Pebbles, sand, and rocks are all common "top dressings"--that is, materials spread on top of the exposed soil in a potted plant.  In addition to making an arrangement more colorful and decorative, top dressings have the practical effect of making plants easier to water, keeping moisture in, and preventing leaves from touching wet soil, which can lead to rot.

But conventional top dressings can go for as much as $5-$15 for a tiny bag!  So in this post I thought I'd share some of the top dressing "hacks" I've discovered through other succ-ers' recommendations, as well as my own experimentation. 

The first place to look is in your very own kitchen!  Small objects with interesting textures make the best soil covers.  As you can see in the picture to the left, I've combined raw peanuts with an aloe seedling.  Be sure to use unsalted peanuts, since salt will change the ph level in the soil and can actually kill a plant.

In addition to peanuts, I've experimented with wasabi peas (successful, and makes for some fabulous color combinations--just be sure to get the msg-free kind, which you can find at Trader Joe's), water chestnuts (which look cool but tend to decompose within a few weeks), M&Ms (yellow ones look especially nice, and the candy shell keeps the M&Ms in tact, so no worries about melting), and chia seeds (which were fabulous until the second watering, when the seeds began to sprout).

As you can see in the picture to the right, larger items can work as well--the key is to make them bold and bright.  For this composition, I've chosen kumquats.  I made this back in October because I thought the bright orange gave the aeoniums an autumnal feel.  The kumquats don't decompose because being placed directly on soil causes them to "chlorophate," meaning that they retain their shape, smell, and color.

You might recognize this next plant from my last post, where I mentioned that it was labeled as "Euphorbia sp."  I've come to suspect that this was a mislabeling, since it does not seem to contain the trademark milky white "sap" for which euphorbias are known.

In any case, though, it's a lovely plant, and I think it's made even lovelier by the addition of discarded pharmaceutical pills.  Because I didn't know if the chemicals would harm the plants, I didn't place the pills directly on the soil.  Instead, I first sprinkled a layer of conventional jade pebbles.  Then I scattered random expired pills on top of the pebbles.  The result may not be for everyone, but I think it's both colorful and whimsical!

I know this next suggestion is going to be a little environmentally controversial, but I'm going to put it out there anyway: plastic wrap.  Not saran wrap--I'm not suggesting you go out and buy plastic specifically for top dressing; that would be wasteful.  Instead, whenever you order anything from Amazon, just save the plastic insulation that comes with it. 

And I know what you're thinking: but I'm supposed to recycle!  Yes, sure, I know.  But you can think of this as a form of recycling.  The only caveat I should mention is that water runs off of the plastic, so to water plants with plastic top dressing, just lift up the plastic, water, and put the plastic back on.

This last one is going to strike you as a little weird, and perhaps even a little gross, but hear me out, succ-ers--not only does this work, but it's good for your plants.  If you have a dog or a cat and feed them hard kibble, take just a small handful and spread it atop the soil of any potted plant.  It has kind of a cool texture, and an effect similar to lava rock--but I haven't gotten to the best part yet.

Most high-quality dry pet food is supplemented with vitamins and minerals to keep our furry friends healthy.  Water helps these vitamins and minerals act as fertilizer.

After multiple waterings, the kibble will begin to soften and decompose.  It may look a little gross at first, but over time and multiple waterings, it will turn lighter in color and form an attractive "crust" over the top.

The picture to the left is the same plant and the same kibble top dressing from the picture above, taken after six weeks of once-weekly waterings.  To achieve the clay-brown hue you see in this composition, I prefer to use Iams.  If available, choose a low-sodium variety with mineral supplements.  (It's healthier for your pets, too!)

So what do you think, succ-ers?  Have you ever tried any of these creative top dressings?  Maybe you have some suggestions of your own?  Did you read this all the way through without remembering that it's April Fool's Day?  Haha!!  Gotcha!

During my visit to San Diego, several succ-ers told me not to miss the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas.  I did as instructed.  Despite the $12 entry fee, it was well worth a visit.  The place is huge--I spent two hours there and covered less than half of it (concentrating, as you might imagine, on the succ-heavy portions). 

The garden is arranged into several smaller sub-gardens, some arranged by theme (e.g. undersea; children's; landscape for fire safety) and others arranged by region (e.g., Australian; Mexican; Canary Islands).  Here are some pics I took in particular gardens.

My only complaint was that so many of their plants weren't identified (and I detected only the scantest correlation between a plant's rarity and its likelihood of bearing a label).  So while you can come here to see a lot of plants, I think the best way to enjoy this garden is just to enjoy the beautiful displays of color, light, and shape without worrying too much about what's what.  All, in all, though--definitely worth a visit.

This past weekend, I was lucky to attend the Succulent Celebration at Waterwise Botanicals, a huge, gorgeous outdoor nursery in Escondido, CA that specializes in succulents.  It was a blast--I'm so glad I made it. 

One of the first succ-ers I saw there was Cindy Davidson of The Succulent Perch fame, who recognized me right away and greeted me with a big hug.  I felt so welcomed!  Cindy's table boasted a marvelous array of arrangements--birdhouses and beyond.  Below left is a partial shot of a miniature garden Cindy constructed, complete with a perfect mini replica of Debra Lee Baldwin's new book.  Below left is a close-up of an echeveria purpusorum that Cindy used in one of her arrangements.  I love it when people use the slightly lesser-known succulents.

I spent an hour or two just roaming Waterwise Botanicals's vast grounds, which offered up dozens of picturesque views, including this:

And this:

I took over 100 photos with my trusty iPhone (admittedly, I regretted leaving my Nikon at home).  Here are a few of my favorites.  And by "a few," I mean "eighteen.  Click on any of them to see a larger version.

In all, an lovely weekend of sunshine, succ-ers, and succulents.  I also attended the Succulent VIP celebration, where I met many more succ-buddies in person at a drop-dead-gorgeous home garden.  Though I snapped plentiful pics there, too, I'm strictly forbidden from posting them until after the garden is featured in some print magazine that I can't remember the name of.  (Hmm, though I bet I can post pics of me and the other succ-ers there--I'll look into this.)

I'll post more soon about my other San Diego succulent adventures, which included the San Diego Botanical Gardens and more succulent nurseries than you can shake a stick (of fire) at!

I recently received a grant to make a relatively small vertical succulent display where I work.  I've been trying to figure out exactly what I want it to look like.  Should it integrate art, or just succulents?  If art, what kind?  Succulent walls are becoming very popular, after all, and I want something a little different from the norm.  I'd especially like to emphasize texture.

After consulting with the good folks at Succulent Gardens in Castroville, I decided that I needed to experiment before buying anything major.  So I spent a small portion of my budget on test materials and test plants.  I started with a 12" x 12" square redwood frame designed for exactly this purpose.  Then I started to put my plants in:

As you can see above, I started right away with some plants not typically used in vertical gardens (with good reason, perhaps, but that remains to be seen).  Specifically, I started with a few different kinds of crested echeverias.  I tried to choose ones with the shortest, widest stems possible.  Then, with a nice clean knife...  I sliced them like cucumbers.  In case you're wondering whether it was terrible to CUT a beautiful crested echeveria, the answer is a resounding yes.  But I've heard that as long as you have some stem and root on each piece, the crests will re-root.  No idea whether this is true, but I guess I'll find out.  I arranged the crested slices to form a squiggly line, which I ended with some Mexican setosa.  As you might also notice, I tried two aeonium tabuliforme... we'll see.  If they work, it's going to look awesome.

Next, I started filling in the corners.  At the top, miscellaneous echeveria cuttings.  This is what most people use for vertical gardening--and for good reason.  They're bold and root quickly and look great.  But I've never been one to make things easy for myself...

What are those green bits in the bottom center, you ask?  Haworthia.  Two different kinds: cymbiformis and a dark green one that didn't come labeled but was busting out of its 2-inch pot.  Retusa, maybe?  Anyway, I broke these up into small enough pieces to poke through the wire.  I have no idea whether their roots will grow quickly enough to hold them in vertically, but that's what makes this particular frame "experimental," no?

As you can see, I added some other things, too: many sempervivums, mostly quite small (sempervivum tectorum on the lower right), as well as some more echeverias and on the far left, in the middle, two kinds of delosperma: spalmanthoides and congestum.  I should have gotten more of both, but I wanted to see how they worked before getting too many of them.  I've had good luck with delosperma spalmanthoides before, but they haven't been very fast growers for me in the past.  Anyone know where I can get a whole big bunch of it?

Another little experiment: a bunch of Sedum spathulifolium "Cape Blanco." These seem to be really awesome at filling in gaps, and were more fun to use than I'd expected.  Some are rooted, some not so much.  But they're pretty good growers, in my experience, so I'm hoping that after a couple of months, they'll all root firmly enough not to fall out when they go vertical.

Then it was time to fill in the rest.  I did this primarily with sempervivums, since I had quite a lot of those, but I threw in some surprises, too: a grapetopetalum, a grapetoveria "silver star," some weird unidentified sedum that kept falling apart on me, and some anacampseros (which I really like and have barely worked with, but it seems to be getting more popular).  Several of the plants I used were rooted, which meant that I had to spend quite a bit of time easing the roots through the wire (and often thinning them a little first). 

Here's the final product:

What do you think?

This was a useful exercise in that it helped me figure out a few succs I definitely want to work with and a few I definitely don't.  But I guess the key points will be (1) who survives; (2) who roots quickly enough to hold itself in? 

My problem is that I should wait about two months before I try to take this vertical...  But I'd like to start the rest of the project sooner than that.  Any ideas about how these might work?  Have any of you other succ-ers tried to use haworthias or sedums or delosperma or anything crested in your vertical gardens?

As promised, here are some photos from my most recent visit to Stanford's Arizona Garden, which has many, many, many varieties of cacti and other succulents, including agaves and aeoniums.  The garden isn't huge, but it's well-maintained and worth a visit.  Nothing there is labeled, but in some of these pictures, I'm venturing a guess.  If you click on the smaller pictures, you can see a larger version.

(If you're in Palo Alto checking out the Arizona Garden, I recommend checking out the Gamble Garden as well.  It's just a 5- or 10-minute drive away.)  Have any of you ever been to the Arizona Garden?  What did you think of it?  Any other must-stop succulent destinations on the peninsula?