Succulent Circle (after)

We’ve been eyeballing this project all last summer.  Just down the road from us along the Great Highway, there are some old garden plots marked by narrow one-foot concrete borders.  Most of them are abandoned and overgrow, but I remember that this garden circle was re-established about 2 years ago mostly with succulents.  You can see above what a 30 minute cleanup can accomplish…below is what this succulent circle was looking like before we popped in.

Before...end of summer.

These garden circles have a lot of challenges to overcome.  First, it doesn’t rain here in San Francisco during the summer.  The only irrigation they see is the fog drip that rolls in around May and lingers until Fogust (August is the foggiest month).  Second, salty winds can be fierce here.  This garden is only a stones throw to the ocean and lots of salt spray can be found in the air.  Lastly, it all sandy soil in these parts.  Sometime so much sand blows in, that they close down the Great Highway until the sand plows can get it removed.

Car full of succulents.

We loaded up the car with some of our succulent cuttings and that giant agave baby from out backyard (mostly crassula, sedum, aloe and aeoniums).  They all should do pretty well in the well draining sandy soil and summer drought.  I’m not certain about the salt in the air, but we see these types of plants growing nearby. I’d say these new succulents have high odds of surviving.

Almost done.

In about 30 minutes, we weeded out the crap, shifted some of the existing plants around, and planted most of our cuttings and that big fatty Agave americana.  There was so much sand piled up on this dune, that we really couldn’t get the concrete circle to expose…but that could be another project day.

Two months later.

After a slow start, it finally started raining this winter and this succulent circle should start looking lusher.  We can’t wait to check in over the next couple of months to see how it’s coming along.

– Far Out Flora