Front yard succulent garden is waterwise yet lush


Photo essay originally published in the Los Angeles Times


Photos and text copyright (c) Debra Lee Baldwin. All rights reserved.


Dragon tree in succulent garden designed by Michael Buckner


With its canopy of bayonet-like leaves, a 10-foot dragon tree (Dracaena draco) appears to explode from a front yard. A threadleaf agave (Agave schidigera) in the foreground echoes the shape of the dragon tree's clusters. Behind the agave is Aloe cameronii and at right, forming a thicket of orange branches, Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire'. The blue groundcover Senecio serpens flows throughout.  

Owned by Carolyn and Herb Schaer and designed by Michael Buckner of the Plant Man nursery, this San Diego garden illustrates how low-water doesn't have to mean personality-free. The garden consists primarily of low-maintenance succulents---plants which by definition store water to endure drought. But this is no desert moonscape. Although a few spiky succulents (such as yuccas, and spherical and columnar cacti) lend texture, most of the fleshy plants---such as aloes, echeverias and senecios---are smooth-leaved and user-friendly.

Smart design ideas illustrated throughout the eight-year-old garden are detailed below.


Euphorbia ammak variegata in succulent garden designed by Michael Buckner. Agave franzosinii on left


Pale green Euphorbia ammak variegata adds height to a section of the garden between driveway and street. Behind a boulder chosen to repeat the blues and oranges of the plants is red-flowering Euphorbia milii, a succulent shrub that blooms nonstop. The lawn area, though water-thirsty, was a requirement of the homeowner's association.


Aloes in succulent garden designed by Michael Buckner


Mounded terrain and valleys lend interest to any landscape; this swale, flanked by aloes in bloom, leads the eye to colorful beds beyond.


Spanish bayonet trees (Yucca aloifolia) and dry streambed


Spanish bayonet trees (Yucca aloifolia) dance above a dry streambed. The designer installed the slender yuccas sideways, anticipating that they would turn upward, seeking the sun. Vestiges of older leaves create the shingled bark.


Aloe vanbalenii, Agave verschaffeltii, golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii),


Squidlike Aloe vanbalenii appears to sneak up on a spherical barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii). Contrasting in form and color are blue Agave verschaffeltii and low-growing Senecio serpens.


Agave attenuata (foxtail agave) in succulent garden


Columnar pilosocereus, with corduroy-like ribs, grows alongside green foxtail agave (Agave attenuata) rosettes. Behind them are red-flowering Euphorbia milii and the mop-headed bottle palm, Beaucarnea recurvata.


African daisies in waterwise succulent garden


Among many companion plants with cultivation requirements similar to succulents are purple-pink African daisies. The backdrop is an octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana).


Aeonium 'Sunburst' bloom


This Aeonium 'Sunburst' rosette coming into bloom is about a foot in diameter.


Agave 'Blue Flame' in drought-tolerant succulent garden


'Blue Flame', a newly introduced hybrid, grows no larger than 18 inches in diameter.


Aloe cameronii in waterwise garden


Aloe cameronii turns bright red when grown in full sun; the less light, the greener its leaves.


Echeveria subrigida 'Wavy'


Translucent edges of cabbage-sized Echeveria subrigida 'Wavy' glow when backlit.


Echeveria cultivar 'Mauna Loa' in succulent garden


Echeveria cultivar 'Mauna Loa' has a warty texture.


[Return to Articles page]