Building a Succulent Garden

Posted on | May 26, 2009 | No Comments

A couple of months ago my wife and I took a trip down to Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas, CA.

I like Quail Gardens because it’s only about 25 miles away and has an incredible assortment of gardens and plants that thrive in my climate. As a result, I never fail to be inspired to take on some new project in my own gardens.

This time around it was the succulent gardens. I know most places succulents are probably considered cute little potted plants for on the patio or indoors, but here in San Diego the dry, sub-tropical climate is very similar to the Mediterranean and African ones from which many of these plants originate, so they grow very well outdoors year-round. In fact, I probably had a dozen or so different succulents growing around my yard entirely by accident – usually cast off house plant cuttings that had fallen and decided to take root where they lay.

For the most part I’m ambivalent about succulents as a whole since I like upright varieties (Jade Plants, Aeoniums, etc.), but can’t stand the creeping, groundcover types like ice plant and Candy Apple (invasive and way over used in these parts). But as I wandered through Quail’s gardens, I got a really good look at some great succulent planting with nary a groundcover in sight.

Succulent Gardens at Quail Botanical Gardens

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So after touring Quail I decided that creating my own succulent garden would be a lot of fun. There were plenty of “wild” ones from around the yard (free), I wouldn’t need extensive irrigation (easy), and I had a big ugly section near our front gate that would be the perfect location (convenient).

Free, easy and convenient are three of my favorite words.

Getting started

The area I had in mind for the garden is at the south end and was once home to a number of palm trees. Years ago one palm grew tall enough to hit the overhead electrical wires and burst into flames, which got me a visit from the fire department.

It also brought a quick end to the trees. Ever since then it’s been an ugly, rocky, dry and weedy patch of land that got comments like “you know, an old car up on blocks would look great right there.”

Below is a diagram of the roughly 30 foot square area that’ll give you an idea of what you’re looking at in the photos. For orientation, east is to your left, south at the top.

The succulent garden

You’ll notice in this first photo series, I had to clear out the weeds and work around the palm stump which is too large and heavy to dig out.

The succulent garden before clearing

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The onion-looking plants are giant white squill bulbs I decided to keep there because they die back this time of year but produce interesting 5 foot tall white flowers in the winter.

Cutting paths and making beds

Ideally I would have chosen to have only one path through the garden, but the dogs have different ideas and will shortcut if they can, so I cut two curved paths that follow the dog’s favorite trails: one that travels to the left of the palm stump and goes down a couple of steps to the fence line and lower garden, and one below the stump that travels straight down the slope to the vegetable garden gate.

After clearing the garden and cutting the paths

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After making the paths I amended the planting beds with 16 or so cubic feet of compost, peat moss and topsoil. And since I hadn’t watered any part of this area in well over a year, I watered the whole area well to get rid of air pockets and gaps.

Planting

I let the newly soaked beds sit overnight and spent the next morning digging various plants from around the yard to add to the garden. In the vegetable garden I found a scraggly Jade plant (Crassula Ovata) under a juniper. In the orange orchard I found an Aeonium (two actually) that had tumbled the hill several years ago and taken root near the hothouse.

In the far end of the orchard I found an aloe vera that had produced numerous pups ready to transplant. I also managed to locate a pot-bound Kalanchoe, a much-neglected Haworthia, a tiny Stone Face (Lithops turbiniformis), and a ‘Sticks on Fire’ Euphorbia (Euphorbia tirucalli).

In all, plenty with which to get the garden started. In all, plenty with which to get the garden started.

Finishing

During the initial cleanup of the garden I found a whole bunch of clay pots I had placed there to stop the dogs from relieving themselves in the area. Of course, over time weeds grew, I forgot about the pots, and the dogs returned to relieving themselves there.

I still wanted to prevent the dogs from going to the bathroom there (as well as short-cutting outside the paths), so this time I decided to use the pots for combination decorative / functional purposes. I used a couple of the larger pots to transplant roses that weren’t doing well elsewhere, and several of the small ones as decorative elements and stands for other pots.

The Garden after planting

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It turned out pretty well. So well, that I think I’m going to extend the pot idea into a Mediterranean kitchen garden just on the other side of the pond which is right across the path from the new succulent garden.

Take a look at the finished product. Not bad, eh?

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