Rock mulch for another succulent bed

Last month I blogged about mulching the succulent bed by our front door with 1½ inch rocks (click here if you missed that post).  I had originally bought several bags of ⅜ inch gravel but I ultimately didn’t like how small and round the pieces were.

A few weeks later I realized that the gravel would be perfectly acceptable as mulch for a narrow (2 feet wide) succulent bed in the backyard. The soil in this bed is only about two feet deep and it dries out very quickly. I’d been wanting to mulch this bed for years but as with so many things that aren’t at the very top of my to-do list, this project had never gotten done.

This is what the bed looked like before:

 

And after the jump you can see what it looks like now.

From left to right:
Aloe microstigma, Agave attenuata × shawii 'Red Margin', Agave lophantha ‘Quadricolor’, Aloe cameroonii × maculata, Agave parryi var. truncata, Aloe striata, Yucca filamentosa ‘Bright Edge’, Aloe nobilis

In addition to keeping the soil moist longer, the rocks also add a more finished look to this difficult area. In the past this was horticultural no-man’s land, but now it’s a bed I actually enjoy looking at.

This Agave parryi var. truncata will be much less muddy come winter.

Plus, I get to cross yet another chore off my long to-do list.