FEATURE

YEAR-ROUND

Succulent
Gardening
Succulents have the ability to transform the
most demanding of dry, hot garden spaces
into an oasis of color, form and owers.
words and photographs by Jessie Keith

Oppostite: Sempervivums and sedums

are easy to tuck into garden nooks
and crevasses. A seashell adds a bit of
whimsy and one more space for planting.

HORTICULTUR E { HORTMAG .COM} E 35

Often called prickly pear, Opuntia has fleshy, thick pads covered in thorns and adorned with primrose yellow flowers. Even colder-climate
gardeners can add a touch of the desert to their gardens with Opuntia fragilis (Zones 4-11).
S
ucculents are truly suc-
culentoffering diverse,
tough beauty and often
year-round interest. A
well-crafted succulent gar-
den reminds one of a lush seabed
with mounded, spreading, prickly
forms in shades of green, maroon
and red. Whether you live in the
East, West, South or the Midwest,
creating and maintaining succulent
gardens that shine throughout the
seasons is a decision with many ben-
ets. Your water bills will be lower,
tending time shorter and garden
satisfaction high.
Necessity is a great driver to-
wards succulent gardening. So
many areas are plagued with sea-
sonal drought, but homeowners and
garden lovers still want pretty beds
and containers. Fortunately, find-
ing great plants made for heat and
drought is not difficult. Succulents
were made for difficult growing
conditionsits in their physiology.
36 W H ORT I C ULT U RE { HORTMAG .COM}
SUCCULENT CHARACTERISTICS
Thick, water-resistant skin, massive
water-holding cells and expansive
root systems are several of the tools
these plants have for survival. Add in
other factors like protective surface
hairs and waxy cuticles to retain
water and ease sun stress, as well as
night respiration (some desert plants
breathe at nighttime to reduce water
loss) and its easy to understand how
succulents withstand less-than-fa-
vorable environments. Cold-tolerant
species have the added benefit of
toughing it out through low tem-
peratures and evergreen varieties of
succulents offer opportunities for
winter display.
Succulent diversity is matched
only by the dry habitats these plants
call home from the desert to al-
pine steppes, from Mediterranean
scrublands and the coastal plains to
the tundra. The spiky habit of the
agave, ground-hugging rosettes of
sempervivum, the mat-forming ice
plant and the mounding shapes of
hardy prickly pear lend unique tex-
tures and character to garden spaces.
Others have vibrant ower colora
trademark of many fast-blooming
desert plants.
PLANTING FOR SUCCESS
There are groups of succulents for
practically every garden, as long as
the site and soil are well chosen.
These factors can make or break
long-term success. And most suc-
culents are long-lived, so plant with
the expectation that your garden will
spread, shift and change in time, as
all good perennial plantings do.
Full sun is essential as is sharply
drained soil with moderate to poor
water-holding capacity. Plant your
beds up, creating meandering rocky
berms and retaining walls that sup-
port drainage. Stone trough contain-
ers or homemade hypertufa pots,
made with perlite or pumice, Port-
land cement and peat moss, lend a
rustic look to plantings. Soil should
be sandy or pebbly with a moderate
amount of added organic matter. A
homemade mix consisting of one
part fine potting soil to two parts
pumice or chicken grit works well.
When it comes to care, keep in
mind that plants from arid regions
survive with limited water and lit-
tle to no supplemental food. New
plantings require moderate moisture
when becoming established (for a
couple of weeks), but established
plants require spare water during
the growing months and no water
during dormant months. Monthly
feeding with diluted all-purpose liq-
uid feed is more than enough for
most succulents.
FOR THE CHOOSING
With so many wonderful hardy suc-
culents, its easy to reach beyond the
common sedums offered at big box
stores. Reliable specialty nurseries
abound and offer attractive and in-
teresting selections.
For something low-growing and
rock-garden perfect, try the diminu-
tive Rosularia, which looks like a
miniature Sempervivum with tiny
This hedgehog type cactus, Echinocereus reichenbachii, has pink petals which look as if a pinking shears was taken to them upon blooming.
A well-crafted succulent garden reminds
one of a lush seabed with mounded,
spreading, prickly forms in shades of
green, maroon and red.
mat-forming rosettes. The tight-
ly bunched Rosularia platyphylla
(Zones 5-10) is vibrant green and
pairs well with Rosularia serpen-
tinica (Zones 5-9), a Turkish native
with deep green rosettes tipped
with dark red.
Hundreds of unique Sempervi-
vum cultivars exist. Gardeners seek-
ing something fun should check out
the fringed, reddish-green Fuzzy
Wuzzy, soft silvery pink Hulla-
baloo, or Sempervivum calcareum
(Zones 5-10)a native of the French
Alps with extra-large, blue-green
rosettes with burgundy tips. All look
great planted alongside the hardy
Delosperma Red Mountain Flame
(Zones 6-9) and prickly-but-pretty
Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia hu-
mifusa, Zones 4-9). Throw in some
windswept Mexican hairgrass (Nas-
sella tenuissima, Zones 6-9) or ur-
chin-esque Fescue Siskiyou Blue
(Zones 5-9), and the seabed garden-
scape will be complete.
Several prickly pear, pincush-
ion and barrel cacti can weather
cold winters. One of the hardiest
and most moisture-tolerant is the
brittle prickly pear (Opuntia fragilis,
Zones 4-11). It produces low clumps
of prickly pads that bear prim-
rose-yellow blooms in late spring.
Plant these in a trough alongside
the hardy hedgehog cactus Echino-
cereus reichenbachii (Zones 5-11)
with its pretty pink flowersand
HORTICULTUR E { HORTMAG .COM} E 37
Above: A desert inspired garden is also a garden in blooma beacon for pollinators. Opposite, top: Planting en masse creates a stunning look
of bold colors and textures. Opposite, right, bottom: Agave Americana lends a strong, vertical design element and a water feature cools the
hot garden space while attracting pollinators.
jeweled reddish Sedum album Mu-
rale (Zones 3-9).
Gardeners with larger spaces
should consider drought-tolerant
Yucca and Euphorbia. Intermingle
clumps of slate-blue Beaked Yuc-
ca (Yucca rostrata Sapphire Skies,
Zones 5-10) with metallic blue-green
Euphorbia rigida (Zones 7-10) for a
sharp, mounded composition. Add in
the nearly succulent sunset foxglove
(Digitalis obscura, Zones 5-9), with
its spikes of sunset orange owers,
and the magenta-owered, summer-
blooming fameflower (Phemeran-
thus calycinum 'Judiths Favorite',
Zones 5-9), with its succulent green
pencils of foliage, and enjoy.
Those living in warmer, drier
zones can choose from hundreds of
succulent plants. The key is choosing
standouts that perform well and look
good year-round.
Many hardy Agave exist, but all
require dry winter conditions; wet
winters cause them to rot in a heart-
beat. The smooth, powdery-green, up-
38 W H ORT I C U LT U RE { HORTMAG .COM}
right Agave striata var. falcata (Zones
7-10) is a great choice as is the prickly
and robust Agave parryi (Zones 7-10),
which forms low, spreading colonies.
For a cool, airy addition choose the
ultra-silver-blue Dasylirion berland-
ieri (Zones 7-10), a close agave relative
that grows very quickly and produces
tall flower spikes of red and green.
Clumps of spiky red yucca Hesperaloe
parviora (Zone 5-11), with its tubular
red, hummingbird-luring owers, are
also attractive.
Infuse bold plantings with color-
ful additions, like the purple-pad-
dled prickly pear Opuntia violacea
Santa Rita (Zones 7-11) and fes-
tive rosy-red-flowered buckwheat
(Eriogonum grande var. rubescens,
Zones 8-10). Low-growing shrubby
ice plant (Ruschia pulvinaris, Zones
6-10), which has electric-pink ow-
ers for a short period in summer,
looks great planted along bed edges.
Evergreen succulents tend to
change color and lose moisture to
make it through winter months. Prick-
ly pear paddles deate and evergreen
sedums and sempervivums darken to
burnished winter. Still, they are attrac-
tive in their own right, lending year-
round interest in the chilliest months.
Aside from physical beauty, suc-
culent ornamentals have a carefree
nature and resist the worse torments
hot, dry summer weather can wield.
Keep them weeded, give them a lit-
tle care, and they are sure to provide
a wealth of garden enjoyment year-
round. Sources:
Annies Annuals, anniesannu-
als.com
High Country Gardens, highcoun
trygardens.com
Mountain Crest Gardens, moun
taincrestgardens.com
Yucca Do Nursery, yuccado.com 
JESSIE KEITH is a horticulturist, writer and garden
photographer based in Wilmington, Delaware.
Currently, she serves as Member Engagement
and Programs Assistant for the American Public
Gardens Association (APGA).
Copyright of Horticulture is the property of F + W Media and its content may not be copied or
emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written
permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.