How to Make a Rock and Succulent Garden.
In the front yard, we have a line of bushes and in front of those, I usually plant annual flowers until they die, and then I switch them out.
This area has been a work in progress since last year in March when I bought some of these stone edgers at Home Depot, cleared out this area, and placed some flowers down. At the time, I was guessing how many edgers I needed, and was short, but then they were sold out for awhile. I am happy to say that I finally purchased the remaining ones a couple months ago to finish the edging!
Then there was the case of did I want to put mulch around the flowers? I purchased two bags of red mulch also last year in March, and they’ve been sitting because I wasn’t completely sold.
You might also like to see Faye’s Succulent Garden.
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Previously, I had red Poinsettias and small white flowers (the same as the ones in my 4th of July porch, but I don’t know what they’re called) from the past Christmas season, but at the time of this project (this month in early June) only two Poinsettias and one of the white flowers were still alive because we completely neglected this area, as you can see with all the weeds!
In our Home Depot trip this month, I wanted to get some new flowers for this area, but my husband suggested succulents since they’re pretty and so much easier to take care of, plus won’t die. Yes! Love that idea.
As you can see in my photos, the plants are in pots – this was my mom’s idea. She has a flower bed that she changes the flowers out of, just like I do. She has pots in the bed, and just puts the new plant right into it so when the plant dies, she can just pull it out, and put something else in the pot without having to dig the whole thing out again, and I loved that idea.
Knowing I’d be using the smaller pots in the ground, I bought larger pots of succulents that I could easily separate into several plants.
I pulled out all the weeds, trimmed up the bottom of the bushes, pulled out all the dead plants, and cut the bottoms out of the pots so the roots wouldn’t be restricted, since I knew the succulents wouldn’t die like the annuals.
I also replanted the two Poinsettias and the white flower in one big pot.
I filled my pots up with Cactus, Palm and Citrus Soil – this is what succulents like. Succulents like to be soaked in water, but also fast draining soil because they don’t like to sit in the water.
Then I dumped my larger pots of succulents into a big pot, and just massaged the dirt and roots to gently separate the plants, and…
… planted one or two sprigs in each pot.
After I got all my plants into their pots, and I was happy, I laid down some newspaper. This is another trick my mom taught me yeeeeeaaaarrrrsss ago. You lay down 3-4 sheets of newspaper down around the plant, and throughout the area that will be covered up so you don’t have to deal with weeds later.
After all the newspaper is covering the area, then I added gray rocks that I had leftover from a project in the backyard. I am not a rock person, but I really like this gray color, and I thought it complemented the succulents well.
This photo is one of my favorites! Can you see the little lizard? Apparently, they love succulents. I find them all over my containers of succulents.
After these photos, I went back, and cleaned up the petals. You will notice on some of the petals on the very bottom are not looking good. It’s best to pull those off so they don’t take the energy and nutrients from the rest of the plant.
And here is my finished area! I just love it!
So the golden rule is not to water your succulents too much, but here in Florida, it is hot and humid all the time, and since succulent dirt dries very quickly on it’s own, and moreso with them outside, we water our succulents every day, (or close to it when we remember) and they are happy.
Succulents are excellent plants though because they are very forgiving. They really do not need much water, and could go several days, and still be happy. You can tell a lot from the petals of the succulents. If they look wrinkly, they’re getting too much water, and if they’re looking dried out, they need a little more water.
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Lovely says
Love how this turned out! The succulents look amazing!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Alexandra says
Thank you! I’m happy with it too. Glad my husband suggested the succulents.
Mica says
This turned out so pretty! it looks like a lot of work but it’s nice it will stay like this year round without a lot of future effort – such a good idea to plant succulents! 🙂
Hope you are having a lovely week 🙂
Alexandra says
Yes, absolutely! That’s what I wanted, and they have already grown quite a bit too, and started filling in the space. I just love it!
Laura Bambrick says
This looks amazing! I love how it turned out! I did the pot trick with mint at our old home so it doesn’t get too invasive. It’s a great idea!
Alexandra says
Ah, good to know about mint! I’ve been wanting to start an herb garden. I’m on the lookout for like an old sand box or something like that to repurpose.
Natalie says
I kill succulents. That’s how bad I am with plants. I actually have a surprise seed from Glossier I have yet to plant because I am too scared I will kill it LOL!
Alexandra says
Guess I’ve gotten pretty lucky with mine. My mom started my succulent garden, and inspired me to keep going with it, and now I love it, especially because I plant, and my husband waters, otherwise mine would probably die from no water.
Ann says
Your garden is lovely and using pots is a clever idea. Thank you for sharing at Party In Your PJ’s.
Alexandra says
Thank you! I got this idea from my mom. She has a window box, and she leaves the plants in the pots so it’s easy to pull out, and replace when they die.
April Harris says
This looks absolutely gorgeous, Alexandra! I love the contrast of the rocks and stones with the colour and texture of the succulents. I like the idea of using the pots as well. Thank you for sharing and for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Community! Sharing on the H&S Facebook page. I hope you are having a lovely weekend.
Alexandra says
Thank you so much, April! I had a lot of fun making over this space. I tried other plants here in the past, but the succulents are my favorite, and I don’t have to worry about replacing them since they aren’t annuals.
Donna @ Modern on Monticello says
Good luck with the succulents. I really like the idea of planting the pots and not having to dig the holes each time. Thanks for sharing. #HomeMattersParty
Alexandra says
Yes! I actually got the idea from my mom. She has a window box that she puts the pots in, and then covers them up with mulch or hay so it’s easy to change out when the plants die. Genius idea! I’ve been fortunate though, and only had to replace 3 of my succulents.
Julie says
Looks fabulous, and should be a LOT less work from now on.
My goodness your soil in Florida is SO dry isn’t it? I’m in the UK and our dirt does NOT look like that at all, even in the middle of summer. I guess planting to suit your conditions is an important part of success in the garden!
Alexandra says
This made me laugh! We get a lot of rain in Florida, but it seems to soak up fairly quickly because of the humidity which means constantly watering to battle the dry dirt, and thirsty plants. The succulents do well with it though as they retain a lot of water within. Since I don’t do well with remembering or feeling like watering, I suppose it works better this way not only for the conditions as you say, but also on my part as well.
I would very much like to visit the UK for many reasons, but especially to visit different gardens. I see them on TV and in pictures, and I just love it.