Succulents are usually associated with dry, open, and sunny locations. Or at least in arid gardens and gravel borders (or containers) sited in a sunny spot with good drainage of which xerophytes need in order to thrive well.Not so much in a woodland garden under the canopy of trees of which it will be under shade for most parts of the day.
But that's how I found some succulents growing in the beautiful woodland garden of Tregrehan.
The woodland garden of Tregrehan
Talking to the owner of Tregrehan, plantsman and modern plant hunter Tom Hudson a couple of years ago, this is a sort of experiment to see which xerophytes will do well in a woodland garden, where they will be under the canopy of large trees and only getting some sun during parts of the day.
Left - Dasylirion quadrangulatum, Right - three Agave montanas
Agave montana
The area where most of these xerophytes are in a semi clearing, under very tall tress where by its sheer size and height, allows some light onto their bases. So they are not totally in the dark. Also, the trees use up any excess moisture from the ground, which compensates for the drainage requirement not usually met by planting xerophytes directly unto soil. And during the winter, the canopy of the trees provide some shelter the plants underneath them.
Agave gentryi
Nolina nelsonii
Far left - Nolina parviflora, Middle - Agave gentryi, Far right - Agave montana
Tregrehan benefits from being in a mild location, where a lot of exotic plants can thrive while in most parts of the UK this is not possible without giving them extra protection during the winter. Despite the sheer size of the place, where he can easily allocate a certain area for a full on, large scale xerophytic planting, he feels it is not the right type of garden for one. The garden has a long standing reputation for being a woodland garden, full of mature and exotic trees and shrubs, of which he is keen on maintaining that way.
Aloe polyphylla
Puya chilensis
So no arid beds in this garden I'm afraid, not even in the future, unlike other Cornish valley gardens. But there is a room for a select few as long as they do well within the woodland area.It is more than just 'plant and see how it goes' though, as some of the one planted were originally collected from areas where they were growing under a forest canopy (like the Agave montana amongst others), so in theory they should be fine where they are sited now. A few are pure experiments of course, but you'll never know until you try it!
A larger clump of Puya chilensis, with one about to flower
So far so good. We've been to this garden several times and haven't noted any obvious casualties and some of the specimens have bulked up considerably since we first saw them a few years ago. As I've said, you'll never know until you try it and you'll definitely learn something from it.Is it applicable to a small garden though? Yes, very much so. If you have a sheltered area in the garden (a courtyard garden also springs to mind) that only gets some sun on parts of the day and is shady most of the time, some xerophytes might still do well in those areas and worth giving them a try. Like the ones at Tregrehan.
Mark :-)
