Succulents thriving in cinderblock wall planter
Twice during this summer of 100-degree days and extreme drought I’ve left town for a week or longer, and each time I’ve come home to find my succulent wall made of cinderblocks, unwatered during my absence, simply flourishing. I give each plant a gentle hose sprinkling upon my return, and they’re good for another week or two of alone time.
Succulents (in bright shade or morning sun in our hot climate) are truly a gift you give yourself for summer containers. Yes, they may die in a winter cold snap, but for three seasons they give you a gorgeous display, and during our longest season—summer—they thrive with little attention.
Which leaves you more time to enjoy them.
All material © 2006-2011 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Pam your block wall looks great!
Thanks, Darla. I’m enjoying it. —Pam
That does look quite nice and low maintenance is an added bonus.
It sure does, Carol, especially in the kind of heat we’ve been having. It’s the indoor season for this Austin gardener. —Pam
I just so love this idea. It does look absolutely fantastic. I have the perfect spot for one of these at my place, so it’s gone on the seemingly endless ‘great ideas’ list. I also love your choice of succulents … fabulous colours and forms.
Thanks, Bernieh. There are so many great-looking succulents to choose from. It made me wish I had a bigger wall. —Pam
Looks great. i started some succulents this summer of discontent also. they are thriving. makes me want to look at more agaves!
Once you start with one agave, Greggo, you’ll want more. They are fabulous plants! —Pam
That really is a fantastic display Pam. Will you take them out for the winter? Last year I did take my more tender agaves out of the ground when the really bad cold spell happened. It saved their lives and they didn’t seem to mind being uprooted.
It depends on how lazy I am when the first freeze hits, Jenny. I’m counting on a handful of the plants in the wall to be hardy, so I might sit back and let this winter teach me how hardy they really are. —Pam
What a creative setting! I have to agree with you. I used to have a dislike for succulents…they weren’t floral enough, dramatic enough, lacked different textures, and so on. But now I have changed my mind completely. Their foliage can be quite colorful. I have some blue ones on my slope ( I also always hated blue foliage!) which are some of my favorites.
But the ease of maintenance is heaven. As with you, I have found they can suffer severe neglect and still be relatively happy. Happy plants, happy me.
Yes, indeed, Susan. I absolutely adore their Dr. Seussian forms and colors, and I’m particularly fond of blue foliage! —Pam
do you think they’ll also hold up well under cold weather?
Some will, but many won’t, Karen. The ones that aren’t hardy will have to be brought indoors whenever a freeze threatens, or replanted next year. —Pam
I do love that wall of yours!
Richard and I went to Plant Delights yesterday and talked to Tony about agave. He gave us some great pointers to grow them in the ground here and told us to start with the ovatiolia. We love that color, so when we get our garden bed (that area that I need to makeover above the red monarda) ready this fall, we’ll try agave next spring.
You are going to love Agave ovatifolia, Cameron. Agaves look excellent when planted with blowsy, flowery perennials, so they’re going to shine in your cottage garden. —Pam
I liked your how-to instruction some time back and seeing the completed project is fun. Love the architectural contrast–angles in the wall and spikes/curves in the plants. Striking.
Thanks so much, Kathleen. —Pam
It’s a neat looking planter and who doesn’t love a plant that is that easy and carefree. :)
I sure do, Racquel. Easy is especially good for summer. —Pam
Lovely and low maintenance-what a satisfying garden project.
Yes, it really was, Nicole. —Pam
Impressive! And what a great selection of succulents!
Thanks, AR. I found many of them at the Great Outdoors back in March. —Pam
They are splendid in their cinder block home~Love it.
Thanks, Gail. Aren’t they fun? —Pam
Looks great. Glad they were all thriving when you got back. Hope all that’s going well. Mine are dying because I’m over watering thinking they MUST be thirsty!!!
I bet it’s easy to overwater potted succulents when you’re out every day watering other thirstier plants. I know what you mean about thinking they MUST be thirsty—it’s been so hot and dry, after all. —Pam
Hi Pam,
As an added bonus, it would be a snap to take these out of the wall in winter and pot them up during severe freezes.
The roots are already in a nice rootball.
If someone wanted a completely different way to use a cinder wall, I wonder if one could plant them in different colors of sweet potato vine and they would all cascade down like a foliage waterfall? They’d love the heat from the blocks, but of course, would need more water and that might be impossible to maintain. I need something like this to hide my neighbor’s junky pick-up truck. :-)
David/ Tropical Texana
Your idea for a potato vine wall is really interesting, David. I’d like to see how that would turn out. Are you going to try it? —Pam
Wow, that *is* impressive. Not for the plants, but where those plants are in those temperatures! I agree with others, that you could take out the tenderer plants for winter, and replace in spring, before “it” shines down once more…
Yep, that would be fairly easy to do, David. As you say, the succulents need protection not just from freezing temps but from the Death Star in summer. —Pam
How great to see this wall again – I was JUST telling a client about it yesterday! She had a few cinderblocks lying around her side yard and said how much she hated them as they’re useless. Of course, I had to mention your wall idea to her, and then lo and behold here it is! I think I’ll forward this post to her for a little inspiration. Thanks, Pam!
What a funny coincidence, Rebecca. Aren’t these walls fun? I’m so glad I tried it out. I hope your client is inspired to make one too. —Pam
I love the wall! Living in Dallas, I know what you mean. I am thinking about replanting my terra cotta planters, now empty, with succulents because they will survive, no matter what, during the summer. I have a couple inside sitting in sunny windows.
Terracotta planters are hard to keep well-watered when you live in Texas, aren’t they? They dry out so quickly. Agaves and yuccas would be a good option too. —Pam
Pam, I have had requests for info on how you keep the soil from falling through the bottom of the blocks. http://www.facebook.com/FloridaFriendlyPlants?ref=ts
It’s all explained in my first post about the succulent wall, Rick. —Pam
I am awed by your creative use of the cinder blocks for a wall. I have used them inline before and inserted herbs, but never thought to stack them this way to have some sticking out laterally. I really like the effect.
Yael
Thanks, Yael. It was fun to experiment with the blocks as I was making the wall. —Pam
[...] The cinderblock wall planter idea just keeps getting bigger and better. At Big Red Sun‘s recently reopened boutique nursery in east Austin, I spotted this edible wall planted in artistically stacked concrete blocks—a riff, perhaps, on the succulent wall at Potted that inspired my own succulent wall? [...]