THE COASTAL GARDENER:Succulents: The camels of the plant world

I don’t remember my first succulent plant.

I’m sure it must have been a jade plant. Thirty years ago, jade plants and ice plants were about the sum total of our succulent possibilities. Much has changed since then.

Designing with succulent plants is now the hottest trend in gardening; not only in Southern California, but throughout much of the United States and Europe.

Just last month, garden guru Thomas Hobbs, visiting from Vancouver, proudly proclaimed to an audience of 400 local plant leaders, “We are being consumed by a succulent tsunami.”

Many succulents are living sculptures, tall or fat, but always architectural. Others appear more like art objects in a garden; either geometric or irregular in shape, as if exploding out of the garden. Some cover the ground, many have colorful leaves, a few resemble rocks and scores more offer flowers — during any month of the year.

In the most basic terms, succulents are simply plants that store water in their stems and leaves. Why are these plants suddenly so popular? For the last decade or so, gardeners have been refining a growing appreciation of plant shapes, forms and geometry. Professional landscapers have always known that there are three elements that create a pleasing landscape design: form, texture and color.

Less common in today’s gardens are colorful beds filled with hibiscus, daisies and star jasmine, fronted by masses of petunias, pansies or other flowers. Today’s gardener wants not only color in a garden, but form and texture, too, and succulents provide plenty. Desires to conserve water and have less maintenance have contributed to the surge in succulent popularity. A less conscious desire to use less fertilizer and to create fewer clippings and green waste may also translate to more succulents. They are certainly very California-friendly.

But I suspect it is succulents’ tough-as-nails adaptability that is most responsible for their popularity in gardens. These are some of the most accommodating of plants, persisting against unreasonable circumstances — on steep hillsides, in forgotten pots, tucked into crevices or flourishing in neglected corners. Succulents are “tough love” to tens of thousands of brown-thumb gardeners.

Even when neglected, underwatered, underfed and ignored, these camels of the plant world carry on. Unrequited love is love that is not reciprocated. Four hundred years ago, Don Quixote’s unrequited love for Dulcinea consumed him. To today’s errant gardener, it may be succulents that provide the same unrequited love.

It seems as if there is a succulent for every situation. They’re used on eco-friendly green roofs, as indoor specimen plants, as fire-resistant barriers around homes, as theft-deterrent plants and even as shapely and elegant topiaries. While it is true that many succulents come from desert-like climates, many others inhabit the cold, windy alpine mountains of Europe and the tropical jungles of South America. Almost any environment is suitable for growing some species of succulent, and Orange County’s is almost custom-made for a succulent garden.

My own collection of succulent-leaved plants is growing out of control. A new cutting came home with me in my cup holder today. Unusual aloes have been added with abandon. I now subscribe to an arcane publication, Euphorbia World. Mail-order shipments arrive with juicy new treasures, crassulas, delospermas and kalanchoes. I’m driving to Los Angeles for the Cactus and Succulent Society’s big sale.

I’ve been searching frantically for the rare, variegated version of the common foxtail agave. I must find one. If you have one, please tell me. Like Don Quixote, my heart aches — not for Dulcinea, but for agave attenuata variegate. Please put me out of my misery.

The succulent tsunami is upon us.

ASK RON

Question: I know you’re also a birdwatcher. II think I saw a beautiful bright orange oriole today in my garden. Did I? And how can I encourage more?

REBECCA, COSTA MESA

Answer: Yes, it probably was either a Bullock’s Oriole or a Hooded Oriole. Orioles usually arrive in Orange County during the spring and remain through mid-fall, but a few remain through the winter. Orioles are primarily fruit and nectar feeders. Planting fruiting trees or shrubs is a good way to get started and they especially like citrus. If you don’t have the space, try nectar-rich flowers. Unlike hummingbirds, orioles cannot hover, so they need plants that will support their weight while they drink.

You can also appeal to an oriole’s sweet tooth by hanging an oriole feeder in the garden. Make the syrup by boiling a half cup of white sugar in two cups of water until it dissolves. Be certain to change the liquid and clean the feeders every two to three days.

your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@ rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.