New succulent beds in backyard: first look

My main focus this past month has been on renovating parts of the backyard. The first step was removing a large Agave chiapensis, as detailed in this post. Then I dismantled the remaining two raised beds in the side yard on the north side. They were originally built for vegetables, but they’d fallen into disuse in recent years because growing vegetables in our climate requires a lot of water and effort – and the payoff often is disappointing.

The soil in these raised beds was shockingly sandy. No wonder vegetables didn’t do too well.

After I’d taken out the horizontal bed, I evenly distributed the soil from both beds to form a base layer. I had to reuse the soil somehow.

The bougainvillea at the left in the next photo, a variegated dwarf cultivar called ‘Bambino Sophia’,

is the only plant that has remained. It’s thrived on neglect for a number of years and has earned the right to stay.

Then it was time for the delivery truck:

Half a cubic yard of crushed rock...

...four cubic yards of soil and pumice (two each, mixed up)...

...and 1,000 pounds of Sonoma Gold rocks:

The crushed rock was to create a clean, solid base for the clothesline:

For comparison, here’s the “before” shot again:

Sonoma Gold wouldn’t have been my first choice, but it was the only light-colored boulder type available at the rock yard:

When I accidentally got water on some of the rocks, I was amazed by the transformation. That darker, richer color was what I wanted in the first place. I did a bit of research and decided to apply a no-sheen color enhancer sealer (this is the product I used) to all the Sonoma Gold boulders. I know this was a bit silly, but the effect was dramatic:

1,000 pounds of rocks sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t:

It hadn’t been my intention to get plants in the ground right away, but I couldn’t help myself:

Of course that was just the beginning. I realized pretty quickly that I needed more rocks in order to create the kind of landscape I envisioned. I ended up getting another 1,800 pounds of rock, this time from Dixon Landscape Materials. In fact, I bought all the smaller Rustic Red boulders they had in stock. That’s the type of rock we already have in the front yard, and it ended up being an almost perfect match for the color-enhanced Sonoma Gold:

After a fair amount of back and forth, here’s the planted bed as of today (October 8, 2024):

The numbers refer to the plant list below.

Plant list for the bed above:

1 Anigozanthos ‘Bush Baby’

2 Lavandula angustifolia ‘Super Blue’

3 Anigozanthos ‘Landscape Scarlet’

4 Lavandula × intermedia ‘Phenomenal’

5 Dudleya ‘Frank Reinelt’

6 Dudleya gnoma

7 Dudleya brittonii

8 Salvia ‘Amethyst Lips’

9 Aloe vanbalenii × peglerae

10 Aloe lavranosii (yellow)

11 Aloiampelos striatula

12 Aloe ‘Erik the Red’

13 Aloe capitata var. quartziticola

14 Mangave ‘Lavender Lady’

15 Agave × romanii

16 Mangave ‘Espresso’

17 Aloe labworana

18 Mangave ‘Kaleidoscope’

19 Agave titanota ‘Lion’s Mane’

20 Agave pablocarrilloi × isthmensis

21 Agave victoriae-reginae × ovatifolia ‘ShoTime’

22 Aloe volkensii var. multicaulis

23 Pachycereus pringleii

24 Penstemon heterophyllus ‘GMR White’

25 Agastache ‘Ambrosia’

26 Bougainvillea ‘Baby Sophia’ [the only plant left over from before]

27 Penstemon ‘Red Rocks’

28 Aloe arborescens (variegated)

29 Lysiloma candida

30 Agave ovatifolia ‘Orca’

31 Encephalartos lehmannii

32 Encephalartos longifolius

33 Macrozamia macdonnellii

34 Agave guiengola ‘Moto Sierra’

35 Yucca brevifolia

36 Encephalartos msingianus × arenarius

37 Agave montana ‘Lime Flash’

38 Agave multifilifera ‘Starshine’

39 Aloe conifera × laeta

40 Agave (potatorum ‘Spawn’ × isthmensis) × (kristenii × potatorum)

41 Agave parryi var. truncata

42 Aloe capitata × rubroviolacea

43 Aloe humilis × claviflora

44 Mangave ‘Sponge Paint’

45 Manfreda undulata ‘Cherry Chocolate Chip’

The second bed is where the large Agave chiapensis had been:

I removed most of the plants, added soil and pumice for more height, and created a rock border, mostly using rocks I already had in the garden:

This is what it looks like today (October 8, 2024):

My friend Kyle was instrumental in creating what I call the “dyckia border” (there are a couple of non-lethal hechtias, too). He’s a master at fitting rocks together and tucking plants into the crevices, as you can see in his inspiring garden in Sacramento.

Above: Dyckia ‘Tarzana’, a classic Bill Baker hybrid.

Below: Dyckia ‘Sabertooth’, NOID Dyckia hybrid, and ×Dyckcohnia ‘Zebra’.

Below: NOID Dyckia hybrid, ×Dyckcohnia ‘Zebra’, one of Justin Thiel’s aloe hybrids, and Aloe castilloniae (in pot).

Plants with numbers matching the list below:

Plant list for the bed above:

1 Dyckia ‘Snaggletooth’

2 Aloe castilloniae hybrid

3 Hechtia epigyna

4 Hechtia tillandsioides

5 Dyckia ‘Tarzana’

6 Dyckia ‘Sabertooth’

7 Dyckia hybrid

8 Dyckcohnia ‘Zebra’

9 Aloe castilloniae

10 Aloe hybrid (Justin Thiel)

11 Hechtia nuusaviorum

12 Fascicularia bicolor

13 Agave attenuata × titanota ‘Tidal Wave’

14 Aloe africana × polyphylla

15 Agave ‘Baccarat’ [the only plant left over from before]

16 Dioon angustifolium

17 Agave bovicornuta ‘Holstein’

18 Aloe angelica

19 Agave cremnophila

20 Agave pablocarrilloi × nevadensis

21 Agave bovicornuta × parrasana ‘BoviSana’

22 Mangave ‘Man of Steel’

23 Hechtia lanata

24 Hechtia argentea

25 Agave petrophila

26 Aloe vera × reitzii var. vernalis

27 Kumara plicatilis

28 Aloe ankoberensis

29 Agave mitis ‘Nova’

30 Agave parrasana ‘Impressionist’

31 Agave ‘Blue Wave’

32 Dioon oaxacensis

33 Paleoagave bracteosa ‘Monterrey Frost’

34 Aloe shelpei × rubroviolacea

35 Agave impressa

I know, that’s a lot of plants. Aside from the leafy perennials (like the penstemons, lavenders, and kangaroo paws) I didn’t buy a single plant specifically for this project; all of them were already waiting in the wings to be put to good use.

Finally, a quick shot from this morning that combines the old (Agave ovatifolia ‘Vanzie’ and Aloe helenae in the back) with the new (Agave impressa and Kumara plicatilis in the front):

Initially, I was hesitant to show you these photos since the project isn’t finished yet. But I wanted to have a visual record for myself, so here we are.

Still left to do: 5/16" lava for the paths and as top dressing; another small load of rocks to create a border for a third bed I haven’t shown you yet; and sprinkler risers for irrigation.

Stay tuned for the final reveal in a few weeks.

© Gerhard Bock, 2024. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.