You need trees
in your garden
You need to plant
under the trees
Nonsucculent trees
like palo verde form
broad, airy crowns
that shelter heat-
and cold-sensitive
succulents growing
beneath them.
Palo verde needs no
irrigation once established
however, like many
dry-climate trees, it will
grow rapidly if watered
which can lead to shallow
roots, limbs that break
easily, and toppling in
windstorms.
It's full of
yellow flowers, beautiful
green bark, hence the
name "palo verde."
Acacias produce masses
of fluffy, ball-shaped
yellow flowers in midwinter
and range from low-growing
shrubs to tall, spreading
trees.
Acacia baileyana
has fine, ferny, gray-green
foliage, and the cultivar
'Purpurea' has purple
new growth.
Acacia stenophylla
or shoestring acacia has
stringy leaves and mahogany-
colored bark.
Don't plant
acacias near pools or other
areas where leaf debris
could be a problem.
These have been in the
ground for about six
months, they were
installed in the spring
and as the weather has
warmed, they have too
and not to their benefit.
This acacia shades three
of the echeverias.
The one closest to the
tree, which gets dappled
shade, has a perfectly
formed rosette, and then
the farthest away from the
tree, the echeverias are
really suffering.
Some
sun scorch on the leaves,
and the leaves feel limp
and rubbery.
They all got
the same amount of water.
It's all about sun exposure.
Bismarckia nobilis, or
Bismarck palm from
Madagascar---as are many
succulents---echo the
silvery gray of cotyledons,
agaves and more.
Over
time, a Bismarck palm
will get enormous.
Fronds
can attain 10 feet in width.
At upper right is Bismarckia
nobilis.
Brahea armata, at
upper left, both repeat the
blue-gray of agaves in
Kelly Griffin's garden.
Brahea armata or Mexican
blue fan palm, handles heat
poor soil and temperatures
well below freezing.
Even
immature ones are worth
having for their ornamental
value.
Although at first glance,
citrus trees appear nothing
more than green mounds,
their ornamental benefits
are significant.
Lemons and
grapefruit echo the yellow
of variegated agaves,
daylilies, sundrops and more.
In midwinter, orange fruit
repeats the color of aloe
blooms, and in spring,
California poppies.
Mature
citrus can survive months
without water, but regular
irrigation enhances crop
production, as do seasonal
applications of high-nitrogen
fertilizer.
Cordyline are evergreen shrubs
or trees, and the size varies
by species.
Small cordylines
lend interest to container
gardens, and large ones
stand out in the landscape.
Flexible, sword-shaped
leaves that radiate from
a central point create a
silhouette similar to
yuccas, to which cordylines
are distantly related.
Plants resemble phormiums
but are trunk-forming.
Most are hardy to the
mid-20s Fahrenheit, with
Cordyline australis easily
surviving temperatures
into the teens.
Tall, upright, slender stems
of Leucadendron, members
of the Protea family, are
useful in fresh and dried
floral arrangements.
So not surprisingly, the
shrubs transform gardens
into bouquets.
Size varies.
Choose named hybrids
for best performance
and color.
Widely
grown 'Safari Sunset'
has vivid red bracts,
is cold-hardy to 20
degrees Fahrenheit,
and tolerates poor soils.
As with most Australian
natives, avoid applying
fertilizer containing
phosphorus.
Mallow is an evergreen shrub
that grows 6 to 8 feet tall,
and about 4 feet wide.
Mallows have an open,
airy branching structure
and flowers that resemble
single hollyhocks.
Petals
are satiny purple-pink and
heart-shaped.
Melaleuca, or paperbark tree,
is an evergreen tree to 12
feet or more.
Leaves are
leathery and small; flowers
generally cream-colored
and resemble those of
bottlebrush, which also is
from Australia.
Most
varieties of melaleuca
have weeping branches
and corky bark that peels
off in sheets.
Some people
consider them too messy
for succulent gardens,
but I like the texture
contrast they provide.
Olive trees have been
cultivated for centuries
for their fruit, silvery-green
foliage, and gnarled limbs.
Well-irrigated young trees
can grow 5 to 6 feet a
year.
Mature ones need only
rainfall except in desert
areas.
Prune to show
branching structure.
Unless
you really want olives, a
fruitless variety is advisable.
Despite its name, California
pepper is native to Peru,
but it grows literally like
a weed in California and
the Southwest.
Pepper trees
are best planted in areas
of the garden where nothing
else will grow.
Roots are
invasive and leaf litter
copious, but they do make
lovely perimeter trees
in a large garden.
I told
my husband when we
were at a nursery that I
wanted a female pepper
tree.
He replied, "How
can you tell?
Lift the pot
and look at its bottom?"
I said, "No, silly.
Female
trees produce clusters
of red seed pods."
Plants of all kinds just
thrive in oak leaf mulch,
so if you have an oak
tree, it's a tremendous
blessing.
It'll provide
shade for your plants
in the summertime, and
frost protection in the
winter.
Oaks have shallow
feeder roots that damage
easily, so don't pave the
ground beneath the
canopy, or change the grade.
You'll find numerous other
waterwise companion plants
for succulents in my book,
Designing with Succulents.