Front Yard project ideas

Discuss hardy cacti grown outside all year.
Post Reply
craftycacti
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 12:23 am

Front Yard project ideas

Post by craftycacti »

My dad and I are planning on having a cacti/succulent garden in the frontyard. We don't live in the typical suburban area (places with lots of trees, green grass, small front yards). Where we live, the front yard is very bare and open. Right now it's covered in dried up and dead weeds. There is tons of sunlight that it fries the weeds I guess :? . We live in California, near Sacramento. The climate is zone 9, and it get's pretty hot in the sun. It would be nice to find some tough, yet attractive cacti that can do well in full sun. We also plan on planting a mimosa tree to provide some shade for more sensitive plants. We'll also plant non-succulents, such as grasses, bushes, etc. Some areas, such as under the house roof will also be protected from sun and rain. I wish I could take a picture so you can get a better Idea, but I won't for privacy reasons.

There are already a few plants I know will do well with our climate, which are prickly pears and some agaves. (Next to a freeway which is close to our house, there is a enormous agave colony with a tall bloom stalk, and it's over 60 years old at least. It's thriving even without any watering, being in full hot sun, and being right next to the freeway! :shock: ) Even though this project won't be started for a while, I would like to get a list of cacti/succulents that will do well in our climate. I would especially like advice from people who live in zone 9/California :)
User avatar
cactushobbyman
Posts: 1437
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:01 pm
Location: Sanger, California

Re: Front Yard project ideas

Post by cactushobbyman »

First, do not plant a mimosa tree if you don't want to have leaf litter to bother with. The tree will give you great shade, but the spent flowers will litter the ground completely over an inch thick; for a mature tree. And in the fall the seed pods will fall through out the winter and you will have hundreds for little mimosa trees every where. My front yard is in full sun and 3 years ago I took out my lawn, thanks to Jerry B. water reduction, and put in a drought tolerant garden. I used a combination of cactus, native plants and others. The first few years I put in only the hardy cactus until the shrubs grew to give some shade in the afternoon. I had an established cactus garden already, so this was just an expansion, 1800 square feet of expansion. This year I added more cactus that needed some shade in the midday sun. Your area is a little bit cooler, a little more rain, so you will have to adjust what you plant and use a good drainage plan. I have planted Echinocactus, Echinopsis, Ferocactus, Aloe, Echinocerceus, and others. Some show sun burns, and frost damage, but over all most survive. I'll attach a couple pictures. Good luck. :D
Just starting to remove the lawn
Just starting to remove the lawn
a.jpg (149.01 KiB) Viewed 4779 times
First planting with more to come
First planting with more to come
b.jpg (127.19 KiB) Viewed 4779 times
Season season
Season season
2.jpg (128.83 KiB) Viewed 4779 times
Part of the old garden
Part of the old garden
3.jpg (134.29 KiB) Viewed 4779 times
8)
User avatar
hegar
Posts: 4596
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:04 am
Location: El Paso, Texas

Re: Front Yard project ideas

Post by hegar »

You are lucky, in that you can design your empty space and prepare it for a cactus patch. Cactushobbyman is correct with his advice, not to plant anything, which causes a lot of seeds to drop, requiring you to pull out all those tiny seedlings you do not want. You could go with perhaps a chitalpa tree instead. It is a hybrid between a catalpa and a desert willow (Chilopsis linearis). That plant does not produce viable seed. However, it is a fast grower and the leaf canopy may bee too dense for some cacti to flower underneath. The showy flowers also drop down and would land on your cacti.
I do not know, how an Afghan Pine would do in your growing environment. Those conifers also do not use much water once they are established.
As far as cacti are concerned, I suggest members of the genus Echinocereus. My plants are growing in full sun and are doing well. The climate here at 4,000 ft altitude ranges from perhaps 15 to 20 degrees F for the low to over 50 degrees F for the high the same day. During the summer months, especially in the month of June the plants look horrible, because we do have temperatures exceeding 100 degrees F and almost no cloud cover.
Right now, we are in our "monsoon season", it rains, the sky is overcast part of the day and most cacti look great. As far as I know, I too live in zone 9.
The climate here though is a little harsher, because of the altitude.
In order to find out, what I am growing in the ground, I do have a long-running post named "My flowering Cacti .....", with the year where the dots are. I assume, that you could grow the same kind of cacti that I am able to grow here. I have had numerous cacti, in addition to those that are pictured for the year 2017 for example, which did not survive for one reason or another. Then, there are some, that have been with me for many years.
I try to grow as much as possible and let nature tell me, if the plant will be able to make it.
One more thing: Consider the rapid spread of some succulents. For example, I am still fighting to keep my prickly pear cacti from overwhelming anything near them. The same was true for agaves and yuccas, which I finally pulled up. It is easier to stick with smaller, less aggressive or vigorous plants. Those do not need to be transplanted or pruned as much.

Harald
Post Reply