Lush and Lovely Succulent Gardens 101
Spacing is EVERYTHING!!
2020 has been a rough year for many things - but arguably one area it hasn't been challenging for is my garden. Quarantine has a way of drawing me out into the garden to tend to my beds as a welcome distraction from the onslaught of monotony that has become existence dealing with Covid-19.
I mean - there is only so much Netflix I am up to consume (given that threshold seems to keep rising as the months pass on....)
After what seemed days of endless groundhog days of routine - wake, (coffee) work, walk (eat) work more, walk more (eat) - sleep - I decided to break up the monotony and fit some gardening in.
NOTE: I feel blessed to be working, given the environment. I count that blessing each day.
My garden - after thriving for years, had fallen into the stage of - DUDE - I need help!! Why don't you love me anymore?!
So the stage was set - scene ready to be revised - new actors willing and able to play their part - the question at hand - what to do?
Lush and lovely - that is what the garden was previous to the attention starving years that passed after she did. But plants - just like haircuts - will go bad unless you trim the tips, and condition and feed their roots. And that is just what my garden had done.....turned into a god awful hair cut in need of some serious attention!
So I decided to re-imagine the garden bed space in our front yard - but wanted to achieve the following three objectives:
1) Low Water Use - I live in Los Angeles - it is basically a desert by the sea (though with all the lawn and water guzzling plants pretending to be an oasis around here you would never know) So I need to create the aura of lush - but don't want to use the water it takes to sustain it.
2) Low Maintenance - I don't have a ton of time to be in the garden tending to needy plants. I want them to be somewhat self sufficient and thrive without having to find the "perfect" conditions.
3) Lush & Lovely - This is a must as the beds that preceded it had set a standard for our home that was not to be cheaped out. There is one thing that I will NOT do - EVER - and that is to cheap out on legacy. Where we come from is important - and the garden deserved nothing less than lush and lovely.
There is a super simple answer to addressing these three things IMO - SUCCULENTS!!
For starters - succulents are super low water use - most only needing a bit of water to get by once they are established - so check the box on Low Water Use.
Also - succulents don't tend to need a ton of attention. Succulents are happy to do their thing - just hang out and grow - most aren't overly sensitive (though you will find some that make you work more than others) but for the most part - they survive and thrive with some water and decent draining soil.
So with that I went to my local nursery and bought whatever I liked that looked good. Then kept at it until it looked right.
The crux of meeting the objective was Lush and Lovely. Done correct - everything flows and just looks AWESOME - done incorrect - sparse, deserted, pining for more - just basically LAME.
Here is what I learned.
The key to a lush succulent garden is spacing. Unlike general population in
2020 - social distancing is not promoted in the world of succulents. The tighter the configuration, the better the result IMO. Get a good palette of plants (it is super hard to screw up if you just have enough good stuff to work with) and push things together - with the goal of not seeing a whole lot of dirt in the end.
NOTE: You have to leave some space for things to grow in - but not too much. This is the trick. Once you find your groove - it is a whole lot of beautiful lush and lovely result.
So if you are honing in your garden - looking to create a low water use, low maintenance, lush and lovely result - try succulents. They are fun and pretty hard to screw up if you just kind of get in there and go for it!
If you have questions or comments - send them - I'd love to hear from you and will share what I can - if anything - just mere enthusiasm.
-- JH
