, giners are not peeking out yet, but it won't be long.

2 of my 3 Butterfly's are up a couple of inches and very tippy tip of one of my Tai Pink Prof. is above soil now. Yippeee!!! They're sitting in big pots in a south-east window laughing at our cooler temps tonight...LOL

Great info Bob thanks. Now if only the rain would stop so I can even think about digging in the soil. lol

Donna

Hi Bob,

Thanks for posting the link to the tree--I hadn't seen it the first time. It truly is magnificent and I think that right now, it looks just like your picture except maybe a bit drier. We got very little rain last summer so most of the vegetation around here is pretty drought stressed. Hotel Los Frailes is closed right now. I didn't know they had any interesting plants. I'll have to go take a look. I have a new career as a landscape designer and one of my first clients is two doors down from the hotel.

Thanks for sharing! Diane

I have posted pictures of my cactus gardens :) I dont' have the mixed in with the other plants. My husband is into Palms which need more water..BUT I do have 2 large gardens full of them :)

Chantel,
HD doesn't always keep them in stock... they run out fast. You will notice Supersoil cactus mix comes red plastic bags. Supersoil's only red bag product. If you can't find them in your area of the country let me know; there are alternatives. Supersoil just makes it easier.

Diane - Bajarad!

What a great gig! In one of the best desert in the world, on beautiful the sea shore!! and landscape designing desert plants! It must be like being on vacation in heaven!

I envy you!

bob
:>)

Are there Plant Nurseries in the area now? There were none when I was there last.

Bob,

There are plant nurseries here, but few have any cacti or succulents, not to mention natives---very disappointing. Everyone seems to be wanting to create wet tropical paradise here. I think there is a real need for a nursery specializing in these plants. I'm trying to inspire others to plant with succulents and natives. I'm having fun being a plant pioneer with natives. I keep envelopes in my car and a trowel, etc. in case I find interesting natives. I now have experience growing quite a few horticulturally. There are some beauties that just need a little extra water to look great.

Diane

Diane,
Good for you!

I still have a Bersura that I got down there on the eastern tip of Baja east of San Jose del Cabo over 30 years ago. it is a low grower. and covers the ground about 6 inches of the ground. It has that Bursera desert oil aroma. Why doesn't somebody capture that aroma it would be an awesome aftershave aroma or even anti stress lotion.

There are lots of interesting plants there in the cracks and the Bersuras are windswept bonsai, small and rugged looking. As you say with a little care and water they are even better.

You have probably been up the dry creek bed from the Hurricane tree south of you. We saw many giant ficus trees (none like The Hurricane Tree) and there is lots of seed there at Hurricane.

Wild plumerias grow there. They are far different from the selectively bred ones now in Hawaii, but I am sure they have the fragrance.

You are to be envied!

bob
:>)

deviant et all, I just popped in to the cactus and succulents form to check it out and saw this thread. Here I am in zone 4 and working on a succulent garden. There are many lovely sedum that grow here along with hen and chicks, yucca and two native cactus. Your gardens have really encouraged me to expand mine. Thank you.

Zen,
Which cacti are you planting, if I may ask? I too am putting in a C & S garden including Yucca, agava, cacti, and Sedum type succulents.