See a Succulent Tidepool Terrace Amazing tips

A terrace near an outdoor sitting area is perfect for a colorful, easy-care succulent garden. This one in Laguna Beach, CA, suggests a tidepool. When you visually immerse yourself in it, you might as well be snorkeling. I discovered it on the Laguna Beach Garden Club’s spring Gate and Garden tour.

Like many gardens in Laguna, this one is multi-level.  After the owners restored and remodeled the 1920s beach cottage they bought in 2014, they reconfigured and replanted the garden. This prominent terrace became a whimsical, colorful focal point that enhances the view, indoors and out.

Succulent Tidepool Terrace ~ Key Aspects

Succulent tidepool terrace fountain

• A fountain infuses the area with the splashing water, thereby muffling the outside world.
• A tile backsplash, which continues along the length of the wall, is glass in shades of blue and aqua green with a shimmering iridescence.

Rock retaining walls 

• A retaining wall of rounded granite boulders and concrete suggests beach rock and sand. This low wall also doubles as seating for the adjacent patio.
• Succulents that suggest undersea flora lend continuity to the design. Among them are slender, upright sanseverias (snake plants), Senecio vitalis, sedums, bottle palms (Beaucarnea recurvata) and Portulacaria afra ‘Minima’.
• In the bed, softening the visual impact of a structure beyond it, is a dracaena tree. Its slender multiple trunks appear to undulate.

Golden jade and sansevierias

• Colorful succulents that enhance the composition also include echeverias, graptoverias, trailing crassulas, shrub crassulas such as golden jade and silver dollar jade, aeoniums, and Kalanchoe fedschenkoi.
• Weatherproof fish tucked amid the succulents lend animation and interest. Find comparable ones online (affiliate link).

Fish look at Senecio stapeliiformis. The blue is lobelia (not a succulent). 

• Nonsucculents that contrast with vivid fish include blue lobelia and burgundy coleus and cordylines. The latter echo the dark rusty hues of one of the terrace’s inhabitants: a metal sea serpent.

Echeveria, sansevieria, ceramic eel

• Sea-themed accessories include chunks of slag glass, large shells (some planted), a ceramic eel, and my personal favorite: a small pirate’s treasure chest filled with small silver bowls and large glass jewels.

Treasure chest

Nancy's Nearby Mermaid Garden

According to owner Gabriella Rice, “The person whose vision, design and labor made our garden what it became was Joe, my husband.” Sadly, Joe passed away in 2019.

Laguna garden club past-president Nancy Englund helped Gabriella prepare her undersea terrace for the tour. Nancy’s own mermaid garden is renowned. Do enjoy my video of it:

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Plant an Undersea Succulent Clamshell

Undersea Succulent Clamshell Planter Succulents that resemble coral-reef flora lend themselves to containers that immerse the viewer in an undersea experience. This succulent clamshell planter sits atop lava rocks near my home’s entry. It’s semi-shaded by Texas privet, the trunks of which frame the arrangement and repeat the upright lines of Senecio anteuphorbium. Certain succulents…

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My Sea-Themed Potting Demo at Roger’s Gardens

For my sea-themed potting demo at Roger’s Gardens, I combined rosy-pink barnacles with cuttings of a pink-tipped, cream-striped crassula, and did a multiplant arrangement in a seashell pot. These were something I decided to do on the spur of the moment. Roger’s Gardens (the largest independently owned garden center on the West Coast) is all about…

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Twelve Common Succulent Landscape Mistakes Amazing tips

As a succulent garden design consultant, I typically see about a dozen common landscape mistakes. Correcting them is often simple and makes a big difference.

12 Succulent Landscape Design Mistakes

Do any of these apply to your garden? If not, applause! Please share your own tips and suggestions in the Comments---I'd love to hear them!

1. Dead stuff

This doesn't belong in your personal Eden. Removing dead limbs and deadheading spent flowers are instant improvements.

2. White that yells "Look at me!"

No "color" stands out in a garden more than white. Something plastic and utilitarian is often the offender. If there's no way to remove it, spray-paint it. Ever noticed? Over time, dead limbs and foliage turn white.

Five-second solution: I made the white irrigation cap disappear with brown spray paint.

3. Cute crap

I feel mean mentioning this, but faded flags, platitudinous signs, chipped plaster squirrels, and garlanded bunnies are ghastly. The only excuse is if a sweet child gave them to you. Or they're made by Meissen.

4. Unsheltered dining areas

If a table is out in the open, chances are you won't use it. IMHO, the best "roof" is a tree canopy. Next best: sun sails.

Inexpensive sun/shade sails are available from Amazon (affiliate link).

5. Contempt for jade

Hey, there's a reason Crassula ovata is so common. It's a great low-maintenance, low-water shrub. See my live video: Debra Defends Jade Plant (4:04). It's a fave. Comments include, "You do stand-up comedy?!"

6. Not enough repetition

We gardeners want one of everything, but the most soothing aspect of any landscape is repetition. Without it the eye moves jerkily throughout the area.

Play up the powder blue of certain succulents by repeating their startling color with blue fescue (Festuca glauca). Notice contrast here too: the wispy grass contrasts with the bold, dynamic shape of Agave parryi 'Truncata'. 

7. Lack of contrast

Good design needs contrast for interest and drama. Colors, sure, but also texture---hard and soft, smooth vs. nubby. For example, contrast agaves or aloes with feathery ornamental grasses.

Pots in Hannah Jarson's garden illustrate the design principles of scale, repetition and contrast.

8. Eyesores

Due to familiarity blindness, you may no longer notice a neighbor's junk (or for that matter your own). However, guests do---at least subliminally.  I know you've been meaning to plant a hedge or install a screen.

9. Too many too-small pots

It's all about scale. Areas like your home's entry need big pots, not a cacophony of wee ones. Consider large planters as an investment that enhances your architecture. What to do with all those small pots? See my video: How to Group and Display Potted Succulents (9:46).

A large red pot contrasts in form and color with Agave attenuata in Patrick Anderson's garden.

10. Pancake-flat plantings

Great, your lawn's gone! You needn't make the new garden level. Bring in soil and create mounds and swales. And boulders! See my video: Why you Really Need Rocks (5:32).

Above: Could this be any flatter? One wonders if a steamroller were involved. Below: A newly planted mounded succulent garden. Design by Michael Buckner for Carolyn Schaer. 

11. No nursery/potting area

Most of us need a holding place for new plants, cuttings, tools, containers, fertilizer, bags of soil, etc. An underutilized side yard with a hose is ideal. Add a potting bench, shelves and shade.

My own nursery/potting area has Texas privet along the west side pruned to create dappled shade for succulents awaiting a home in the garden.

12. Weeds

Not only do they look awful, but being pure evil, weeds WILL reseed. Pull 'em early, and spread an environmentally friendly pre-emergent herbicide before the first winter rain.

How did you do?

Is there something I should add to the list? Please leave your suggestions in the Comments below.

Find more helpful ideas on this site's Succulent Landscapes page.

Above: What do you think---did I take my own advice? See my own half-acre garden in spring.

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Visit Pigment, San Diego’s Chic Succulent Boutique Amazing tips

In this new video, I take you to Pigment, a sophisticated urban gift-and-décor boutique. Pigment's simple-but-sophisticated pots frame succulents perfectly. Colors range from intense hues to white, cream and pastels.

Teal pots with succulents

There are three Pigment stores in San Diego: North Park, Point Loma, and Del Mar. (No disclaimer needed: I'm not being paid to promote Pigment.)

The shop began in 2007. Owner Amy Paul is an artist and college professor specializing in color theory. And color is what Pigment is all about.

This pair are waiting for mom to finish shopping.

Many customers are young professionals living in apartments and condos with no space for gardening. Succulents are often their pets, and they want containers that add color and personality to interiors, and that frame plants perfectly.

Succulent planted heads

Each store offers a plant-your-own potting bar and design assistance. There’s also an outdoor sitting area with assorted small succulents for sale.

Succulents under glass

When I did an article for Better Homes & Gardens about Pigment’s hanging succulent globes, I also made an impromptu succulent terrarium video that shows their method.

Succulent terrarium at Pigment

Here's the how-to-make-a-terrarium video:

Pigment as Destination

Pigment is a destination for people walking their dogs, parents pushing strollers, mom-daughter shopping excursions, and girlfriend meet-ups.

Succulent potting bar

You never know what you’ll see. The displays and merchandise change like a shifting kaleidoscope.

So, which pots and colors do you like best? Tell us in the comments below!

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Potted Succulent Tips and Hacks Amazing tips

I'm honored and delighted that the current issue of Garden Gate magazine shows ten of my tips and hacks for potted succulents. However...

From Garden Gate magazine

The magazine didn't have room for all the ideas I sent. So, for your enjoyment and edification, here are...

Additional tips and hacks for potted succulents

Echeveria gift basket

Design: Debra Lee Baldwin

Video: How to Plant a Gift Basket with Echeverias (3:29)

Succulents: Mountain Crest Gardens

Basket: 12-inch wicker with handles from Amazon

Tip: For a lovely floral gift, give echeverias. Bouquets of blooms quickly fade, but a basket of echeveria rosettes looks lovely months later. Plus they look like blue roses!

Leave the succulents in their nursery pots, or plant them into the basket. Before adding potting soil, line it with heavy mil plastic that you've poked with a few holes for drainage.

----------------------------

Rattail cactus in elevated pot

Design: Diana Clark, Metamorphosis Design

Learn more: Got a Pot? Elevate It!

Succulent: Disocactus (Aporocactus) flagelliformis (rat-tail cactus)

Tip: Give a container importance by elevating it. Atop a pedestal, a potted succulent suggests a work of art. Find simple, inexpensive pedestals online, use metal candle holders from second-hand shops, or check garden centers for larger stands.

------------------------------

Sempervivums in hedgehog pot

Design: The Succulent Café, 505 Oak Ave, Carlsbad, CA

Succulents: Mountain Crest Gardens 

Tip: Give your patio or garden personality with animal pots. Succulents that suggest a tail or fur are perfect to pair with a cute animal container. Here, pointy-leaved sempervivums lend texture and whimsy to a palm-sized hedgehog.

See My Tips in the Magazine

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Succulents for Hawaii, Florida, Tropics Amazing tips

Will succulents grow in tropical climates like Hawaii and Florida?

You might assume so, considering succulents like the same conditions you do when on vacation: Plenty of sunshine, not too hot, breezy and balmy.

However, what succulents don't like is high rainfall and humidity, especially in summer. One reason they do so well in Southern CA is that region's no-precipitation summers and year-round aridity. Makes sense: It's the same where many come from (South Africa, the Canary Islands and Madagascar).

Certain highly desirable succulents like aeoniums, echeverias and cacti can rot in tropical climates. It's hard to give them the sun they need to thrive while also protecting them from downpours and dampness.

Yet other succulents say "Bring it on!" to moisture and rain any time of year, so long as temps stay above freezing. You'll see the best of these bathing beauties in the 60-plant gallery.

Checklist for success

This isn't to say that you can treat moisture-tolerant succulents as you would tropical plants. These succulents will still need:

• to be kept as dry as possible
• minimal watering or not at all when conditions are damp
• to be on a covered patio or beneath eaves
• half a day's sun
• frost protection
• gritty soil to enhance drainage
• a sloping location if in the ground
• no pot saucers.

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Succulent Personal Shoppers, How to Find or Become One Amazing tips

Using FaceTime, a succulent personal shopper shows clients what's new, interesting, seasonal and in limited supply at succulent specialty nurseries. As you direct her from your device, your shopper fills a tray with your selections. She then purchases, packs and ships them, or arranges delivery if you're in the area.

At present, I'm aware of two succulent personal shoppers. It's likely there will be more...maybe you yourself?

Jessica Cain of In Succulent Love, at Oasis Water Efficient Gardens

Why Succulent Personal Shoppers?

This innovative service solves a dilemma for customers and growers alike. Succulent personal shoppers show eager buyers what's available, and nurseries needn't say "no" to distant (sometimes insistent) collectors.

Due to high demand, succulent specialty nurseries are scrambling to keep up. Many don't have the staff or resources to package and ship plants, respond to customer inquiries, or keep online inventories up to date.

Note: Mountain Crest Gardens, the largest supplier of mail-order succulents, does everything right. MCG's impressive, ever-expanding inventory is fast catching up with Southern California's. I'm a proud affiliate. Check it out! 

Oasis, the Succulent Mecca

Complicating the supply-demand situation is the simple fact that it can take years for highly desirable varieties to grow large enough for sale.

Cool succulents, new and old, tend to show up at Oasis Water Efficient Gardens in Escondido north of San Diego. Oasis is owned by Altman Plants, a mega-grower that supplies Lowe's and Home Depot.

True, Altman sells retail online, but at present the selection can't compare with what you might find on a leisurely stroll through Oasis.

One adorable slow-grower that's nearly vanished due to demand is Euphorbia obesa.

Who's doing it?

Succulent-savvy entrepreneurs Jessica Cain of In Succulent Love and Teri Colbry of the Little Succulent Shop are bridging the supply-demand gap. And they're super busy.

I ran into Teri at Oasis recently, and on the spur of the moment did a short video of her assisting a client in Texas. In the video, Teri explains how it all works and what she charges.

I asked Oasis' manager Carmen Contreras if others provide this service. "Those are the only two that are succulent shoppers," she said. "The others have Esty or other online store fronts."

I also checked with California Cactus Center, a well known succulent nursery in Pasadena. Owner Molly Thongthiraj said as far as she knows, no one is doing it there. But then, CCC has decades-old rarities (like ariocarpus) that she doesn't recommend exposing to the rigors of shipping---or for that matter, to regions where it's not likely to thrive.

Don Hunt's art pots, on display at a Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale

Molly and I agreed that the art pots CCC sells (by Don Hunt and others) would likely interest clients of succulent personal shoppers---certainly as long as the traditional source, Cactus & Succulent Society Shows, aren't happening.

A Client's Perspective

Succulent enthusiast Jeanne Meadow uses Teri's service occasionally, and also recommends her online sales. "They're really something to watch," Jeanne says. "Thousands of people tune in. Teri shows a plant and gives it a number, and the first person to type that number gets it."

When Jeanne stopped by Teri's house the other day, she was amazed. "Seventy-six orders in big boxes!"

Teri Colbry of the Little Succulent Shop. From the video. 

Personal shoppers may be a luxury, but they do make it possible to cherry-pick desirable rarities. Moreover, if you're looking for a certain succulent, it's a good bet Teri or Jessica knows if and where it's available.

Want to be a succulent personal shopper?

In addition to business and multitasking skills, you'll need:

• Excellent knowledge of succulents
• A resourceful, can-do attitude
• Lots of time and energy
• Space for processing orders and storing plants
• An online presence and followers
• Organizational and marketing know-how
• Ability to safely package and ship fragile plants.

Your Turn

Do you know of others who provide this service? Or ways collectors might obtain plants from specialty nurseries that don't ship? Share your thoughts in the Comments!

 

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Succulent Ice Plants, New Page and Video Amazing tips

Spring is the time to select ice plants so you know what you're getting. 

Announcing my new Ice Plant Page and Video!

The brilliantly beautiful succulent ice plants you'll see in the new page on this site and new video thrive in Zones 8-11. They come in eye-popping hues of purple, pink, lavender, rose-red, bright red, gold, orange and yellow.

In both the new page and new video, you'll find out how to effectively use ice plants in your garden and landscape, and see how beautifully they combine with other succulents and low-water flowering plants.

These cultivars and species of Drosanthemum and Lampranthus create vivid living bouquets. They're the daytime equivalent of neon lights!

Enjoy and discover:

• A gallery of 50+ design ideas featuring ice plants
• Which annuals and perennials look amazing with them
• The ice plant that's lasted 30+ years in my garden
• How to prune ice plants (and why you should)
• How to ruin a perfectly good ice plant
• Which one is terrific for containers
• Which ice plant variety is notorious, and why
• How to ensure that ice plants look their best
• What ice plants MUST have in order to bloom
• Why you no longer see red apple ice plant
• Which cultivar blooms on-and-off all year
• Why ice plants are called "mesembs."

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