In the middle of our most recent heatwave, I started renovating the back garden bed that sits just outside my home office window. While I'd been thinking of pulling out some of the succulents there for some time, I hadn't planned to tackle any renovation until late September or early October when the temperatures were lower. But a branch of the tree-sized Leucadendron 'Pisa' in the bed was bent during Tropical Storm Hilary and required minor pruning. As sometimes happens, one thing led to another. I ended up severely pruning the large Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' that occupies the same bed, as well as pulling up most of the Aeoniums that shared the space.
I'll start with a couple of before shots.
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| This photo of the bed in question (on the left) was taken in May. There were already some holes there but it's the best before shot I have. |
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| This photo was taken back in January 2021 but it shows the mass of mixed Aeonium arboreum and Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi'planted adjacent to the back patio when they were looking their best |
I don't have a good "before" photo of Acacia 'Cousin Itt' but it's now a a shadow of its former self.
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| These Acacias produce new foliage atop masses of bare stems, dry twigs and dead foliage. I removed the majority of the dry material when I cut this one back. If this plant survives the experience, I may give the rest of my 'Cousin Itt' Acacias severe haircuts too. |
I hadn't originally planned to take out eighty percent of the the Aeoniums but, when they grow as big as the plants in this bed did, pruning them halfway doesn't help their overall appearance much.
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| These are closeups of the Aeoniums (arboreum and 'Kiwi') on 3 sides of this bed before I set to work |
I took a large number of presentable cuttings, more than I can possibly use. Two-thirds or more of what I pulled up went directly into our green recycle bin.
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| These are some of the cuttings I saved. As I don't expect to use the majority of them, I may offer them whatever I don't use to neighbors. |
The bed is now half empty. Still in place are the Acacia 'Cousin Itt', Leucadendron 'Pisa', Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', a Hemerocallis (now nearly dormant), a handful of Hippeastrum 'Luna', several small variegated Lantanas, and a much smaller number of succulents.
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| The lifted "skirts" of the Acacia are evident in this photo. The scattering of Aeonium arboreum in the middle foreground were cuttings I planted earlier this year in an initial effort to fill holes left when the tall stems of the surrounding Aeoniums collapsed under their own weight. I'm not yet sure they'll remain there when I replant the area. |
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| Even though I loved the wall of mixed Aeoniums I had running along the back patio's edge (as shown in the second "before" photo at the top of this post), I'm inclined to select low-growing groundcovers here to avoid crowding the nearby patio table |
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| As the bed outside the lower frame of this photo is filled with succulents, I'm inclined to use at least some succulents here to connect the 2 areas. At present, I'm planning to keep the 3 Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor' that are already there, even though the plants pup like crazy. I removed 5 'Quadricolor' pups in the process of cleaning out the bed. |
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| These photos show the empty spaces I'm most likely or fill with softer (non-succulent) plants |
As indicated, my plans for the empty spaces are fuzzy. I'll probably use some of my Aeonium cuttings in the bed but, at least at present, I'm thinking of leaving the area directly adjacent to the back patio succulent-free as the earlier planting intruded too much on the limited patio space.
Fortunately, planting up a succulent pot requires far less thought.
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| A friend gave me the pretty pale green pot shown here in May and I only just got around to planting it. The pot contains a noID Kalanchoe with pale pink flowers, Sedum 'Little Missy', Crassula perforata 'Variegata', and Echeveria 'Violet'. |
We're anticipating our current cooler temperatures in the mid-70sF (24C) to continue for roughly another week. Fingers crossed.
Best wishes for a pleasant weekend. As an aside, for those of you interested in drought-tolerant landscapes, you may wish to take a look at the short (one to 2 minute) videos relating to the gardens of Minack Theatre, an open air space situated on the Cornish cliffs in Penzance, UK. I was surprised at how many of the plants featured there are present in my own garden. I learned about the Minack Theatre from an episode of Gardener's World but I found the videos here.
All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party