Front Succulent Garden

On any one day, I do not visit my whole garden... in fact in any one week, I do not visit my whole garden. With a busy work schedule, most days, I enter and exit the house through the garage. This means the  part of the garden I view the most, is my back yard which is visible through the sliding glass door of the family room and through the windows of the kitchen. I go out through those glass doors to feed and play with my dog, Frasier. I putter around the backyard the most, gathering blueberries and strawberries for my cereal. Depending what is fruiting or ready for harvest, that is the section of the garden I would visit. Otherwise, I almost never go to my front yard, unless the door bell rings! This more often then not, means the UPS man is here with a package. Or the tutor is here for my son.

The good thing is I kept the the front yard mainly as a succulent yard, which needs minimal work. It looks good- or at least, not terrible, even with the neglect I have subjected it to. Today, the UPS man brought me into the front yard. Looks like it is time I give this part of my garden some tender loving care.

It all started with a few small pots of succulent and I propagated the rest from cuttings and pups that grew from the mother plants. As you can see some pots are breaking apart from the mass of roots that have established over the years. These two big pots were unglazed mexican pots we purchased in Rosarito, Mexico. The one of the left still has it rim although the middle of the pot has cracked open. The one of the right has lost it rim but is otherwise intact. I would not try to move the pots though!!!! I love the look of the succulent in these imperfect pots and the mix of pots sizes, shapes and colors.

The beautiful Jade plant was given to me by friends who moved to Vegas a few years ago. It has more than double in size and has been propagated into half a dozen plants.

Mexican Feather grass and Nutsedge have invaded some of the pots. Looks like some weeding and possible repotting might be necessary.

Aeonium Arboreum

Aeonium Cylops (Giant Red Aeonium)

Cassula Ovata

Succulent pup propagated for new plantings

This morning while passing by the front windows, I notice 2 jets of water rushing towards the roof whole the irrigation system was running. This meant that some sprinkle or emitter head must have broken or there is a breakage in the sprinkle line. It was difficult to find the breaks, but I finally did.

The top of this emitter that connects to irrigation tube broke off

The second broken emitter that needed to be replaced

This was probably why some of the succulents were not doing so well - they were being over watered. While succulents will be fine form neglect of not watering, they do not do well when they are overwatered, by purpose, or by accident.