A succulent wall just out the kitchen window - succulent garden

Sunset, July, 1991

Imagine just 5 feet between the kitchen window and an 8-foot-tall wooden fence. Rather than accept the lack of view, landscape architect Jana Ruzicka of Laguna Beach, California, created a lush, vertical succulent garden.

To cover the 12-foot-long sturdy fence, Ruzicka designed a grid of four vertical 4by-4s spaced 3 feet apart and five horizontal 2-by-4s spaced 15 inches apart.

For stability, the 4-by-4s should be sunk 2 feet into concrete-filled holes.) For watering the plants, 1/2-inch PVC pipe (fastened by pipe straps to the edge of the outside 4-by-4) extends from the main irrigation line. Two rows of laser drip line run along the underside of the top two 2by-4s, attached to multi-outlet emitters on the PVC pipe. Water percolates down to the rest of the plantings.

Over the wood grid is welded wire cloth with a 2- by 4-inch grid. Galvanized roofing staples hold the wire. To plant (between the wire and the fence), line the wire with wet sphagnum moss; fill behind it with a moistened light soil mix. Plant 6to 8-inch sections at a time.

Rooted succulents, bought in flats, cover the wall. Ruzicka chose types with sturdy, straight stems-aeoniums, echeverias, and sempervivums predominate. To plant, she poked holes through the moss and into the soil, inserting no more than one succulent per wire grid opening. Arranging plants by color and form creates a subtle plaid pattern.

To conceal outer edges of the wood framework, Ruzicka added Spanish moss, lacing it to the supports with nylon fishing line between nails tacked into the wood.