A succulent outdoor garden isn’t just for hot climates! See what you can do in four season climates with succulents on the ground (Outdoor succulent garden with cold hardy succulents).
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While there are many beautiful succulent gardens in sunny Southern California, it is more difficult to find succulent gardens outdoors in four-season climates, such as Utah.
But…
You can have a beautiful AND cold hardy succulent garden!
There are two main varieties of succulents that can tolerate freezing temperatures, Sempervivums (commonly called hens and chicks) and Stonecrop Sedums. Most will tolerate temperatures down to -20 degrees Fahrenheit.
I have been working on a variety of arrangements using strictly cold hardy succulents so that I can have a beautiful outdoor succulent garden all year long, even when there is snow on the ground.
Throughout this post, you will find Mountain Crest Gardens affiliate links to the various succulents I used for these projects.
While many of the succulents were provided to me at no cost, I absolutely love the Mountain Crest succulents and would recommend them to anyone! You won’t find a better selection of cold hardy succulents anywhere.
Let’s take a tour of my succulent outdoor arrangements together, shall we?
You’ll see a lot of different succulent collections and products in the videos below, but I wanted to make it easy to see all of them at once, so here is a list of the products I used to create these succulent landscapes:
The courtyard garden
On the patio I used 2 from Mountain Crest’s Hardy 9 Sampler collection and 2 from the Sempervivum heuffelii 9 collection.
The plants are the same on each side, a sturdy collection and a Heuffelii collection (total of 18 per side), but they are arranged differently so they don’t look completely identical.
We also add some annuals for a little extra color during the summer months.
The rock garden and bird bath
The rock garden as you enter the backyard was created with 3 from the Rock Garden Hardy Succulent 9 collections and 1 from the Sempervivum Hens and Chicks 5 collection.
I love how full it has been since the first planting, and it’s only been a month! My sweet neighbor Emma had the great idea to use a variety of toppings to create the paths.
My mother added the toad house (which we bought from this Etsy seller) and placed it on some bark scraps to make it a little taller.
Emma planted a collection of Hardy 9 samples in the birdbath. He broke some of the plants and placed them on opposite sides of the birdbath. I love the way it turned out!
This is the third time we’ve planted the bird bath (you can see the first here and the second here). This year we added this self-watering balloon and that has made a huge difference in plant survival.
Hope the self-watering balloon keeps things looking good even in the heat of summer. We planted them in early May and it’s been relatively cool so I hope!
The plants under the bird bath and in the wire basket were planted in 2014 and have really taken off. I took out some of the Sedums under the bird bath and planted them in a variety of places. You can’t even say they have been removed!
We added the path between the two main patches because there was a section that did not survive. I had a great helper who put that part (see the end of the post).
The succulent chair and the fairy garden
My favorite project of the year so far is the succulent chair. I’ll have a full tutorial of the project very soon, but it was so easy and it looks amazing.
Everyone who has seen it wants to take it home 🙂
I used all the “leftover” succulents so some don’t look very good, but the overall effect is impressive.
A fun option for planting something like this yourself would be Mountain Crest Garden’s 1-pound bag of Rootless Sempervivums. It has great value and it’s like Christmas because you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get, but you know it will be amazing.
The fairy garden in the back has been a fun project too, and has been in the works for a few years. There are Sempervivums and Sedums around the stump that have been there for 3 years.
This area is not watered frequently so I have been thrilled at how much it has grown despite the neglect.
On the right side, near the rocks, I planted a bunch of Sempervivum “scraps”. Again, these are succulents that were in other pots that didn’t fare well, or some that I’ve just forgotten to plant in the last few months.
This area on the right gets a bit more water, so it should fill up pretty well. You will also receive some manure tea fertilizer once a month to give it a little boost.
My mom bought the fairy house (the one on the stump) on Amazon and you can get the same one by clicking here.
The adorable ceramic mushrooms are from an Etsy seller, RooPottery. They were kind enough to send me these three for free so I could try them out and share them with you.
I sincerely love you! They are very well done and the colors are so fun! I am a bit addicted to pottery and ceramics so they were a very welcome addition to the fairy garden. I love the pop of color they add.
The shady succulent garden
While this part of the garden is not my favorite to show off, I still wanted to include it here to show how well Sempervivums and Sedums can perform in a variety of settings.
They should definitely get more sun, but most people won’t notice it and they’re still prolific despite less-than-ideal circumstances, so we’ll let them be.
The arrangements in pots
The pots in this video are some of my favorite arrangements. While the plan was to keep them here (at my parents), my grandmother saw them while she was visiting and they went home with her to Idaho Falls.
Excited to see how they do there!
My helpers
Getting all these gardens planted wasn’t the job of a single girl. I had a lot of help, some more useful than others …
My kids love to play on the dirt and move rocks. They are 1 and 3 and they are very curious and interested in working together with me.
(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0FidNQyU4 (/ embed)
As I mentioned in the videos, my wonderful neighbor, Emma, helped with most of the planting. He had so many great suggestions for planting! It was fun having your help.
I think you will find that lush outdoor gardens can be impressive anywhere in the world! You just have to find the plants that work for you.
These cold hardy varieties are fast becoming my favorites, especially since it means I can have my own succulent garden outdoors, even in the snow!
Take a look at this garden post a few months later to see how well it has grown!
But what if you have moved into a home that already has succulent arrangements planted?
While you don’t have fun choosing succulents to plant yourself, the hard work of planting is already done for you!
First, you will want to identify the succulents that are planted. This will ensure that you are giving each plant the correct care.
If you’re having trouble identifying your plants even after reading the post, buy a succulent identification service and I’ll be happy to help. You can also join my Facebook Group, where thousands of succulent addicts are on hand to identify and help you care for your succulents.
Once you have identified your succulents, you will be able to learn about their individual watering needs. My book, Idiot & # 39; s Guide: Succulents is another great resource full of valuable information on succulents, including their watering and lighting needs.
source: succulentsandsunshine.com
