Wisley Succulent
We are beginning our hot and humid weather and some of my plants are feeling the heat.Warm nights mean that they do not get a rest from transpiration – the release of water into the air. Think of how you would feel if you had to pant all night long just to breathe. That is what our plants are going through about now. Is there anything you can plant that doesn’t have the summertime blues? Yes- Succulents. These heat loving plants do not need very much water at all and seem to be perfectly happy in the burning sun.
I had a wonderful mason who decided to build a planter by the side of my house.Unfortunately, it is southwest facing and with the reflection from the tabby foundation of my house, anything I put in there was fried. I know that everything gets fried down here –okra, shrimp, oysters, hushpuppies etc., but I do not like my plants to be fried to a crisp. Finally, I had an “Ah Ha” moment and I bought some succulents. Bingo! Problem solved.
They are becoming increasingly easy to find due to their ease of care. Common varieties are Aeonium, Echeveria, Sempervivum, Sedum, Agave, and various types of cactus plants. The one succulent that did not winter over was Aloe and it turned into mush at below freezing. The popular Sempervivum (commonly known as hens and chicks) even survive Ohio winters. Echeveria come in any number of shapes and colors from grey to blueish to pink.
Agaves are spiky and come in variegated cultivars as well as plain green. One type of agave is known as century plant because it was was believed that it only bloomed once in 100 years and then died. A century plant actually blooms from 10-30 years and it does indeed die to the ground after blooming. It has expended every bit of its energy in producing a flower spike that can grow as tall as 15-30 feet. It produces a pole like stalk with yellow flowers branching out at the top. It looks a little like a telephone pole. If you want a century plant, be sure to give it plenty of room because it can be as much as eight feet wide. And those spiky leaves are sharp. It certainly makes a statement and I do have one, but not where people tend to gather. It is tucked away at the side of my house that I call the desert.
The one succulent that I cannot grow is Aeonium. The leaves are like a rosette on a long stem and the colors are amazing. They like hot and dry and although I certainly have those conditions, I am a failure at growing them. Most gardeners have a few plants that they just cannot grow.
Succulents thrive in containers and there are many interesting containers for succulents – dish shapes, natural stone, driftwood logs – to name a few. Plant them in a mixture heavy with sand and/or vermiculite and cover the top layer with colorful pebbles. I have never fertilized mine and they get all the water they need from the sky. The most beautiful succulent arrangement that I have seen was in England. Echeveria were planted close together in a dish container and placed on lunch tables in a garden. People were clustered around taking photos and oohing and aaahing. They were just about to bloom and had pink flower spikes. Yes, succulents do bloom, down here usually in late spring or early summer. I did not cover mine when we had snow and ice and they were just fine.Succulents do not seem to need coddling. My kind of plant.
