Your Spring Garden & Succulent Checklist By Debra Lee Baldwin, Horticulturist, Author, Succulent Expert
The Palos Verdes peninsula’s near-perfect climate makes it possible for gardens in general and succulents in particular to be vibrantly beautiful year-round…providing their owners heed a few timely and important tips. My Spring Garden and Succulent Checklist will help you ensure your plants attain their full, glorious potential. Links take you to related info on my “Success with Succulents” site.
Shop for flowering ice plants. They bloom gangbusters in spring, so now’s the time to select the colors you want.
Get rid of weeds, roots and all. They're easy to pull or hoe when small and the ground is soft. All too soon they’ll be looking you in the eye and going to seed.
Check succulents for rot. Remove mushy leaves before rot spreads to the plant's stem, trunk, or crown. If those are soft and discolored, discard the plant.
Top-dress bare soil to enhance the look of planted areas, keep weeds at bay, reduce erosion, and hold in soil moisture.
Treat agaves for snout weevil. The pests also attack agave relatives, so drench yuccas, beaucarneas, mangaves and furcraeas too.
Fertilize your plants now as they enter their spring growth spurt, and before the soil goes dry.
Obtain nursery plants. The goal is to get them established before summer heat hits.
Start pups and cuttings. There's no better time---not to mention all the free plants you can use to fill garden gaps, pots, and window boxes.
If you've yet to do so, trim woody perennials (roses, mallow, salvias) by about half, and cut ornamental grasses to the ground.
Check your irrigation system and adjust as needed. Don't wait---as I've done, unfortunately---until July, when vulnerable plants have dried-and-died.
For more ideas and a gallery of desirable succulents, see my own Southern CA garden in spring.
Debra Lee Baldwin is renowned for launching global interest in succulents with her popular YouTube channel, comprehensive website, and bestselling books about using plump-leaved plants in gardens, landscapes and containers. Debra, an award-winning garden photojournalist and former Sunset magazine writer, delights in sharing succulent news, tips, design ideas, and destinations. She lives in San Diego’s North County, home to more succulent specialty nurseries and wholesale growers than anywhere in the world.
Questions or comments? Contact Debra.
