First look: revamped Corten succulent planter

When we took out the front lawn in February 2016 and built succulent mounds, we also added a Corten steel trough from Nice Planter to grow vegetables. This is what it looked like shortly after installation:

February 2016, Corten planter with winter vegetables. I can’t get over how small the plants were in the succulent mound on the left. Agave ‘Blue Glow’, Yucca queretaroensis, Agave vilmoriniana ‘Stained Glass’, and Ferocactus herrerae are still there, just much larger.

For a variety of reasons, the veggie thing didn’t really pan out, mainly because we didn’t give it the attention required—growing vegetables is not as easy as growing succulents!

For a few years, the planter was dominated by an African basil that thrived:

The African basil more than thrived, it took over

Unfortunately, when I cut the basil back, I removed too much, and it never recovered. After dilly-dallying for a while, I finally decided to convert the Corten trough into what it probably was always destined to be: a succulent planter.

Inspired by crevice gardens, I added a layer of rocks on top of the soil to create confined pockets, forcing the roots to go down instead of spreading out horizontally. This ensures that the roots stay cool and have access to the moisture in the soil below.

Step 1 after placing the rocks:

The trough is on drip so I don’t need to hand-water

Here’s the trough after planting:

I planted a mixture of small cacti and agaves:

There’s room for more plants, but I’m taking my time until I’ve found the perfect plants that will remain small.

Here are some of the cacti and agaves I chose:

Agave utahensis, a purchase from the recent San Francisco Cactus & Succulent Society sale. The tag simply says Agave utahensis, but based on the location info handwritten, it’s var. nevadensis, in spite of the bluish leaves more typical of var. eborispina.

Agave utahensis var. nevadensis, purchased at a retail nursery, not removed from the wild

Agave utahensis var. nevadensis, purchased at a retail nursery, not removed from the wild

Agave pintilla, purchased from Grow Nursery at the San Francisco Cactus & Succulent Society sale

Agave pintilla, purchased from Grow Nursery at the San Francisco Cactus & Succulent Society sale

Agave polianthiflora from Ethical Desert

Parodia microsperma

Echinocactus horizonthalonius

Here’s a list of what I’ve planted so far:

• Agave pintilla
• Agave polianthiflora
• Agave utahensis var. nevadensis (2x)
• Echinocactus horizonthalonius
• Echinocereus pulchellus var. acanthosetus
• Notocactus herteri ssp. roseoluteus
• Parodia microsperma

Look for updates as the plantings evolve.

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