Succulant Corner Driveway Garden - Cold Hardiness?

9 years ago

Hello! Greetings!

I plan on doing two corner rock/succulant gardens at the end of my driveway where the sidewalk is, so two 'quarter circles' or two 'squares' depending on what looks the best.

I just bought some new succulants and I have some old ones in pots, many I got on clearance at lowes and home depot over the last year for 10-20 cents and just ignored until they came back to life.

I'd like to know which one of these succulants will be cold heartie here in texas, where at most we might hit 10 but rarely drop into the 20's. I'm going to plant those in pots (like the Jade) and put them out there as well but bring them inside when it gets cold. I also have a thorned Agava that's got a few babies on it that survived the winter just fine I might take the babies off of to put out there.

Also as far as the soil, I have clay soil now. I have a tiller. I was going to till it up, get rid of the grass, line it with bricks (have ample supplies of bricks) and do a 'mound' out of sandy/hummus which I have a few bags of. I also have compost mixes (wood/oyster/bat poo/chicken poo/other good bits) but I didn't want to make it too rich. The area will be getting full sun, morning till evening. Upwards to 100 degree's and above on occassion, with concrete on two sides.

This is the corner in question. Now my landscaping skills aren't the best but how does what I described above sound? My whole neighborehood is new, 2005, and is very steril feeling. I really miss the feel of San Diego, with all the road verge's and unique yards with lots of plants. So I want to start small by adding something interesting out near the sidewalk to mix it up and eventually do away with half my yard in leui for more plants.

In Summary, do you have any suggestions or advice for making a small succulant garden really look nice? Also want to make sure I don't make any big mistakes with how I plant them and end up killing the suckers.

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Comments (5)

Crenda 10A SW FL
9 years ago
I like your vision. You have some really nice succulents there, too.

That bright little red guy in the middle looks like a Cryptanthus (or Earth Star). Most of these plants prefer indirect sunlight. Shade from tall trees outdoors or a bright room without direct sun exposure is ideal for Cryptanthus. Too much direct sun can cause bleached or sunburned areas on the plant’s leaves. Being native in a rainforest, they also like humidity.

I have a Cryptanthus just like yours. I made the mistake of putting it in too much direct sun and it turned quite white. When I moved it to indirect sun exposure, it returned to the pretty red. Luckily, I had it in a pot!

I'll defer to some of our Texas gardeners to give you specific advice on plants and soil.
syntria thanked Crenda 10A SW FL
syntria
Original Author
9 years ago
Ohhhh! I have a Terrarium/Vivarium I think the Earth Star might find itself at home in that case! Thank you for telling me!

Humidity is 50-70 in there atm. I just started this guy a few weeks ago and still trying to make it less ugly.

Maybe I could put it under the bench in my shade garden? (Which actually gets 4-5 hours of direct sunlight, I think I want to put a japanese maple in there and or do a sheet of lattice over the top. On the north side of the house)

~

Another shot of the plants (spent 130 dollars ._. Gaaahhh ) I got some of the chick/hens particularly because they have so many babies on them, I was going to snip them and get them rooted so I had in total I guess 12 rossets of each so I could do some kind of pattern. Tomorrow I plan to go pick some leaves off pretty much all of them and get them in a saucer of sand/rocks and get them propagating.

Below is the front of my house---it's still pretty blah. I'm thinking of eventually doing a line of succulants all the way up the driveway to it. That's so much better than it was. It was all hollybushes and most of them were dead. Just got the begonia's and the two palms I'm thinking of moving (one palm on the far end by the rock, got it on clearance for 3 dollars! usually 30! It was all dead except for one new green leaf in the center). The Agava in the lower center of the picture still in the pot I planted two of last year, and they survived one freeze (the center leaves did) but the second freeze killed the entire plant so I know they can't do to well out here. However the spikey agava in the center of the picture wasn't phased at all by the freeze.

My landscaping skills are so bad, haha. Where the palm and tiny succulant is in the little square now was a big dead hollybush.

We just bought our home one year ago, it's our first home. We've both been renting for 10+ years and to be honest, I didn't realize how much I missed having property. Also as far as the front goes, if anyone has any suggestions. There's the green 'liner' that came with the property, thinking of taking those out in place of something else. Either the bricks I have a lot of, or actual stones. I'll be tilling the backyard for a Pernnial Garden and should get lots of orange rocks out of it.
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syntria
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's some inspirational photos :D I'm considering committing to doing na entire 1 foot wide strip along the driveway on one side now--maybe not right away but soon.

Kind of what I invision the corner looking like to start with

What I wouldn't mind if I had tons of succulants (but not enough money to make it happen all at once). Could see this along the sides of the driveway.
syntria
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Little update on one idea for a path around the side of the house, and where I might run the succulant garden along the driveway. The bricks would be 3/4rds buried. Above ground atm just to see how i like the pattern. Thinking a thin succulant garden along the driveway and either a larger one between the house and the path or start transitioning to a pren garden so a few succulants, a few deserty leafy plants then more butterfly/flowery bushes/plants as you go further towards the gate. At the start of the gate I plan on having an english pren. garden on eitherside of the path. I'm just wondering if succulants along the driveway there 'fit' or if I should leave grass on one side of the path or hrm. I'm so bad at landscaping lol. I should probably be IN the landscaping forum instead.

or
syntria
Original Author
9 years ago
Got one corner done!