Expensive Succulent Design Mistakes to Avoid

[@QueenofSucculents]

Have a question on ANYTHING to do with succulents? Go to debraleebaldwin.com and browse the menu or use the Search bar. Btw, my site is not monetized---no annoying pop-up ads. It's my gift to my followers and the culmination of my career as a horticulturist/photojournalist specializing in succulents. You'll find 100+ pages of tips and ideas; thousands of photos and must-know facts for specific varieties; curated design ideas for gardens, landscapes and containers; interviews with experts; seasonal info; and much more. Use the site as a research tool that also is entertaining---the same goal as my KZbin channel. Q's welcome!

[@jeannemeadow7113]

Debra you are amazing!

[@QueenofSucculents]

Backatcha, dear Jeanne!

[@PeggysPlants]

I'm an agave fan and have learned the hard way about planting too close to walkways and not knowing how big a plant will grow. Beautiful garden, although I'm surprised to see a professional installation with such mistakes.

[@jeannemeadow7113]

I’ll take one if they want to have me dig one up! I took all of mine out except in pots where grand babies can’t touch them or fall into them.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Good point: If you just gotta have a dangerous plant, put it in a pot where it can't cause trouble. Thanks Jeanne!

[@johnbosko6190]

Very logical and convincing critique. You are a perfect cactus landscape designer.

[@cindygothberg63]

Very impressive knowledge of plants and some good reasoning on how to change the garden

[@QueenofSucculents]

Thanks, Herb. I don't like to be critical, so comments like yours are most welcome.

[@francisjo3]

Interesting critiques and observations - very informative! Thanks for your videos, always great!

[@rockstonegardens6739]

Most excellent video. Such great tips, everyone should watch this.💚🌵

[@Eram.Abbasi]

I enjoyed this video as it was giving a garden tour that was looking nice plus ur explanation was amazing. Plz continue with such videos where u explain the behavior and maintenance of cacti & succulents

[@00calimon]

It's such a common mistake to severely underestimate plant sizes, but particularly with Agave americanas (Century Plant), which also have darn near lethal thorns!

[@nmumpton]

Fantastic Debra! You are so right and practical! So many wonderful plants grow in CA and so much to pick from, the landscape architect needed to think about the factors you mention!

[@QueenofSucculents]

Thank you Nancy! If you liked this, you won't want to miss the new Dangerous Succulents page on my website: debraleebaldwin.com/dangerous-succulents/

[@nmumpton]

@@QueenofSucculents : Okay, great! I will check it out. Thanks.

[@susitorre-bueno9009]

You make excellent points about the physical hazards of plants with spiky edges and dangerous sap. Plus, I like how you point out the high maintenance requirements of the large agaves, which will not end and only get more difficult as the plants get larger. I see similar maintenance issues in the municipal plantings in the city of Vista, California, where plants are placed too close to the sidewalk and have to be trimmed several times a year.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Thank you Susi. I think we're all seeing this more and more, as agaves---especially century plants---get bigger and bigger.

[@Uneedmoremeds]

Wow such amazing succulents and cacti. I always love your informative and helpful videos👍☺️. Thanks for sharing.

[@Nhoj31neirbo47]

An impressive display of succulents. The basic design and hardscape are quite good. I have to agree with your criticisms. So many landscape architects and designers know OF plants but not enough ABOUT plants. For a heavily traveled public space like this installation, not knowing all the attributes of the plant material can have long term consequences. Agave americana should really only be planted in low maintenance large areas where one wants a semi-wild look. That way it can grow to full size and send pups hither and yon without becoming in any way a problem. ~ I have to admit that I’ve made a similar mistake regarding planting something that is not child friendly. I once recommended an underplanting of creeping Natal Plum in a public space, knowing that it met all the requirements of the site and that it would flourish there. Unfortunately, I forgot about it’s very nasty thorns! Well it’s still there. Luckily, with repeated hard pruning, the thorns tend to diminish in size. I hope not too many tikes have impaled themselves. ~ The sharpness, thorniness and toxic sap of many xeric and succulent plants definitely needs to be taken into account when choosing what to plant where!

[@gugushabangu4097]

This is a great insight on how to do water wise garden. I'm very interested in this garden because I live in a sub-tropical area with loads of drainage and I harvested a few smaller kinds of agave pups. As much as I'm in love with large agaves I think you kicked me into reality that in about 5 years from now, I will be dreading this plant.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Yes, those pups can turn into really big dogs...with teeth!

[@sajordan3428]

Good insight Ms Baldwin. I’m an agave lover,mI have over twenty five species. The large ones near sidewalks, I trim the sharp spines on the end of the leaves. Also, I don’t think we mix flowering plants enough with succulents. Lantana rows would have been beautiful with those large Americanus Agaves. Maybe purple one row and yellow another, repeating along with the agave rows.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Great suggestion! Perhaps not in this setting though---might be too fluffy for the strong, clean lines of the garden and architecture. I do think lantana is an underutilized companion plant. It's wonderfully colorful and tough, and it climbs as well as spreads.

[@thedesertplantdiary2382]

The Puya Venusta and Cleistocactus Strausii compliment each other beautifully. The Beaucarnea R. installation looks superb. Almost prehistoric like! You have the world's best Job Debra! From the garden city of India to you, have a fantastic day. Cheers!

[@mh23h]

This is a perfect landscape!

[@ms.salcido9212]

Love your information on these particualr plants

[@jeannemeadow7113]

You called it 100%!!!!

[@valeria-militiamessalina5672]

I loved the literary references.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Purr. I love your comment! Thanks, Dan.

[@jennyhill9534]

Totally agree with your assesment, especially with respect to those agaves. I've learned not to put any in the ground. Many agaves are gorgeous, but they're a maintenance nightmare. Pups everywhere, sharp razored leaves. Ugh. Some of the large plants they put in were the rare (i.e. expensive) versions according to a horticulturist friend of mine. I can't remember which. He should have put the cheap ones in and gotten more low maintenance plants rather than the cheap nightmare agaves.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Hi Jenny, Yes, that's certainly true of Agave americana. One needs the right place for it. It's the aggressive shark of the plant world. But there ARE beautiful agaves that don't pup and behave in residential gardens. See my video "Six Great Agaves for Your Garden" which I made with hybridizer/agave expert Kelly Griffin. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oX_cXmuKnJKmiZY

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

@@QueenofSucculents You are just a wealth of knowledge Debra. It's fascinating to enjoy your videos even when I don't have a garden to plant succulents right now haha.

[@QueenofSucculents]

@@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep What a lovely comment! Makes it all worthwhile. Thank you!

[@michaelbernier3563]

I agree 100% with everything you said here! 👍🏼👏🏼🙌🏼

[@QueenofSucculents]

Yay! Thanks, Michael.

[@ThinkOutsideDesign]

@@QueenofSucculents As a professional landscape designer, I am always shaking my head at these ubiquitous planting errors!

[@QueenofSucculents]

You should add your info to the Referrals page of my site debraleebaldwin.com/caring-for-succulents/succulent-garden-maintenance-referrals/

[@saschacat]

Totally agree with your critcisms

[@imadloco8495]

Great video🌵🙋

[@Truth-4-Humanity]

Landscape Architect here, and I agree with everything you said. Just curious, which Agaves are more sensible and why? Thanks! Love your videos!

[@QueenofSucculents]

I'm delighted you asked and relieved you agree with me! Agave expert and breeder Kelly Griffin of Altman Plants and I made a video you should see: Six Great Agaves for Your Garden kzbin.info/www/bejne/oX_cXmuKnJKmiZY. I'm thinking Agave guiengola or Agave ovatifolia would have been great alternatives. They're large and architectural but don't pup like crazy. (Also see my video with Kelly on A. guiengola kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4K2lop_h8h1p5o.) I just wish these two species were available in greater quantity. That might explain why the Civic Center went with century plants, although dasylirions would have worked too---they're readily available but not commonly used, and repeating them would definitely have been a WOW.

[@Truth-4-Humanity]

Great recommendations! Thank you! I really enjoyed your agave videos with Kelly!

[@geeeter]

Great video! If you are paying cash for plants, skip Agave americana. Just a pain in the rear to maintain. The other criticisms I can see as well. My counterargument is that sometimes we deliberately want gardens to not be kid friendly because we don't want anyone running around and trampling the plants. Kids know from a young age that a cactus will hurt you and euphoria look nearly identical to cactus. I've yet to hear of a liability case against a drought tolerant landscape that uses potentially harmful plants. You could always argue that any plant can be lethal. Say a kid climbs that Ponytail Palm and then breaks an ankle? Eventually, we have to say that common sense provides us with enough guidance to not mess with spiky desert plants.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Yes, rose gardens are another example. Parents warn kids, who sometimes have to learn the hard way. But Euphorbia resinifera is in a whole different category. The species name is a hint: the milky, resinous sap contains resiniferatoxin. It's similar to capsaicin in hot peppers but a thousand times hotter. On the Scoville Scale, resiniferatoxin ranks at 16 billion units, 4.5 million times hotter than a jalapeno. So if the sap should get into an open wound, the pain would be like a blow torch. Of course that's only possible when Euphorbia resinifera grows where someone could fall on it, break its stems, and get scratched by its thorns. Like at the curve of a sloping pathway in a public park frequented by nannies with kids on wheels.

[@joannesferrati3076]

Agree your criticism is instructive but GT Wharton made a good point. You can't dictate for every conceivable hazard out there. Never know what a designer's intentions are many times or his restraints and solutions turn out to be.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Hi Joanne -- Yes of course. But doubtless both you and GT would agree there's a difference between a mildly dangerous plant (like a cactus) and an extremely dangerous plant (like Euphorbia resinifera). Hopefully the designer will see this and enlighten us about his intentions, restraints and solutions.

[@janetac1738]

And that's why they pay you the big bucks!!! Any normal lay person would walk through that and not see anything wrong, I personally wouldn't have noticed those things that you pointed out. And I think everything that you pointed out was absolutely correct! Not that I'm promoting stealing succulents but I would probably be there everyday taking a little piece here and a little piece there LOL 😃

[@QueenofSucculents]

LOL! Thanks, Janet!

[@erins.5420]

Have you ever seen agave Victoria reganalis (Queen Victoria I’m more confident naming) cluster? Into many multiple pups? My neighbor has a stunning specimen and wow there a whole cluster of them all the same size!

[@QueenofSucculents]

Yes, I have seen it pup from the base and become surrounded by offsets. Other specimens are solitary, so maybe a different species?

[@RVBadlands2015]

Maybe adults need to control there children.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Read my online article about it at debraleebaldwin.com/debra-lee-baldwin-news/critique-newport-beachs-grand-succulent-garden/

[@helenkotowske3829]

My husband touched the sap on our Pencil Cactus. Then he rubbed his eyes. Stinging!!! It was the day he was dropping me off at my Horticulture class. He went to the college health clinic and the irrigated his eyes.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Hi Helen -- Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope he's OK! Btw, I do have a video just on pruning pencil cactus (Euphorbia kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoDcnHSulteYqMk 'Sticks on Fire')

[@jeecee3948]

Yeah I dunno. Any one of these plants could hurt a lot. Maybe the parents should keep an eye on their kids instead.

[@karenmatson9369]

Are you kidding me. Children need to be supervised.

[@tennysontableau]

My institution can't afford a specialist for our new landscaped project, so I am trying to research, but I figure it's better to just look for safe, easy, low-maintenance plants. Any good website suggestions for easy, So Cal Native Plants? We're thinking Salvias and succulents.

[@QueenofSucculents]

Hi Tennyson -- All plants need some tending, but if you want easy, go with succulents. Start with my Landscape Succulents playlist, kzbin.info/aero/PLfBjDimnqpMrKQ1oaIfoah6jHLBruKhai

[@ledeniroliveiraplantaseart3302]

Lindíssimos Impressionante Ameiiii as Euphorbias

[@wylde39]

I just want to walk everywhere with this woman and just listen to all the shade she throws... she's not wrong

[@QueenofSucculents]

Shade??

[@TheHouseofChameleons]

Thanks for the tip. This will keep kids away.

[@mh23h]

Those are cactus so...

[@RVBadlands2015]

This is a cactus garden not a flower garden!