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Cacti & Succulents

Cacti/Succulent grown OUTDOOR conditions UK

7 years ago

Has anyone grown any cacti/succulent successfully outside in the UK? I'm assuming very few varieties would survive all the rain we get. Thoughts?

Featured Answer

greenclaws UK, Zone 8a

7 years ago

Hi Rachael, I agree, few types would survive our cold wet winter combo. I have just one type, it's a sedum something or other, I forget. Its years old and lives basically on sheer neglect in a sink garden by the pond and survived -17C during Narnia in the winter of 2010-2011. It fills out and is one mat of vibrant red/silver each year.

but as you can see below, I'm more a fan of this type of succulent heaven.....

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Comments (8)

rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
The typical succulents we grow indoors are not hardy enough, but there are quite a few sedums that should survive, just like Gill's. With wet winters, gritty soil will be even more important. Can you grow sempervivums? Hardy opuntias? And many trailing/ground-cover type sedums, and taller ones that will grow about 2' - now called telephium or hylotelephium. They are definitely hardy enough for your temps (I grow them and it gets much colder than -20*C). Many are in containers. And there are few euphorbias that will overwinter, some will not but they will reseed and grow every year.

All of the above are in containers but will grow as well (if not better :) in ground.
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Barb...both happy and sad....Happy he is moving forward with his life. Knowing he will go far as long as he stays focused on his studies, and learns to quit being so wasteful. Sad because he is moving on and we will be seeing very little of him in the next 4 years or so. We havent made any new life adventures yet. House needs some TLC. I suppose first we will get used to having a home with just us and the critters and go from there. Chell I used to be a dog and cat groomer. I loved it too. But my employer was a deedeedee. Never had the money to pay me each week and always "owed" me. And she never gave me my tips either.Then at the end of the year she reported more earnings for me than what I had really made.Fortunitly I kept records and proved my case and won, so make sure you don't let the same happen to you. I have kept my clippers, blades and accessories and still will do a neighbors dog or two once in awhile to keep my skills up.....but don't miss the hair stuck in places I did'nt know existed....lol. Love all the pictures the everyone post. Always enjoy seeing ya'lls babies. Regina
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Can you post some pics of your new plants so we can ID them for you a small that might help in giving you some more info on how best to care for them? For my succs, I just use regular c/s mix sieved perlite, and horticultural grit or gravel all from B &Q, in equal amounts. If it looks a bit too soil based, I just throw in another hand full of gravel. Aquarium gravel or chicken grit could also be used instead of the hort gravel. Must say I get extremely twitchy when reading the word SAND in any shape or form for c/s plants, the grittiest of hort sands contain a fair proportion of fine stuff, too much in my mind. Best get a bag of the hort/alpine gravel/grit ;-) Turface, scoria and pumice are fairly hard to locate in the U.K.....unless you know of a secret source that is? Whether you need to use a heat lamp is debatable, depends on the ID.'s you get, where you keep them during winter, and where in the UK you live.....best add some location info after your user name like we do :-) You may in fact need a light source as opposed to a heat source as our light levels can be poor. Lots of c/s are winter dormant so I find mine can stay in the unheated g/h with no adverse efffects......if we don't get down to -17C during the Narnia winter of 2010-11........ oh, yes, maybe a snap of that mysterious ingredient list would be helpful too, what brand is it? Gill
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greenclaws UK, Zone 8a
7 years ago
Ah yes, Sedum spectabile, the Ice plant as we call it here, the one in your last pic, I forgot those, have several of the pale pink ones, they are as tough as old boots! Sempervivums also grow in my front garden year round. Not aware of hardy opuntias growing here, not in my region anyway. Southern UK is a lot warmer though, I am exposed...lol...!....where I live I mean!

Gill UK
User
Original Author
7 years ago
Oooo thanks for the ideas !! I'm going to investigate attempting to grow some of these :)
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
7 years ago
Rachel, and there are more :) Hope you find them easily.
TaraMaiden
7 years ago
In the garden I used to have, I used to sink my terracotta pots in a sunny spot in the garden, and then surrounded them with gravel. That way, they got good weather and sunny warm conditions, and I could take them up and indoors (conservatory) for protection. The garden faced south-west, and had high fencing all round, so it was a sun/heat trap. But yes, the climate in the UK is still too chilly to risk leaving the majority of cactuses and succulents outside. Some euphorbias, sedums and sempervivums do very well though.
tcstoehr
7 years ago
You might find this useful:

Agaves in the UK
User
Original Author
7 years ago
That's a really good idea about sinking the pots! I might try that, my garden is south facing too so some of the hardier types might be okay!

And thanks so much for the article! It's given me a really good idea of where to put some agaves, as i've been wanting some for ages! I'll post pictures when I get round to doing it!

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