I have 3 inside. I love them so. The ferals didn't CHOOSE to be feral. But one must relate to them differently - because they are different....

I don't mind the feral cats - they keep the rodent population down. If they were digging up my gardens I think I'd feel differently about them.

A nice layer of chicken grit stopped the feral cats from using my raised beds. They don't seem to like digging in the grit.

Critter, I'll keep my eyes open for orange or yellow bottles.

Everything mowed, edged, weeded and water. Boy are they happy semps this evening.
I forgot to put the photo.

Lynn that looks so good!!!

Thank you Greg. All the semps seem to be bouncing back from the move to the new beds. All that rain we got last month really made the difference.
I imagine I will have to do a lot more watering this year, with as sandy as this new soil is. But it should be awesome come our rainy winter/spring season.

Oops, speaking of, I have to go turn the water off.

Me too agree!! I don't mind watering, especially since its just until they get settled in!

Oh, I think I will be watering a lot even after they get settled in. I mean this soil is very sandy.
Kevin warned me about that when I told him what it was like.

hmmm, part of my whole reason for using hardy succulents is to be able to Not have to water so often! (my soil isn't that sandy, so I'm fine!)

Your garden is looking fantastic Lynn

I started clearing the back 15 ft of my garden last night. When I moved in it was fenced off with wire, obviously by a pervious tenant. Since the indside of the house and the rest of the gardens needed so much work I pretended that I didn't realise it belonged to me. But I've decided to reclaim it, especially as my Mum is buying the gnome a trampoline for her birthday that will take up a big chunk of grass. Oh my. It's covered with brambles, rubbish, one or two interesting plants and a fallen tree that I didn't even know was there! I cut down most of the bramble last night and ordered some strong weed killer from Amazon. I don't like using that stuff but it's going to be the only way to get rid of the regrowth. Trouble is it looks worse now than when I started, at least it looked green before! There's an awful lot of work to do but I'm hoping to be able to plant it next spring.

Lynn, your beds look gorgeous, as usual!

Evie, sounds like a lot of work, but you'll be so happy when it's done.

Have a long story for you here, but it's about semp beds, so bear with me.

Earlier this year I discovered there is a place in Wisconsin that sells (and is well known I guess) for her sempervivum and alpine plants. At that time I called her and we had a nice conversation. She told me that about 50 years ago she used to sell semps all over the world (without even having the use of the internet! ) She still sells plants and offers tours. She sent me her plant lists and some very nice pictures.

In May I took a day of vacation from work and went to see her (it's a several hundred mile drive). I can honestly say I was shocked - and not in a real good way. First of all, I was very surprised at her "beds". It's a very rocky area and rather than make raised beds, she cut the ground down and away from areas to create a huge raised bed. This "bed" was about 3 - 3-1/2 feet high. It's mostly large rocks. Then she covered the top of the rocks with thick black plastic, added a very (VERY) small amount of black dirt/compost and lots of pea sized pebbles - many years ago. After that she has never added anything as far as soil/fertilizer to the bed. She told me when the leaves fall off their trees and decompose, that is all that ever gets added. And that is what she plants in. Unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures, but wish I had taken more of the area as a whole. Anyway, it works well for her and the plants are quite healthy.

The part I was surprised about was that the black plastic was sticking out all over the place and you had to watch where you walked because there were plastic and hypertufa pots all over the place - every square inch of space was covered. She had created a very rough terrain but the plants thrived. She planted in the sides of the bed too. Unfortunately it was difficult to get a picture without black plastic in it. But here are some pictures.



She had beautiful combinations in pots, but some of the pots were 8-10" deep with maybe 2" of pebble/soil in the bottom so you could only see the plants from the top down.

She also had lots of crested plants, like this little arachoideum.


The part I was shocked at was that I saw a total of two plant labels the entire time I was there. Everything else was "from memory". Now I know some semps are very distinctive, BUT......

To show us how easy these plants are to care for and multiply, she showed us (I took my Mom & Dad along) an example. She pulled a plant out of the ground and literally threw it. Wherever it landed, it landed - she didn't even watch where it went. (I hope the people that purchase from her don't think they have accurately named plants.)

Anyway, the point of this long story is that beds come in all shapes, sizes, and types, and these are amazingly tough little plants!

Eviesmummy - consider putting down corrugated cardboaed over the weedy area and then topping that with fresh topsoil. That's my favorite way to kill weeds and grass. Newspaper works fine for grass but well established weeds often require cardboard. These pics are a bit off your application, but they were the best I could find in a hurry.

Click on that top one - it got truncated.

Wow Lynne.
She sounds quite eccentric!

Well that is just plain scary, the part about no ID tags, and tossing a semp to where ever.
I do find it interesting on how well they grow for her.

Critter, that was Chris that posted the above rock garden.
That is a great piece of information you gave Kate. I have used cardboard to start new beds. Cutting the grass/weeds down to the ground, putting down a thick layer of cardboard, then adding a deep layer of compost. It works so well.

I can't stop looking at those photos Chris.

That is a huge bunch of Sempervivums, but a little wild for me. I sure she had some pretty ones
but how could you tell?

It is really surprising how little the amount of "soil" she planted in. Maybe we overdo with all our mixtures
and ammendments.

Did you bring any home?

I know - rather shocking! Oops - cross posted - this was a response to Lynn.

Marilyn, I brought home some NOID sedum that I'll post for help with ID's. I also got an Orostachys from her and a fern (NOID).

"To show us how easy these plants are to care for and multiply, she showed us (I took my Mom & Dad along) an example. She pulled a plant out of the ground and literally threw it. "

I have to admit that there is one area of my yard that I do this with my extra vigorous semps (although more carefully, and I do know where the semp goes).
The plants there are just in the loam created from bark mulch over the years on top of weed barrier. They do very well!
I should try and take a picture.

FWIW, I don't trade from this "bed".

Chris, great exploratory adventure, it was! My DH and I would have loved to have gone on that one; just the wonderment and astonishment would have been worth it. I wouldn't have needed to come away with anything. Glad you took a piece of the experience home with you. Thanks for sharing.