Designing with Succulents: Create a Lush Garden of Waterwise Plants by Debra Lee Baldwin | eBook

Debra Lee Baldwin, an award-winning photojournalist, is widely hailed as the “Queen of Succulents.” She helped launched the gardening world’s interest in succulents with her first book, Designing with Succulents, and with her two other books Succulent Container Gardens and Succulents Simplified. Baldwin’s own half-acre garden has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Sunset, San Diego Home and Garden, and other publications.

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Introduction
Succulent describes any plant that survives drought by storing water in its leaves, stems, or roots. These plants were far from my mind when I began gardening in my early thirties. Because I wanted big, bold, beautiful flowers, I planted cannas and rose bushes, despite the fact that in southern California (USDA zone 9) rain falls minimally and mostly in February, the soil lacks nutrients, and inland temperatures range from 25 to 105°F. From spring through fall, such plants continually need mulching, fertilizing, pruning, spraying, irrigating, and deadheading.

As a garden photojournalist, I was influenced by editors, design professionals, colleagues, homeowners, and horticulturists who believed that gardening is an endeavor that ought to suit the region. It was my job to communicate via words and photos why certain residential outdoor environments were innovative and appealing—not only visually but also practically. As I strove to entertain and enlighten the gardening public, I became inspired myself.

One midwinter, when my garden consisted of pruned and naked rose bushes, cannas with frost-burned leaves, and perennials that had been cut to the ground, I visited the garden of horticulturist Patrick Anderson midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. Despite its poor soil and lack of irrigation, his garden was lush and colorful. It was the first time I had seen large aloes in a garden setting. The ensuing article reflected my fascination: “Fleshy green monsters in Patrick Anderson’s Fallbrook garden look like they might snap him up if he turns his back,” it began. “They’re giant succulents, and Anderson’s half-acre hillside showcases hundreds of unusual ones.” I described aloes that “pierce the sky like exotic torchbearers, hot orange against cool blue,” and agaves that “sprawl like squids, or explode upward like fistfuls of knives.”

I noticed how two or three varieties of succulents selected for shape, color, and texture create elegant and eye-catching vignettes. Succulents with curved or undulating leaves suggest motion, which makes any garden more interesting. Moreover, like seashells and snowflakes, succulent foliage forms patterns that illustrate nature’s innate geometry and that are mesmerizing when repeated. I soon learned firsthand that in a warm, dry climate, succulents and similarly low-water perennials make sense economically, aesthetically, and ecologically.

Aeonium arboreum and A. haworthii, Agave americana ‘Marginata’, and Bulbine frutescens proved trouble-free—as did the aloes, sedums, senecios, kalanchoes, and graptopetalums that followed. I found succulents easy to propagate and appealing wherever I put them. I began hunting gardens that showcased succulents and over the years have discovered them throughout the West and as far away as Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New England. This book, the result, offers numerous alternatives to traditional lawn-and-flowerbed landscapes, shows what’s possible when succulents shine as primary garden elements, and explains how to cultivate these versatile plants in the ground and in containers.

It’s an exciting time to be a succulent aficionado; numerous ornamental hybrids have recently been released or are in production. In years to come, watch for named cultivars with greater heat and cold tolerance, longer bloom cycles, multicolored flowers, disease resistance, and leaves that are vividly hued, variegated, or textured.

Succulent gardens far and wide
Succulents range from tall trees to ground covers with rice-size leaves. Among their native habitats are South American jungles, California’s coastal cliffs, high-elevation mountains in Africa, and arid Arizona plains. In cultivation, they look good alongside meandering pathways, in formal settings with geometric lines, in rock gardens, and in pots on patios, balconies, and rooftops—to name a few of many possible settings.

Most, but not all, of the succulents included here come from areas of the world that are hot and dry and that receive minimal rainfall. These plants are best suited to USDA zones 9 and 10, although they can survive outdoors in zones 8 and 11 with adequate protection from frost, excessive heat, and moisture. This ideal
climate is found sporadically in latitudes from 20 to 40 degrees, especially in marine-influenced, nontropical areas of the U.S. South and Southwest, Mexico, Pakistan, northern India, eastern China, Taiwan, southern Japan, South America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Mediterranean.

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Designing with Succulents: Create a Lush Garden of Waterwise Plants

eBook

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Designing with Succulents: Create a Lush Garden of Waterwise Plants

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