Gorgeous! I hope you have as much fun with it as I do. That 'Merlin's Magic' is incredible!

Always did enjoyed Coleus and forgot how beautiful they are until I saw yours last year. Bought a 6 pk. also of colorful ones far cheaper but are just as nice. Going to save them as well.

Stush, this spot makes me think of you often!

Ledebouria socialis & kirkii.


Various (updates from May 24 pics.)



Stapelia (update from 6/26.)


Gasteraloe has an offset.


Various.


Euphorbia/Pedilanthes tithymaloides (update from 6/11.)


Callisia fragrans & Tradescantia zebrina growing under workbench from pieces falling under there.

Gorgeous pink tones on Opuntia monacantha.


Lots of new pups on Sansevierias.


This variegated zigzag/devil's backbone (Euphorbia/Pedilanthes tithymaloides) is making some reverted stems.


Pencil plant (Euphorbia tithymaloides) and donkey ears (Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri) with K. laetivirens (the one with all of the babies on the leaf edges.)

Some shots before I start dismantling things this weekend:

Your plants all look so happy outside, Tiffany. Where do you take them for the winter? Do you just take cuttings of some of them?

TYVM! It is fun to have an almost totally tropical landscape, even if temporarily. I have a blast impulsively deciding where to put stuff each spring, trying to remember what I liked and didn't like in previous years. It's a pretty slow learning curve, only been doing this with succulents for about? 5-6 yrs?

Yes, anything tall enough to get floppy from being dug-up that takes root easily, I just snip. I keep as much mass as I can fit in the house & small many-windowed shed-passing-as-greenhouse. It's so much easier (for me anyway) to pack a pot with cuttings than roots. And last fall I made several pots of various Kalanchoes to give as gifts in bloom. They managed to live about long enough to bloom for a few weeks, what I expected, and all that was needed to see/share the fruits of this years' labors.

Succulents in general are easy, just run through the yard & cut like Edward Scissorhands and pile everything as gently as possible into boxes to be potted as time allows, which also greatly reduces the height of those. And the past couple winters, a lot of roots have survived. If some of these can act like any other herbaceous perennial, I can take them off of the list of those that need protection - for those that grow a decent display over such a short amount of time. Becoming well-established for almost a year before getting the above-ground foliage zapped by frost probably helps a lot.

Thanks to the use of sub-lists of my plant list on here, I can print a list of plants in ground & make sure everything is represented in a pot before frost. Plants of small stature will be packed into group pots for a few months to take as little space as possible.

It sounds like you've got a great plan going. I may have to start trying to copy you. I love the tropical look, but have mostly kept them in the house and greenhouse. Getting them outside in summer would be great!

TY and I'd love to have virtual company in this madness! I don't know that I'd call much of it a plan though, really just a mad experiment in amusing myself with plants, and wanting to have tons of plants but the novelty of watering pots is well passed for me. The past couple years as income has remained the same but everything out there is more expensive, it's worth the effort to me to be able to have a ton of plants to play with for landscaping at a time when I don't really have a plant budget at all anymore. I do not share this as advice or even suggestion, just in the spirit that others might like to see what such a weird concept ends up looking like, at least in 1 small yard in south AL, with the selection of plants 1 person has managed to amass in small increments. :+)

To get comfortable with the idea, I started by putting cuttings of potted plants in ground, as in not putting all of ones' eggs into 1 unsure basket. There might be no reason to progress into unconventional-ness beyond that point for some/most. Whatever's enjoyable, the whole point of having any plants, anywhere.

Wow, I think it's a great look Tiffany way cuter than petunias
I'd copy you too, 'cept I'm far too lazy to plant all my houseplants in the ground and then dig 'em up in the fall, plus, and, I don't 'do' annuals so everything's clogged up with perennials and there'd be no place to put them

TY! Agree, it would be a trip farther into madness to evict perfectly good existing perennials. I used to do perennials, and have left established perennial gardens that I created everywhere I've lived, in about 6 places. I loved driving from place to place to find the most unusual ones.

There was nothing but grass right up to the edges of the house when we moved here in 4/14, except 4 azaleas planted way too close to the front porch. DH has managed to dig up 2 of those, and I killed one by putting an upside-down pot over its' chainsawed stump for 2 yrs. All of the rest of the now-gardened areas were reclaimed by digging up whatever was growing in the mowed area, or smothering.

When I hear the word "work" associated with plants, I always feel confused because I don't think of any of this as work, aside from the effort needed to dig up grass/weeds to have a place to play with plants. Ever since I was a kid, in the spring, it's time to garden. My gramma had a huge garden, my mom was more into ornamental, my aunt had a farm. Why else would I live in a place with outdoor space if not for gardening? Extreme loathing for the forced labor and pollution of mowing is the main reason but that can be overcome by getting rid of the mowed area. After that, it's all fun & games. :+)

I am propagating more shrubs to fill these spaces, Gardenias, Brugmansias, Hydrangeas, anything which requires no care, provides a home for the critters in the area, but these take years to reach a mature size.

Tiffany, I am always fascinated with your experiments in growing succulents in ground. I have only ventured into one raised bed but am amazed at how they (or their root system) can endure freezing temps as long as they are dry.

Do your beds require much watering in summer time?

We seem to have late summer drought here and everything struggles including me when I have to water. I do realize it is more necessary when the plants are potted but wonder how maintenance free yours are.

Also, did you do anything to improve the soil where you planted these succulent beds?

purpleinopp said: "the landscape"

I love the color and variety in your landscaping! And those plants are so lucky to be able to take a vacation outside, it is almost like a country club for plants!

Kristi, I am desperate to improve the soil but organic matter is very hard to find here. I miss being able to pick up as many bags of leaves as I want curbside. Nobody bags leaves in this area.

Turning dirt into soil is my fav thing about gardneing, besides the actual plants, and not having enough materials to make it happen is beyond frustrating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Succulents are some of the few plants that really seem to like trying to eke out a living where just a few years ago, cars were parked. The ground is very hard, and has zero tilth and fertility.

Last summer it did not rain here for 3 months, and this summer has been only slightly better. Succulents are able to handle that beautifully, and being able to spend a LOT less time watering pots is part of the appeal to me. Right now, I have about 20 pots, but in a couple weeks, there will be about 100. I can't water 100 pots all summer, it's too hot & I don't feel like watering plants at all after being at work all day.

The ground is very hard, and has zero tilth and fertility.

Same here... I think that is the bane of the southern soil. At least I am in the woods so have leaves and leaf mold.

I can't water 100 pots all summer, it's too hot & I don't feel like watering plants at all after being at work all day.

Amen to that.

I am amazed at the discarded pieces that take root and thrive in the compost pile on benign neglect.

Thanks for your response. I think you will inspire me this coming spring....

Happy to share what has happened here. ;) And forgot to say, one cool thing is that if it comes to the point where even the succulents look too thirsty to go on without help, a quick sprinkle can help a lot vs. stuff like Coleus, and other more thirsty plants, that need a long, deep soak to really get back to normal.

Tiffany, Amen to that. I love to reclaim soil (dirt). I have a big chipper and every thing (and I mean everything) goes into it. If I can't burn it in my wood burner, it gets chipped. All leaves, grass clippings, weeds, sticks, even some times paper goes in my compost pile. Giving me rich black loose soil to add to my garden beds. So sorry to hear you don't have that down there. My brother lives in York, S.C. and I know about that crappy red clay soil. Even getting it on your clothes is hard to wash out.

Same here! No organic matter except bones leaves the property, but there's never enough to make a decent mulchy layer over all of the space that's no longer mowed area. I need to plant more deciduous trees.

We also have a large chipper and put everything through it to save to use as compost. We don't have any deciduous trees either, Tiffany. I miss the bags of leaves we used to be able to get at our former homes. Almost everything here is evergreen.