Re: coming out/Tender Succulents Outdoors

Hi List
 
Wow, lots of intersting replies there!
 
From David:  Seems I have headed I the right direction some of the time, either accidentally or on purpose!  I really do appreciate any advice at all.  Most of it is new to me and to hear from others more experienced is priceless - I find that although the best way to learn is to try, very often it is possible to learn that something isn't worth trying.  If you see what I mean.
 
1..... Covering winter drought lovers with temporary
overhead cover to shed the rain away, growing in
containers plunged into the ground in summer and
relocated to covered areas in winter, or planting in
raised sloped beds with very quick draining soil mix
and full sun
I have opted to grow things without covers, to see what will or won't survive and have adopted your second approach - everything is on raised sloping beds with very free-draining mix.  Mind you after the losses of this winter I may revise this plan ...... 20 of 30 odd aloes species have rotted and I am sure most would have been fine had they remained drier - some have survived previous drier winters.  Agaves and cacti have fared better n general, but still with quite a few plants damaged or lost.
 
2. Planting these plants at the base of evergreens
such as Cupressus macrocarpa,(or similar), and limbing
up branches so that things get sun from lower angles
in early morning or late afternoon.  The density of
the tree's foliage tends to keep the area below much
drier, protected from frosts, and the tree roots dry
out the soil more efficiently than even the best
system of underdrains.
One area on the main cactus patch has a large old yew which does this same job.  Actually I was surprised at how attractive the bark on yew is and worth clearing the lower branches to look at, regardless of growing succulents underneath.

3. Using impervious sheets of plastic covered with
light colored reflective gravel around base of
succulents to keep drier in winter, and increase soil
temperatures in summer.  (The look of decomposed
granite as a garden wide mulch is very much part of
the look of the Sonoran desert habitat.)
I have gone more for the Canary Islands look with a mulch of a dark coal residue, called clinker or slag over here, don't know what the equivalent term would be there.  Mind you I have had some visits from people living in the industrial towns in the north of the country that don't see that attraction, with enormous heaps of this all over the place - down south here it is a novelty.  The plastic sheeting is an idea, though.  It is often advocated as a means of keeping moisture in, not out, but I am sure this last winter it would have helped immensely.

4. Stringing Christmas tree lights(or similar) around
cold sensitive plants and tenting with agricultural
row cover fabric during bouts of cold weather.  I use
this method successfully with some tender large
Euphorbias, such as E. ingens here, along with
covering the surrounding soil to keep drier.  This
approach is also used every winter on a more
substantial basis at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in
Walnut Creek, where Ruth has amassed a national
collection of Agaves, Aloes and other tender
succulents which are not possible to keep alive in
this area without protecting them.
You mean they don't grow naturally there?  I am a bit disappointed!  8^)  I have spent too long drooling over photos of the garden there.  I only protect a very few choice plants for particular reasons, as mentioned.  I wish I had protected a Furcraea longaeva though; I cut away the rotten bits just yesterday and am left with a very sorry looking plant indeed, if it lives it will take the entire season to look anything at all.

Lest you think that northern California is so easy for
succulents compared to your area,
I have been fortunate enough to correspond with (ie pick the brains of) a fellow up in the hills [this is going to sound so silly - Craig Howe - do you know him? 8^) ] that grows all sort of unusual cacti and succulents and so have discovered the winters can get rough.  No illusions to dispell.  He very kindly sent me a huge list of things he has been successful which has given me a starting point to start my serial succulenticide.
 
Subtropicals like Trevesia palmata also essentially
stop growth here in my garden in the winter, whereas
they are in active growth in Los Angeles all year
round.  My plant is lucky to put on 6 inches of trunk
in a year, as opposed to maybe 3x that down south.  We
can't leave things like Pachypodium lamerei out in the
winter rains either, it will rot.  So there will
always be an element of wanting to grow things just
beyond the hardiness of our area, regardless of where
we garden.
Strange you should mention this plant, David, as it is something I am eager to try outside but no little about.  I may have finally found myself a plant to try as it isn't in general cultivation over here.  How much cold do you think this would tolerate?  Does it sucker like tetrapanax?  Would it survive by adopting a herbaceous habit?


I thought that there was at least one coastal garden
there in the southwest of England with a superb
collection of succulents, on one of the off
shore(Isles of Scilly?) islands?  I never got there,
but it sounds very much like coastal northern
California for climate.  I did notice that many of the
things I would have thought to be hardy in London are
only grown inside in the temperate house at Kew, which
felt very much like a California garden in some
respects.
The Abbey Gardens at Tresco, one of the Scilly Isles.   Marvellous place, huge range of plants and, yes, they grow all manner of succulent and non-succulent treasures in the diverse microclimates there.  The nearest thing we Brits can get to Heaven without a passport or, of course, dying.  I always tend to ignore this place when talking of what can and can't be grown in the UK as the micoclimate is so special - a small island stuck in the middle of the North Atlantic Drift.  They do get there share of cold occasionally, though, with I think about -10C in 1987 which saw off most of the very tender stuff.  I would agree with you about Kew; most unadventurous.  Weather records show it has never dropped below -8C for the past 200yrs or so (even in 1987), yet there are hardly any plants that reflect this growing outdoors. 
 
From Moira:
I would question, though if you are the only person in Essex who has any
interest in outdoor succulents. I have before me an old book (1978) by
Beth Chatto entitled "The Dry Garden"and on the cover is a patch of
nerines with an underplanting of what is very obviously a clump of
Echevera. The Echevera has a subtile edging of deep pink on its leaves
which very nicely echos the colour of the nerine (possibly N filifera).
That is the sort of thing she is reknowned for, finding odd plant combinations that work brilliantly.  It does look tantalisingly like an echeveria but is a sempervivum - there is a name given somehwere for the front illustration.  Beth Chatto's garden is an unending source of inspiration; she is a true ground breaker in terms of planting philosophy and plantsmanship.  Fantastic.  She uses a few tender succulents but more as seasonal displays that are moved under cover for winter. 

From Veronica:
Been there , done that with the succulents & we won't go into what else (I think the banana is still alive)......
OK, now I'm hooked - what are you growing, I'd love to hear?  Sounds like you are using the past tense - what put you off? Your nana should be fine - mine is just waking up now.
 
Once again, regards to all
 
Paul

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