Ace Collector s Amazing Succulent Garden

#gardenideas #gardendesign #succulent
You're about to visit the large garden and multi-room greenhouse of plant collector Wanda Mallen and husband Gary Vincent. Wanda shares expert tips, takes us through their two acres, and shows us what she's currently ""addicted to.""

""There was nothing here 25 years ago when we started,"" Wanda says. A big priority was trees for dappled shade, so Gary obligingly jackhammered planting holes in decomposed granite. ""The good thing is DG drains well,"" Wanda says.

In an extensive multi-room lattice greenhouse built by Gary are dozens of species and cultivars of Sansevieria, Haworthia and Gasteria, plus aloes and euphorbias. Tropicals include bromeliads, ferns, and epiphytic succulents from Asia and South America. Indoors and out are marvelous crested, monstrose, caudiciform and/or variegated succulents; and odd paddle, spherical, and columnar cacti.

Walls are orange, blue and bright yellow, like the Talavera pottery she collects. Adding whimsy are metal garden sculptures small and large, and (my faves) Gary's clever, creative birdhouses.