Operation: Wall O' Succulence

7//24/14

This week I started planting the wall. Up until today (Thursday) the weather has been great! Sunny and delicious. Adam and I figured on these days I might as well start planting the wall instead of working on propagation; just in case by the time I finish propagation it won’t be too late or rainy. But now it is rainy and gray and days like this are perfect for working in the greenhouse. The bright side to the rain is I don’t have to worry about the succulents needing water.

For this post, I figured I would just show you what I’m doing and the concept behind everything. We are only starting with three species of Crassulas for this first round:

Crassula hannii

Crassula setulosa var diminulata

Crassula ‘Bright Red in Sun’

The last one doesn’t have a specific epithet that I know of. The only information I have on it is from the label Adam provided. Apparently that species turns bright red in the sun.

Personally, I like to have a point of origin for my work. For this project, it is the bottom corner of the arboretum. Unfortunately, I don’t have many species to work with, so I won’t be able to complete this area and move on from there. Instead, I started in that area and begin seeking out other random spots on the wall to just…throw stuff in. I looked for spots that featured a suitable location/environment for the plant and would aesthetically look nice for that species. When it comes to design and how I want to plant, it’s all about a natural, swoft-like appearance. Natural in how they would grow amongst the rocks and where, and swoft-like to make the plants blend in a soft, curving motion. Or at least that’s how I like to imagine it. Natural and curvy. Now let’s get to planting!

1. Find a wall.

2. Choose a plant. For this side of the wall I have chosen to supplement it with C. hannii. 

3. Pull the plugs out. I like to take out 10-20 plugs before I start planting.

Here is Adam testing out our “flip” method of releasing the plugs from the flats. These flats are clearly overgrown and have a lot of thin, tangled stems. It is incredibly easy to break and rip the stems apart so we were testing different methods of removal to reduce our risk of damaging plants. In the end, I still had a lot of stems separated from their roots. For these situations, I would bundle them up and continue to plant them with a plug. Because these succulents root so easily, I’m hoping the soil-stem contact will trigger some quick rooting action. 

4. Find a spot to plug in the plant. 

5. Using a dibble, make your hole. 

A dibble is anything that can make a hole. Below is a picture of Megan showing off our state-of-the-art dibble. Yes, I do go around and say “Pew Pew” while aiming it at my friends. 

6. Place the plug into the hole. 

7. Gently pack in the plant and soil around the hole.

8.  Admire Julio, the worm, and his other compadres who insist on poking out of the soil wherever I work.

That’s pretty much it. Here’s my final product!

To get the wall to quickly fill in, use more plants at closer intervals. Adding the additional material may provide us with more little plantlets. With that said, at the end of each tray I would also take the fallen succulent leaves and scatter them on the wall, especially in narrow crevices. I have seen succulents root without soil contact and in the worst conditions, hopefully these can do the same.

Below are some more pictures of planted areas.  

And more to come later...