- Succulents acquire to store pee in thick ancestor , stanch or leaves during sullen periods of rain , enable them to survive long geological period with limited or no water . * * They are classified as xeriphytic flora , meaning they jib drouth . This makes them an ideal for growing indoors or outdoors in arena where water is scarce or expensive .
Succulent Growth Cycles
There are both annual and perennial succulents , although perennials are most often find in nursery . Cactuses , almost all perennials , are also succulents .
yearly plants live for one produce season , usually from outpouring through early autumn . perennial live for three or more year , typically not bloom until their 2nd year of ontogeny .
The termperennialis not to be mix up with hardiness , which is how much winter moth-eaten a plant will survive alfresco . Hardiness is measure by U.S. Department of Agriculture industrial plant hardiness zone based on average winter crushed temperatures . repeated species that bloom in their first year can be planted in the bound and farm as an yearbook in USDA zones that are too stale for their natural survival . These are sometimes called " tender " perennials .
Succulent Basics
The different shapes and color of succulents in an outdoor garden provide interest in the winter and complement other plants in the spring - to - autumn growing time of year . Many specie have prickle on the edges or tips of their leaves , but there are thornless varieties as well .
Most succulents evolved in desiccate or semiarid clime . They like gravelly or sandy soil . * * Succulents do not like stand water , and tight - draining soils are all important in areas with periodic lowering rain . * * embed them on a hill facilitate drain issuance . They like sun and heat , so facing them on a incline face south is idealistic .
Master gardeners in San Mateo and San Francisco counties in California watered their succulent garden for only five minute six times a yr . In comparing , they water their vegetable and efflorescence garden twice hebdomadally for six months .
Perennial Succulents
Sedums , ice plants , sempervivums , century plant and yucca , include the following example , are among the repeated succulents commercially usable :
Low - growing repeated sedums ( Sedum spp ) are estimable for rock ground cover , and magniloquent varieties are useful for borders . They have fleshy root , duncical succulent leaves and give clusters of star - mold flower . They will grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 3 through 9 .
Ice plant also make attractive soil covers . Cooper ’s unfearing ice-skating rink plant ( Delosperma " Cooperi,“USDA zone 6 through 9 ) produce into a carpet of pink - over-embellished flowers in summertime through early fall .
repeated hens and skirt ( Sempervivum spp . , USDA zones 5 through 10 ) raise up to 8 inches high in rosettes of fat , spineless leaves , blossom from June through July .
New Mexico century plant ( Agave parryi var . neomexicana , USDA zones 5 through 10 ) , has gray - green folio tipped with burgundy spines , grow 1 1/2 foot high fan out 2 feet wide of the mark .
Spanish bayonet ( Yucca baccata , USDA zones 6 through 11 ) , has swordlike , thick leaves and grow up to 3 feet tall . It yields white blossoms from early spring through late summer .
The attractive , hardy prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia humifusa , USDA zones 5 to 10 ) is a low - develop disseminate cactus that give showy displays of vivid yellow efflorescence in later spring and former summer .
Annual Succulents
Annual succulents are less often find than perennial .
The annual dear - lies - bleed ( Amaranthus caudatus ) , typically planted indoors six to eight hebdomad before the last saltation icing , grows from 2 to 4 feet tall , yielding long tassels of red , petal - less bloom that hang down 12 column inch or more .
immature purslane ( Portulaca Oleracea ) , an annual , grows rapidly up to 1 ft tall and 1 foot wide , move over milklike flower from belated spring to former autumn . It likes full Sunday and moist soil .
Mezoo trailing cerise ( Dorotheanthus bellidiformis " Mesbicla " ) , grows 3 to 6 in high , spring mats of apricot , magenta , orangish , pink , chickenhearted and reddish purple blossoms from belated spring through summertime . It is a tender perennial grown as an annual in climate colder than USDA zones 9 and 10 .
