Succulent Landscapes

 

Lawn to Succulent Garden

OK, you've let your lawn die. (Insert applause emoji.) Here's how savvy, succulent-loving homeowners went from turf to terrific.

Nancy Dalton's front yard succulent garden in Carmel Valley, CA won a waterwise award. See the video. 

 

Ten Succulent Front Yard Essentials

#1: Know how large plants will get. For example, Agave americana, though easy to grow and often free for the asking, isn’t for every garden. (See my video, “What You MUST Know About Century Plants.”)

#2: Ask friends and neighbors for succulent cuttings. If you’re not going to put them in the ground right away, start them in pots.

#3: If soil is compacted and difficult to dig, give succulent roots a fighting chance by spading it and adding amendments prior to planting.

#4: To add interest and definition to the overall design, bring in large boulders. They weigh tons, so have them delivered and positioned BEFORE you plant.

#5: Don’t skip the infrastructure. Take care of pre-planting steps like installing and adjusting irrigation, evaluating runoff, repairing drains and walls, and upgrading hardscape.

#6: Design with undulating lines for a natural look. Straight lines and rows are more formal, seldom found in nature, and emphasize the linearity of nearby structures.

#7: In close-up areas, create complex plantings. Viewpoints that are broader and farther away need less detail and larger plants.

#8: Top-dress with crushed rock (gravel). Imagine this garden with only bare dirt between plants. Topdressing finishes a landscape aesthetically; adds interest, color and texture; discourages weeds and makes them easy to pull; moderates soil temperature; and slows moisture evaporation.

#9: Continue rocks and gravel into the parkway strip. This enhances the overall design, makes the front yard larger, and makes what’s sometimes called a “hell strip” easy to maintain.

#10: Include intriguing plant-rock combos within the larger garden. Such “vignettes” are optional, but offer a great way to express your creativity, enjoy your garden hands-on, and offer visitors delightful discoveries.

Smart Design and layout

If you're overwhelmed by the complex task of redoing a large yard, consider hiring a landscape designer. She or he can help you with part or all of the process: lawn removal, irrigation (yes, succulents need some water), hardscape, plant selection and placement.

A garden should be practical, inviting and beautiful. Important considerations include climate, orientation to the sun, soil quality, grade changes, and---most importantly---what you hope to achieve: a backyard retreat, perhaps, or curb appeal that increases the value of your home.

Videos

Patrick Anderson's Succulent Garden: It All Started with Aloes (6:07) How a well-designed succulent garden looks two decades after installation.

Find out how celebrity designer Laura Eubanks creates a Succulent Pocket Garden (12:37) and learn her Succulent Garden Design Secrets (3:40).

 

Design Essentials: Rocks and Topdressing

Rocks enhance succulent gardens of every size. Rocks and topdressing (gravel) moderate soil temperature, keep weeds from germinating, need no maintenance, and look good year-round. Find out more about this essential design element in my videos:

Videos

Why You Really Need Rocks (5:32). Succulent landscape designer Steve McDearmon uses warm-toned boulders, rubble and gravel.

A Succulent Boulder Garden (4:06). Why you should be very glad if you have huge rocks.

Succulent Design Ideas from Sherman Gardens (4:18). A small garden with big ideas includes rivers of rock and mosaic.

 

Trees and non-succulent companion plants

There are indeed succulent trees, such as Aloe 'Hercules', Dracaena draco, and Beaucarnea recurvata. As it happens, they resemble those in children's books by Dr. Seuss.

Succulent trees may have great personality, but they provide minimal shade unless large, which takes forever. And even when small, they tend to be expensive. A smart alternative is to provide shade by planting lovely, non-succulent trees that once established, need minimal water.

Palo verde is a desert tree that does fine closer to the ocean. It gets by on rainfall, blooms for months, and provides a lacy canopy. How much do I love this green-barked beauty? I have seven palo verde trees in my half-acre, Zone 9b garden.

Trees, btw, are the first things to plant. Don't start with the small stuff. Most gardens need shade ASAP, and even a relatively fast-growing tree---like Acacia longifolia---can take three to five years to provide it.

Select the Right Succulents

An entire chapter of Designing with Succulents (2nd ed) is all about suitable succulents. The key is to select those that you enjoy looking at, and to prepare beforehand for their care requirements and possible drawbacks.

For example, rather than put up with the feral-cat characteristics of century plants (Agave americana), select Agave cultivars that stay reasonably small, don't produce invasive pups, take a long time to bloom (a good thing), and are truly beautiful.

Of course you can have a century plant if you want one...they're usually free for the asking (that pupping thing). In fact, the only plant in my garden I've truly mourned was "Big Blue," an Agave americana I'd planted as a pup and that bloomed and died at 23.

Critique: Expensive Mistakes in a Grand Succulent Garden (6:23) Below: Find out what this public installation does right, and---perhaps more importantly---what it doesn't.