Deanna Foster Garden Design

www.deannafostergardendesign.com

April 2013

This project was a response to some very specific needs.  My clients had lost their house and most of their landscaping in the Jesusitas Fire in Santa Barbara in May 2009. They were able to rebuild using many new fire resistant features in their replacement house.  I was called in to design the landscaping around the house which also required fire resistant features.  I decided to use succulents even though I was just learning about them.  I thought they were beautiful and could make a spectacular, fire-resistant design.  Succulents also go very well with the gravel mulch required in the high fire zones in Santa Barbara and with the boulders on the property.  My clients fell in love with succulents and once we discovered a good source for cactus they kept asking for more!  The most exciting part of this project for me was the growing interest my clients took in the project.  When I started they were exhausted from the rebuild of their house and told me to just do whatever I thought would look nice, but as the project progressed they became more and more interested and involved.  Who could resist those succulents and Cacti?!  

I grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula, lived in Redwood City and Woodside and eventually lived in San Francisco in my twenties. I spent some time in the art department at San Francisco State University where I pursued painting and printmaking.  That training and my love of texture and color most definitely inform my landscape design.  I then moved to England where I fell in love with “gardens” as all landscaping is called over there.  When I came back to the States and met my husband we lived in Northern Virginia where I had my horticulture and garden design training and did my first gardens.  Moving back to California changed the plants I would use but not the design and horticulture principals that should be applied to all landscaping.  When I approached my project with succulents I approached it as a landscape design project first and then chose the plants to fit the needs and my design sensibilities.  I believe this made for a very pleasing and harmonious finished garden that does show off the succulents beautifully.  And I didn’t need to be an expert on succulents when I began; I had to be willing to learn about them and which would work for the site conditions and the effect I was seeking.

My clients are very pleased.  Everyone who comes to their house exclaims over the garden.  I fell in love with succulents and highly recommend their use.  Be creative, mix them with other dry plants and with grasses, mix them with gravel and unusual stone mulches; mix them with boulders.  Think about their colors in sun, in shade, in bloom; think about how some of them even move in the breeze.  They do change with the seasons; their interest is endless. Try mixing them with Mediterranean plants or California natives. They are a designer’s dream!

I am now living in Aptos and am about to begin a project in Los Altos that will use succulents.  I am excited!

~Deanna Foster

All photos by Deanna Foster

designed, planted and grown by Robin Stockwell and the Succulent Gardens crew

in collaboration with Weston Cook and the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show.

The Globe, Photo by Sara Shoemaker Lind

Click here to watch the time lapse video of the globe being built. 

Click here to watch a video of the Globe spinning.

- Delivery to SF Garden show, 12 March 2013.
- Assembly 13 and 14 March.
- Show opens 20 March

1.) The all-steel Globe frame was manufactured by Bohl Ironworks with design input from Robin Stockwell.

2.) 8 sections needed to be customized to hold sphagnum for planting--about 8 bales.

3.) Hardware mesh was used to hold the sphagnum against the outer expanded metal skin of the Globe. About 72 hours of work was needed to install the sphagnum.

4.) A template was made to create the continents and oceans to scale. The template was the work of Joe Roubal, a professional Globe maker in southern California.

5.) The template arrived in 16, 2’ by 8’ sections and had to be carefully cut and placed on the eight Globe sections, a challenging jigsaw puzzle tackled by Robin’s son in law, Steve Alberi.

6.) Robin used a small blow up globe to lay out the succulent cutting palette.

7.) It took the production crew about 200 hours to plant (not including prep time for cuttings).

8.) Planting was completed in late August 2012.

9.) About 30,000 cuttings were used.

10.) The eight sections will be connected at the show and mounted on an armature and will stand about 15' high.

11.) It will be powered by a motor and spin on an axis tilted at the same angle as the earth. Maximum speed will be two revolutions per minute.

12.) The eight sections, when assembled, will weigh about one ton.
 

Stand by for what the Globe will be doing after the garden show!

The Frame

The globe frame was designed and built by Bohl Ironworks.

The globe was built in eight sections. In addition, there is the framework on which the globe will be mounted and a motor to power the rotation. The frame arrived in a tractor trailer and we unloaded it and moved it into the nursery.

Weston Cook and Robin Stockwell on the day the globe frame was delivered to the nursery:

It took about 1 and 1/2 bales of sphagnum moss per section, or a total of about 12 bales to fill the globe with enough planting medium.

The sphagnum moss was laid out in a thickness of about 2" and hardware mesh was wired on to keep the sphagnum in place.

The Map

I was fortunate to contact Joe Roubal, http://www.roubalmapping.com, who makes custom globes. He offered to make a template to scale for us to use to mark out the land masses on our Globe project. Once I had the template, I realized I was out of my league to put the puzzle together. After several days of avoidance, I realized I had a puzzle master in the family, my son-in-law, Steve. Steve agreed to put the puzzle together while I headed for the Trinity Alps on a back pack getaway. The entire template was comprised of 16 - 2'x8' sheets of paper. Steve cut up the template and laid it out on the globe, using screws to hold it in place temporarily.

The Plants

My production crew spent a week planting the globe. The cuttings were prepared the previous week. I used the small blow up globe, shown in the background, to mark which varieties I wanted used to represent the different oceans and land masses.  There were about 30,000 cuttings. We used Echeveria secunda, Echeveria pulidonis-derenbergii hybrid, Echeveria subsessilis, Echeveria secunda 'Blue Mist' and Sedum dasyphyllum for the oceans. For the land masses we used Sedum nussbaunianum in the drier regions of the world. For the frozen areas we used Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco' and Echeveria elegans. For other areas of the land masses, I used a combination of Sempervivums, Crassulas, and Sedums.

After the cuttings were planted, we checked the globe daily to look for cuttings that had fallen out, probably from earths vibrations. After all of the cuttings had formed roots, we added Sedum dasyphyllum to enhance the look of the oceans.

While everyone was enjoying the Extravaganza Speakers' tent, the world was growing and rooting nearby behind a wall of greenhouse poly. Before Christmas we started the final preparations to allow the globe to finish growing before the Flower Show. 

After all of the cuttings were fully rooted and the plants were beginning to grow, we moved the globe to an area with more sunlight. This will allow the plants to harden, increase color, and grow more compactly. I may move the sections one more time to an outdoor location for a bit more hardening off.

We look forward to installing the Globe at the 2013 San Francisco Flower and Garden Show March 20-24.

I wanted to make sure that anyone who did not have a chance to attend, or who did not get a handout, could access the information here.

Northwest Flower and Garden Show – 2013

Succulent Survival in the Pacific Northwest – Landscaping and Over Wintering.

“…Aloe striatula will thrive to become a spectacular long lived addition to you garden …, but if it doesn’t survive, you will receive accreditation as a bona fide plant maniac just for trying.” Ciscoe, Ask Ciscoe

Succulent Gardens (located on the Monterey Bay)

            2133 Elkhorn Rd.

            Castroville, Ca. 95012

            Phone: (831) 632-0482 Fax: (831) 633-5280

            Email: info@sgplants.com

            Website: www.sgplants.com

            Pinterest: pinterest.com/source/sgplants.com/

            Facebook: Succulent.Gardens.Nursery

Resources

Books

Rudolf Schulz, Succulents: Care and Health

Succulent Propagation

Debra Baldwin, Designing With Succulents

Container Gardening with Succulents

Gwen Moore Kalaides, Hardy Succulents for Every Climate

Websites

Succulent Gardens: www.sgplants.com

San Marcos Growers: www.smgrowers.com

Cascade Cactus and Succulent Society: www.cascadecss.org

About Succulents

1.)    Apply what you know

2.)    Diversity

3.)    Soil, water, temperature, exposure, general care, bugs and diseases

4.)    Handling

5.)    Selection (see list of hardy varieties)No magic bullets

What do you want to plant?

1.)    Containers.

a.     Traditional pots    

b.     Whimsy

c.     Vertical

2.)    In the groundGround

a.     Soil prep, mounding?

b.     Rocks

c.     Drop offs (Cascade Effects

3.)    Tools – Clippers etc.

4.)    Plant selection

a.     Varieties

b.     Sizes

c.     Placement

d.     Maintenance

 i.     See Care and Health

 ii.     Wintering over

Succulent Survival – Plant List for the Pacific Northwest

Aeonium haworthii, 22F

            “          “Cyclops”, 30F

            “          “Kiwi”, 30F

            “          “Starburst”, 28F

            “          “Sunburst”, 28F

            “          “Urbicum”, 28F

Aloe arborescens, 18F

  “        brevifolia, 18F

  “        ferox, 26F

  “        nobilis, 18F

  “        plicatilis, 26F

  “        saponaria, 22F

  “        spinosissima, 26F

  “        striatula, 26F

  “        striata, 26F

Beaucarnea recurvata, 25F

Crassula ‘Campfire’, 32F

     “        nudicalis platyphylla, 28F

     “        perfossa variegata, 32F

     “           pubescens, 28F

     “        tetragona, 22F

Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’

“              “           ‘Lipstick’, 22F

            “              “           ‘Martins Hybrid’

“           “               ‘Red Blush’, 22F

            “      colorata, 25F

            “      elegans, 22F

            “      ‘imbricata, 25F

            “      Pearl von Nuremberg, 32F

            “      puladonis, 25F

            “      secunda, 25F

Mesembryanthemum (miniatures) Keep dry and above freezing.

            Dinteranthus

            Fenestraria aurantiaca

Lithops

Pleiospilos nelii

            Titanopsis

            Trichodiadema densum

Sedum acre, 22F

     “        album muralis, 28F

     “        dasyphyllum, 25F

     “      dendroideum 

     “        hispanicum purpureum

     “        machanoi ‘Salsa Verde’, 28F

     “        morganianum, 32F

     “        nussbaunianum, 30F

     “      oxypetalum, 10F

     “      rubrotinctum, 26F

     “      seiboldii (Dissiduous) – -10F

     “        spathulifolium ‘Cape Blanco’, 25F

     “                     “                  purpureum, 25F

     “      spectabilis -10F (Dissiduous)

     “      spurium -10F (Dissiduous)

Sempervivum – All handle sub freezing.

            “               ‘Black Rose’

            “               ‘Commander Hay” –

            “               ‘Director Jacob’

            “               ‘Emerald Rose’

            “               ‘Giant Gray’

            “               ‘Green Rose’

            “               ‘Magnificum’         

            “               ‘Minaret’

            “               ‘Mossy Rose’

            “               ‘Purple Fuzzy’

            “               ‘Purple Ruby’  

            “               ‘Red Heart’

            “               ‘Sanford’

            “               ‘Utopian’

            “               arachnoideum

            “               purpureum

            “               soboliferum

            “               tectorum

            “                      “            calcareum

Senecio crassissimus, 32F

            “   jacobsenii, 30F

            “   mandraliscae, 30F

            “   rowleyanus, 32F

            “   vitalis, 30F

Succulents at the Show

            Bark and Garden – 4”

            The Boutchart Gardens – Hanging Basket.

            Denver Dirty Girl’s – Just liked the name.

            Molbak’s – 2”

            My Garden – Planted slipper and 4” continers.

            Ravenna Gardens – 4”

            Swansons – Sedum Sempervivum birdbath planting.

Clippers compliments of Wild Flower Seeds, Thank you.

Places to visit in California for spectacular succulent sightings.

Huntington Gardens, Southern California

Lotusland, Santa Barbara

Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek

San Diego Zoo, guess where?

Succulent Gardens Nursery, Castroville

University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley

Dudleya brittonii

This seed flat was sown in the fall and it is now January.

These seedlings were transplanted about three weeks ago from a seed flat and are beginning to grow now that their roots have developed in the pots they are in.

Mature Dudleya brittonii in bloom. Within a couple of months the seed will be dry enough to harvest. The seed is very small and like a fine powder.

Aloe polyphylla

Seeds of Aloe polyphylla were sown in fall of 2012. This picture was taken 4 months later.

This Aloe polyphylla was grown from seed and is about 7 years old. The plants to the left of it are in one gallon cans and are about two years old.

Below: Seed-propagated Aloe polyphylla in the landscape at Succulent Gardens.

Photo by Sara Shoemaker Lind

Succulent Extravaganza is almost here and we have a fantastic schedule of events lined up for you! From nursery tours to stellar seminars to demonstration tables and the fabulous free Friday evening Bar-B-Q, you're sure to have an excellent time and learn a lot at this second annual event. 

Schedule at a Glance

For more detailed information, including seminar descriptions, menus, and more, please scroll down to the details section. 

Friday, September 28, 9am-4pm, Bar-B-Que 4pm-6pm

9:00 am: Garden tour with Brian Kemble, Coffee and Donuts available

10:15 am: Debra Lee Baldwin -- "Design Projects with Succulents"

11:00 am-2:00 pm: Lunch available for purchase

11:45 am: Baylor Chapman of Lila B Design -- "Combining Succulents & Florals: from Garden to Vase to Garden Again"

1:15 pm: Flora Grubb -- "What is next for Succulents?"

3:00 pm: David Leroy -- "Succulents in Contemporary California Landscapes"

4:00 pm-6:00 pm: Bar-B-Que

All Day: Information Tables, Pickup Tours from Robin, Retail Area open (CASH AND CHECK ONLY)

Saturday, September 29, 9am-4pm 
 

9:00 am: Garden tour with Brian Kemble, Coffee and Donuts available

10:15 am: Debra Lee Baldwin -- "Companion Plants for Succulents"

11:00 am-2:00 pm: Lunch available for purchase

11:45 am: Rebecca Sweet -- "Harmony in the Garden - Incorporating Succulents into Everyday Gardens" 

1:15 pm: Casey Lyon -- "Using Succulent Plants on Green Roofs"

3:00 pm: Jarrod Baumann -- "Unique Design Ideas incorporating Succulents into Art & Sculpture"

All Day: Information Tables, Pickup Tours from Robin, Retail Area open (CASH AND CHECK ONLY)

The Extravaganza Ends at 4pm SHARP!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THE EXTRAVAGANZA 2012 MAP & SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Event Details

Don't miss a thing! Here's what you need to know to fully enjoy Succulent Extravaganza!

Event Hours

Friday, September 28, 9am-4pm, Bar-B-Que 4pm-6pm

Saturday, September 29,  9am-4pm Ends promptly at 4pm.

Retail

Open all day both days. 

Cash or check ONLY!

Speakers and Seminars

Friday

Brian Kemble, Curator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden

9:00 am Garden walks through the Succulent Gardens Nursery.  

Brian Kemble has been involved with The Ruth Bancroft Garden since 1980. He is highly regarded in the horticultural world and lectures in this country and in South Africa on the Agave family, Aloes, Bromeliads, the history of The Ruth Bancroft Garden and other horticultural topics. Kemble has a B.A. in Philosophy from Antioch College. His work has been in the area of horticulture since 1976, including garden design and installation, tree trimming and garden maintenance. Brian's work for The Garden has included hybridizing of aloes, agaves, and some South American cacti. Brian has traveled extensively in Mexico and South Africa, studying and photographing plants in their native habitats.

Debra Lee Baldwin

10:15 am:  "Design Projects with Succulents"

From clever gifts that take mere minutes to make to special-occasion centerpieces, garden photojournalist Debra Lee Baldwin shows how top designers and florists use succulents in fresh, exciting and occasionally astonishing ways. Debra's presentation has great take-away value, and is sure to expand and simplify how you design with succulents.

Debra Lee Baldwin gardens on "an inhospitable half acre" in the foothills of Southern California, where temperatures range from below freezing to 110 degrees. As an award-winning garden photojournalist and scout for major magazines, Debra developed an appealing and sophisticated design aesthetic; as a dirty-fingernails gardener, she knows what works and what doesn't. Debra authored the Timber Press bestsellers,"Designing with Succulents" and "Succulent Container Gardens", and has a third book in the works, "Succulents Simplified". She shares her passion for "plants that drink responsibly" via newsletters, videos, social media and more. Find out what she's up to on Facebook and at www.debraleebaldwin.com.

Baylor Chapman of Lila B Design

11:45 am: "Combining Succulents & Florals: from Garden to Vase to Garden Again"

Ever wonder how to incorporate Succulents from your garden into fabulous floral arrangements? After a few nifty 'how to' tips (including basic mechanics and design theories) provided in this demonstration, you'll be able to compose a beautiful floral arrangement with ease. That's it? Not yet. What now? Learn how to re-plant your succulents so they'll live on and on after the ephemeral cut florals fade. Viola! Your Succulents made it from garden to vase to garden again.

As founder and principle designer of Lila B. Design, Baylor brings over ten years of experience and a warm smile to garden and floral design.  Before creating Lila B. Design in January 2007 she was part of a team of talented gardeners at an ecologically minded private estate while completing UC Berkeley Extension's Garden Design Program.  Her work has been featured in publications such as Sunset Magazine, California Home + Design, and Brides Magazine.

Now, when Baylor is not knee deep in flowers, listening to clients, and translating ideas to designs, you can find her scouring plant nurseries seeking new varieties to share.

Baylor is perpetually invested in the process of envisioning things in new way- using relationship and circumstance to showcase the spectacular nature of both the ordinary and extraordinary. Her approach is personal and her eye for combining living things in arresting color combinations is impeccable.

(Photo courtsey of Lisa Leigh Photography)

Flora Grubb, Flora Grubb Gardens

1:15 pm "What is next for Succulents?"

The incredibly creative staff at Flora Grubb Gardens work with their  Bay Area clients to use succulent in new ways, weaving them into gardens both modern and traditional. Now that succulents have captured the imagination of the gardening public, what is next? What new trends will we see involving succulents in the coming months?

San Francisco nurserywoman Flora Grubb has converted gardeners, urban planners, and designers in California and worldwide to her cause of making lavishly beautiful landscapes that require minimal water and chemicals. Her artful Bayview District nursery, Flora Grubb Gardens, has become a gathering place for design-driven gardeners and who are pursuing a wiser use of resources. Complemented by a shop with outdoor furniture and garden-related gifts and books, Flora's nursery hosts garden- and art-related events and invites visitors to linger at an in-house branch of Ritual Coffee Roasters.

David Leroy, Bernard Trainor and Associates

3:00 pm "Succulents in Contemporary California Landscapes"

At Bernard Trainor and Associates we incorporate succulents into our planting designs to enhance the aesthetic and the ecological qualities of the contemporary landscapes we design.  Specific BTA projects will be presented to illustrate the wide range of applications for succulent plants in both urban and rural landscapes throughout Northern California.

David LeRoy has over 15 years experience designing and constructing landscapes in California.  A graduate with an AS honors degree in Horticulture and a BS in Community Studies, David has worked in nurseries in the US and abroad, taught classes, installed public and private installations and led garden tours while receiving awards for his landscape designs. "I see the landscape as an interwoven fabric, the strands representing the people, plants, structures, and the natural world, all interdependent and constantly in a state of flux.  That complex equation makes this work a constant source of inspiration."
 

Saturday

Brian Kemble

9:00 am Garden walks through the Succulent Gardens Nursery. (Please see Friday description for Brian's bio.)

Debra Lee Baldwin

10:15 am "Companion Plants for Succulents"

Award-winning garden photojournalist and bestselling author Debra Lee Baldwin shares her 25 favorite companion plants for succulents. Debra shows these textural, waterwise companions in gardens and containers, along with succulents that range from ground covers to big agaves. Discover how to use these beautiful combos in your own garden!

Please see Friday listing for Debra's bio.

Rebecca Sweet, Harmony in the Garden

11:45 am "Harmony in the Garden - Incorporating Succulents into Everyday Gardens"

Have you ever strolled through a garden and let out an audible sigh? What you're experiencing is 'harmony' at work - when everything seamlessly blends together to create an overall desire to linger just a little bit longer. California-based landscape designer and author Rebecca Sweet will show how easy it is to introduce succulents into a traditional garden in ways you may not have thought of before. Learn the art of weaving together simple design principles such as color, texture and form to transform your garden into a rich and layered tapestry.

Rebecca Sweet is a garden designer with her design firm Harmony In The Garden, located in Northern California. Her gardens have been featured in Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Women’s Day, Country Living and American Gardener as well as many regional newspapers and publications. Rebecca and her gardens have also been featured on the critically acclaimed PBS series Growing a Greener World and has been a radio guest on GardenLife and Martha Stewart Living.

In addition to designing gardens, Rebecca is co-author of the best-selling Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces. Rebecca also shares her secrets to successful garden design in her column ‘Harmony in the Garden’, in Horticulture Magazine. Read Rebecca’s blog at www.gossipinthegarden.com. View her design portfolio at www.harmonyinthegarden.com

Casey Lyon

1:15 pm Casey Lyon -- "Using Succulent Plants on Green Roofs"

Succulent plants have been seen on the rooftops of the rich and famous, on garden sheds across the country, on rooftops of some high-fashion boutique shopping centers, government buildings, airports, and on top of the largest, most visited green roof of California--and in many, many more places. Succulent plants and rooftops go together like sedum and jelly beans. They have a synergistic balance in a rooftop setting, making them the perfect rooftop garden plants. Learn about the benefits of using succulents on green roofs, see the local native succulents, and take away from plant palette recommendations, including companion plants.

Jarrod Baumann

3:00 pm "Unique Design Ideas incorporating Succulents into Art & Sculpture"

Jarrod Baumann will be discussing design concepts that Zeterre has come up with in design studies for clients which utilize succulents.  Some of these concepts have been built and others remain on sketch paper.  Our presentation will be sure to get your creative juices flowing and inspire you to think outside the box of tradition.  We will also be unveiling during our presentation a new living sculpture and concept.

Jarrod Baumann is the founder and principal Landscape Architect at Zeterre Landscape Architecture. As such, he has been responsible for the design and creative direction as well as the overall operation of the firm since it opened in 2007. To accomplish this, Jarrod draws upon his 14 years of experience developing projects ranging from urban residences to massive civic parks, as well as his time at Cal Poly Pomona under the tutelage of such greats as Andy Cao and Takeo Uesugi. In addition, his work has afforded him the opportunity to travel throughout Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France, studying gardens and concepts that he utilizes in his work on a daily basis.

Information Tables

Monterey Bay Cactus and Succulent Society - These folks will be located in greenhouse 1 and will be available to explain the benefits of membership. They will also be fielding succulent questions as best they can.

Monterey Bay Master Gardeners - We rely on the Moneterey Bay Master Gardeners for all of their generous volunteer time that allows us to put on this event. They will have a booth in Greenhouse #1 to answer questions about the Master Gardener program.

Succulent Bouquets -  Shannon Iliescu will be demonstrating succulent bouquet making in Greenhouse 1. Learn how to create beautiful masterpieces from your garden plants.

Garden Tours

Brian Kemble, Curator at the Ruth Bancroft Garden will be leading tours around the Nursery on Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. both days.

Robin will be giving impromptu tours each day. These 20 minute tours will highlight different aspects of the nursery including the living murals, landscaping with succulents, vertical gardening, plant selection, and more.

Food

Friday and Saturday

Breakfast Starter: Coffee and Donuts

Available to the early birds! (Free)

Moss Landing's Steamin' Hot coffee will feature Surf City Coffee's Great White Blend and we'll have fresh donuts from Watsonville's local donut maker. 

Lunch for Purchase: Taquitos Nayarit

A local Castroville business that makes delectable tacos will be selling their tacos Friday and Saturday from 11 to 2. They will be set up near Greenhouse number 1. Be sure to bring cash!

Friday Bar-B-Que - 4-6pm

Free while food lasts

Menu

Haute Enchilada Tamales: Our local favorite, Kim Solano's Haute Enchilada restaurant in Moss Landing, will be supplying two types of tamale. The cheese and artichoke tamales made with locally grown artichokes are so good and they go fast. The pork tamales are yum yum yummy!

Bar-B-Que'd Corn on the Cob: This delicious corn is basted with extra virgin olive oil and grilled. Our good friend Ernie Tavella will be roasting the corn again this year.

Bar-B-Que'd Hamburgers: Enjoy burgers with all of the toppings including our friend Bernard's locally made Saucy Wench Bar-B-Que sauce. There will be Tomatoes, onions, cheddar cheese, and lettuce available to build your own burger.

Locally Brewed Beer: For those 21 and older - 1066 Pale Ale and Big Sur Golden Lager from a Monterey Bay Brew Pub.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THE EXTRAVAGANZA 2012 MAP & SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Debra's invitation to join her in her talk was inspirational for me in many ways. The 50 Mile Bouquet focuses on the concept of buying local, emphasizes sustainability, and includes interviews and information from regional experts around the country. The creativity and vision of the individuals profiled in Debra's book are inspiring. Reading the book and co-presenting with Debra also took me back to 1981, 31 years ago, when my oldest son and his preschool buddy Sara were photographed for an article in Sunset Magazine about succulents in bouquets. 

In this picture from the 1981 article, my son Zach, who is now 37, is on the right looking at a bouquet featuring E. gibbiflora hybrid flowers. In the center is Sara Shoemaker Lind, who is now a professional photographer. She has photographed many of my plants for use in my new succulent encyclopedia. (Her sister Aimee is on the left, looking up.)

Around the same time that the article appeared in Sunset, I was working with the University of California Davis, sending cuttings of succulents for their vase life tests to test the longevity of fresh plant material for use  in cut flower arrangements.

Above, the 1981 article in Sunset Magazine featuring Robin Stockwell talking about different uses for Echeveria gibbiflora hybrids, including using Echeveria and Aeonium rosettes and flowers in bouquets.

Using Locally Sourced Materials in Bouquets

Debra's talk at Heather Farms included photos of sustainable materials used in bouquets and an informative discussion of the current state of the floral industry. It was, essentially, an interactive, in-person demonstration of the book, which highlights the many advantages of shopping for locally grown floral materials, giving many examples of uniquely local materials that can be combined into beautiful bouquets. Debra's co-author, David Perry, shot the exquisite photographs that demonstrate the beauty of these unique and sustainably grown bouquets.

At this point, I am sounding like a book review, which was not my intent, but I was just so inspired and excited by Debra and David's book and honored and grateful to present with Debra. It was an incredibly synergistic experience.

Integrating Succulents into Bouquets

As Debra wrapped up her talk, I came forward to speak about growing succulents and using them in bouquets. Debra began creating a couple of bouquets using more traditional flowers and materials. While Debra was preparing materials in two separate vases, I began my demonstration on how to remove cuttings from Aeoniums and Senecios. I handed the cuttings to Debra and she began introducing the succulent cuttings into the bouquets she was assembling.

The audience gasped when I lopped off a 10" Echeveria gibbiflora hybrid with a thick 1" stem to use in the bouquet!

Don't worry! The Echeveria gibbiflora hybrid pictured above will grow roots and can be re-planted. The stem will also produce offsets that can be planted.

Try This at Home

Because most of you couldn't be at my talk, I wanted to share the highlights with you here. You can try this with plants cut from your own garden! Here are some quick tips for using succulents in bouquets.

• You can use flower and/or foliage cuttings from succulents in bouquets. Foliage of succulents such as Echeveria and Aeonium are rosette forms that look much like a flower. You can also use the actual flowers from Aeonium and hybrid Echeveria. The hybrid Echeverias produce flowers on stems ranging from 12" to 36" tall from June through September. 

Succulents pictured in the above bouquet are hybrid Echeveria flowers (trailing pink flowers) and Aeonium rosettes.
 

• When cutting rosettes from various succulent varieties, use a clean cutting tool that cuts and does not crush the stem.
   
• Cuttings can be placed in water with other flowers and foliage and will generally hold up just fine. Succulent cuttings usually last much longer than other materials. The succulent flowers will eventually dry up and can be composted.

Aeonium nobile lends flair in the bouquet pictured above.

The Beauty of Long-Lasting Succulent Cuttings

Long after most of the other materials in your bouquets have dried up and added to the compost pile most of the succulent cuttings in your bouquet will have produced roots and can be planted in a container or in the garden.

You won't just get new plants from the rooted cuttings, though. The plants from which you took the cuttings will also usually produce new offsets or branches.

Just think--if you include succulents in your wedding bouquet, you can, potentially, keep part of your bouquet alive forever! The same cannot be said of regular cut flowers.

Succulent Flowers and Foliage for Bouquets

Look around your garden to find succulent foliage and flowers for your hand-tied bouquets or vased flower arrangements. Once you start looking at your plants with an eye toward design, you'll find delightful choices everywhere.

Pictured above: Aeonium nobile flowers (left) and Aloe ferox flowers (right)

Pictured above: Aeonium 'Zwartkop' foliage (left) and Aeonium 'Sunburst' foliage (right)

Succulent Floral Design to be Featured at the Succulent Extravaganza

If this article has whet your appetite for more, make plants to attend Succulent Extravaganza. Baylor Chapman of Lila B design will be speaking at the Succulent Extravaganza on Friday, September 28 (time to be determined). She will be sharing her vision and techniques of floral design working with succulentsand traditional flowers and foliage. I plan to turn Baylor loose to choose the succulents to use in some of the work she will be demonstrating. Visit the Lila B Design website here.

Stay tuned for the full lineup of Succulent Extravaganza speakers. Save the dates on your calendar: Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28. We'll see you there!

On Thursday before the event, we load the truck so that at 6 a.m. on Friday the crew can leave the nursery for Sunset headquarters to set up the display. When we arrive at about 7:30 a.m. we look over the area we have been assigned to and begin the set up process. The crew does most of the work while I say "Move this to the left, move that to the right. A little up, a little down." Within about four hours the gazebo is up and ready.

I spend a little time wondering how the weather will be for the weekend and making a list of the things I have forgotten. I visit with Sunset staff and other participants that I have gotten to know and work with over the years. Once the schmoozing is done, I head back to the nursery hoping I can make it in time to meet with Debra Prinzing who is visiting the nursery and picking up a few plants for her talk at Sunset.

Saturday morning I meet with my sales staff about an hour and a half before the event opens. We tweak the display, putting on the finishing touches, and compare notes on restocking, who is going to do what, and looking for a good cup of coffee.

This year's Sunset Celebration was greeted with perfect weather, big crowds, and a very well organized Sunset staff. This year's event was the best ever and that's saying something because last year's event was pretty spectacular! You might want to put next year's event on the calendar. It will be held the first weekend in June, June 1 and 2, 2013.

Soil

Good drainage and aeration are the key to soil mix in containers and in the landscape. Most packaged soil mixes are a bit too heavy and hold too much water for succulents. Amending traditional potting mixes by adding coarse perlite, crushed lava, or pumice will generally suffice to make a traditional potting mix a good succulent mix. I generally recommend combining 1 part amendment and 4 parts potting mix. The proportion of amendment  can be increased for succulents like cacti that need even greater drainage and aeration.

Water

Succulent plants are characterized by their thick stems and leaves that collect and store water efficiently. More traditional types of plants have thin leaves and need more frequent watering and hydration. On a hot day, a plant like a coleus might wilt, even though there is moisture in the soil. More frequent watering is necessary to increase humidity and water availability for the coleus. The succulent has water stored in its leaves and stem and so is less likely to wilt. Succulent plants like to approach dryness before being watered. As the soil dries, the last of the moisture is held in the root ball of the plant. Once this area is nearly dry, it is time to water. When watering, water thoroughly, so the water saturates evenly throughout the soil and a little water runs out the bottom of the plant. When you water a succulent, you water it pretty much like any other plant, just not as often.

An exception to how you water a succulent is when the conditions are not ideal. Cloudy dark days, poor light exposure and poor air circulation might be examples of this. In these environments, the plant will dry out very slowly, so measured watering, giving the plant smaller doses of water, will be necessary to keep the plant from being too wet over an extended period of time. Again-observing what the plant needs is key to healthy plants!

Fertilizer

Succulent plants, like most plants, appreciate being fed. The difference is, succulents are very efficient, so need less fertilizer less often than other plants. I do not recommend using any special fertilizer for succulents. As you gain expertise with the plants, experimenting with different fertilizers may well enhance the quality of the plants and or flowers. In the mean time, using any balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10, 20-20-20, or pretty much any all-purpose fertilizer will suffice to maintain a healthy growing plant.

Too much fertilizer will encourage too much growth which makes the plant weedy looking. Too little will leave the plant in suspended animation, appearing to just sit there and not do anything. I suggest cutting the recommended dosage rate in half and fertilizing about once a month at the most. Fertilizing during the winter months is generally not necessary as most succulents are dormant during that time.

Exposure

Like most plants, succulent plants tend to like an environment that has good quality sunlight and some fresh air. There are a number of misunderstandings about succulents. Sunlight is one of the areas of misunderstanding. Many people think "desert" when the subject of succulents comes up. In fact, succulent plants are most attractive if they are grown with a little protection from hot sun. Growing succulent plants in a few hours of morning sun during the hotter months of the year will allow the plants to achieve good color and form without being parched by the heat of the mid day sun. In a southern exposure where the sun is shining on the area all day, shade cloth, lattice, or even the partial shading provided by a tree will help break up the heat of the sun. As winter approaches, more sun exposure will help the plant maintain good form and color. Too much sun and the plant will appear parched and burnt out. Too little sun and the plant will lose color and stretch for more sunlight, losing the compact form that is more attractive.

Cold Tolerance

Up until recently there has been a lack of information on the cold tolerance of different succulent plants. If you do not have any information on the cold tolerance of a particular plant, I suggest assuming the plant will either freeze or be damaged when the temperature goes below 32 degrees F, or freezing. There are new materials today that are used to cover plants during a light freeze. These materials are available at most garden centers and they work well to gain you about 4 to 6 degrees of protection.

Pest and Disease Control

An aphid is an aphid is an aphid. Just like most plants, bugs will attack succulent plants. The key is to look at your plants and if something is on them that looks out of place, look more closely, investigate. As with any other plant, the key to healthy succulents is good soil, proper watering and fertilizing, and the right exposure or environment. With the proper balance of these things you are less likely to have problems with bugs.

Reality with all plants is that there are bugs and diseases out there and succulent plants can become the target of these things. Watching for bugs and disease is necessary with succulents as other plants. Aphids usually attack flowers and new growth on succulents just like they do on other plants. Mealy bugs lodge in between the leaves near the new growth or infest the soil living on the roots of the plant, just like other plants. Snails chew on the leaves, as do earwigs. Powdery mildew can appear on the leaves of succulents, particularly during long periods of inclement weather. Oh, and don't forget the ants. Ants are farmers. Just as you might rototill the soil and plant carrot seeds for your carrot juice habit, ants use plants like succulents to grow bugs that will help feed all of their ant buddies. Get rid of any ants you see on your plants.

So, these plants we call succulents are not bug-proof. They are very tough and can survive with an infestation for long periods, but healthy attractive plants need to be monitored, and when an infestation appears, it needs to be dealt with.

How you deal with an infestation is up to you. You might consult your local nursery person, or your friend the plant geek, to help identify the bug or disease. Whether you use organics or nuclear weapons, water, soap, q-tips or chemicals is up to you. The main thing is to deal with the problem as soon as you notice it.

Maintenance

A lot of the issues around maintenance are specific to the type of succulent you have. I will be writing about specific types of succulents in later writings.

Pruning, dividing, transplanting, deadheading, etc., are all things that apply to succulent plants, just like other plants. What makes succulents different than most other plants is how easy they are to handle when digging them up, trans planting, etc. Succulent plants do not experience the shock other plants do when the root system is disturbed. This is because succulent plants store their own water and do not experience the leaf wilt that other plants do when the root system is disturbed.

As a rule, succulent plants do not mind crowding whether the plants are grouped in one container or are alone and fully filled out in the container. Transplanting a plant that has filled its container will generally allow the plant to experience a new spurt of growth. I generally recommend moving up 2" in container size for individual plants. Succulents also appreciate a change of soil every 2 to 4 years. Plants that have grown together and are crowding each other will appreciate being thinned out and given a bit more space. Usually a reliable time of year to do transplanting is when the plants are beginning to grow, often in the spring.

So, in summary, look at your plants and if a plant does not look healthy show it the curiosity you would any other plant. Apply what plant knowledge you have gained to these plants as they are just plants. The key to healthy succulent plants is proper soil mix, watering, fertilizing, exposure, pest and disease control, and maintenance.

Happy succulenting! And watch for more to come on specific succulent varieties.

(We will also be adding photos to this article, so check back!)

2006 Flower Show Booth

Setting up the 2011 Booth

I think my first experience displaying plants at the flower and garden show was 2004. I had just completed the first 11 months of setting up the new Growing Grounds and had no idea what to expect. I decided to commit to a certain size booth and then set a goal to produce what I would need to stock it during the five days of the show.

Once I decided to participate in the show, the next problem was logistics. How do I get the plants to the show and restock on a daily basis? My good friend Ron Michelson of Half Moon Bay Nursery, www.hmbnursery.com, offered to let me use a section of greenhouse to stage extra plant material. I rented a U-Haul box truck and boxed up all of the plants so that I could move them in an un-shelved truck, and designed a wooden structure to display the plants at the Cow Palace.

I learned a lot in the first two years. The show met and exceeded my expectations in terms of networking, sales, publicity, and exhaustion. Each night, after a 12 hour day at the show, I went back to the nursery with a flashlight to get plants that I had sold through the day. I went into Ron’s greenhouse about 5 a.m. each morning before the days show, picking up flats of plants I had staged there, and headed up to restock the display. I think the only other time I experienced this level of exhaustion was my first trip into the Trinity Alps, carrying an absurd amount of food and drink. Both experiences taught me a great deal in a relatively short period of time.

Loading plants for the 2011 display.

My primary reason for participating in the garden show was to get exposure for my plants and my business. I hoped I could recuperate the cost. My timing was right and the show provided exposure beyond my expectations. I ended up collaborating with Sean and James of the Organic Mechanics, www.organicmechanics.us, and they translated potted succulents into creative landscapes. I met very special people like Peter Whiteley of Sunset Magazine and some of the top landscape designers in Northern California. Over the years, the show has provided me with many opportunities to show off my plants and has led to many valuable collaborations.

2007 Under the Sea Garden

Every year my connection to the gardening community grows in ways I would never have imagined and the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show has played a major role in this experience. The display gardens give designers the opportunity to show off creative ways to use succulents. My booth allows me to offer for sale a concentrated, but diverse, display of plant material.

2010 "Cube" in collaboration with Organic Mechanics

Planting Inspiration at Home

The Succulent Gardens booth has come a long way since those early days. I plan the garden show “crop” a year before the show. In October we set aside all of the 2”, 4”, and 6” plants for the next year’s show. Customers come into the nursery and ask us “who are all those plants for that are not for sale?” I tell them, “Those are the plants set aside for my customers at next year’s garden show.”

Plants staged for garden show.

The plants for the garden show are divided into five separate groups and each day of the garden show, before the show opens, my crew goes in and pulls out the material from the previous day and sets up a completely new inventory of plant material. For our customers, this means it does not matter which day they visit the show, the display is completely new and fresh each day. For the plants, it means the plants that did not sell are back in the nursery the very next day, receiving TLC from my wonderful nursery crew.

2011 Dovecote

This year I am not producing an Undersea Garden, a “Cube,” or a Dovecote. I did have a plan for this year's show, but complications delayed this year’s plan and you will have to wait until next year for the next “big thing.” Instead, we have concentrated on our booth and will give our 100% full attention to bringing you, our customers, the best selection of succulents possible.

It’s Showtime! Plan your visit to the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show March 21-25 and come see us in booth 1131.

Note: The Succulent Gardens Nursery will be CLOSED March 19-25 while we're up at the show with you!

photo courtesy of the SF Flower & Garden Show

For this project I designed and created a 144-square-foot mural that wrapped around four 12’x12’ walls. Each wall used 49 20”x20” square plastic panels, each with 45 slanted pockets. 196 panels in all. Two 2” potted plants went into each pocket, making 90 plants per panel, about 4,400 plants per wall, or a little under 18,000 plants for the entire project. We planted the panels months before the show. (Here is Sean Stout of Organic Mechanics posing with a panel, in front of the “Cube” mural laid out in our greenhouse).

Having trialed and reviewed a number of different container systems designed for vertical gardening, I’ve  determined that the best panels for what I do with succulents are the plastic panels originally designed by Greg Garner of ELT Living Walls and since modified into other sizes and configurations by Greg and Bright Green USA.

In addition to the 20”x20” panel I have also been trialing two new plastic panels, the 12”x12” and the more recent 8”x16”. These two panels are about one inch deeper and the pockets are slightly larger than the 20”x20” panel. Some of the succulents seem to appreciate the added soil volume provided by the deeper, larger pockets.

This panel was also used to produce the “Dovecote” for the Filoli/Garden Route display at the 2011 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, and more recently on a gazebo that made its debut at Sunset Celebration, and is currently on display at our nursery.

We’ve learned a lot about this process over the years. Most important is to think of the panels as containers for living plants; not unchanging architectural features. Like other containers on a patio, you might use them for many years, to house many different types of plants.

All of the plastic panels are mounted in a similar manner by being hung on a bracket that is mounted on the wall. The most important thing about mounting the bracket is to mount it level.

The pockets of the panels are large enough to plant up to a 4” pot size plant in each pocket. For the Cube we used two 2” size plants per pocket for instant fullness, but generally I don’t use potted succulents for vertical designs, preferring to use cuttings in the same fluid manner as my redwood frame plantings. For a 20-inch square panel we use about 200 cuttings.

The 20"x20" panel is designed to water properly when placed in a vertical, hanging position. No additional modification is needed for proper watering.

These panels are designed to be watered by a drip system installed along top panel (one emitter for each vertical column). Water moves down through the panel and exits at the bottom, either into the next panel below, or falling out the bottom. (Drip systems are not included with the panels and must be separately installed). We have successfully watered 5 layers of panels with one drip line of emitters at the top

We are often asked if vertical plantings can be watered by a hose spray from the front. The answer is no, not really. At least not on a large-scale planting. Hand watering is not as effective as drip because it is difficult to hand water at a slow enough rate to achieve even and thorough distribution of water in all the individual pockets. If you want to do a good job watering, install a drip system.

As for watering frequency, the answer to this varies according to a number of different factors such as climate and exposure. As conditions and plant sizes vary, so will the water requirements of the plants. Our panels are typically watered about once each week.

We will discuss maintenance in our next post, but in general we tend to use varieties the do well in shallow soils and do not grow extremely large. When plants get too large, we just pull them out and replant.

We have a complete display of our vertical gardening products that you are welcome to come see for yourself, Tuesday through Saturday, April through October! Also available for purchase on our website.