My desert

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:29 am

I built this as a part of relandscaping and began planting almost 3 years ago. I put landscape fabric down over heavy loam with a slight slope for drainage.

This is my opuntia basilarus.

and my Opuntia basilarus v. basilarus which is supposed to have pads up to 9" across on maturity. It hasn't flowered yet and I have only had it one year.

and my Opuntia polycanthus. It has yellow flowers similar to basilarus. I thought that it was dead but it came back.

I have painted both roundup and wipeout onto that F**** dandelion and nothing will kill it.

My cherished red Hen and Chicks. It has to have the heat of full sun but the red color washes out if it is not in the shade. It just might bloom this year. I gave up trying to over winter the blue variety. I was told that both were Zone 6

My 2 Yuccas that I got this spring.

It is hard to believe that my wife weeded the desert the day before yesterday.

Allen

Post by **Jay-Admin** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:44 am

Looking good Allen.

I had some red hens and chicks at my old house. They looked really nice when they flowered.

Okanagan desert-palms · Post by **Okanagan desert-palms** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:35 pm

Looking good there Allen. The recent heat you are having probably makes those cactus smile.

John

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 4:40 pm

Here are my September cacti and yucca pics.

this was before the Opuntia basilarias v. basalarias was vandalized. Here is a pic of the flower.

the opuntia polycanthus.

We killed the dandelions that grew up in the Opuntia fragilis and ended up with several cacti that are a shadow of the original's size.

Yucca filamentosa golden sword

Yucca flacida. The only difference seems to be the Y. flacida is smaller at maturity

Allen

Wes North Van · Post by **Wes North Van** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:44 pm

I see your yuccas and cacti are planted in rock but is there any soil at all?
How deep is the rock?

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:50 am

I started with a heavy soil with a lot of clay in it and made sure that it would all drain well. Then I laid down landscape fabric and covered it with 2" more or less of washed rock. To plant cacti etc. I slice open the landscape fabric and insert the plant into the soil before before laying the fabric back down around the plant and pushing gravel back in place. The gravel layer is decorative.

It has worked for me despite intense heat early this summer and record rainfall in September.

But North Van is way wetter than here. Your soil would also be pretty acidic. A friend of mine in Whitecourt had really acid soil (muskeg based) and tried crushed concrete added to his soil for grit, lime and drainage. Old sidewalk blocks work best as the rocks are smaller and you can crush it finer and easier. Sometimes you can get lucky and find 30 year old sidewalk blocks that have begun to disintegrate. The older, cheaper sections of your city should have a good supply. The advantage of this method is that the lime slowly leaches out of the crushed concrete and keeps the soil neutralized for decades. Another altenative would be to add pea gravel or 3/8" crushed gravel to the soil for grit and drainage plus agricultural lime to neutralize the soil. The soil does not have to be poor quality. I've found that fertile well drained soil and sun result in bigger healthier plants.

Hope that this helps.

Allen

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:55 am

The soil depth is between 4" and 6". When we had to dig out my O. fragilis to kill the dandelion I was suprised how deep the roots went.

Allen

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:44 pm

Nice looking desert area

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:15 pm

Still no completly

Josef

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:10 pm

It is fantastic Josef.

While I have little chance of growing most of the Agaves and yuccas that you have, I still look forward to having a couple of decent sized Agaves and trunking yuccas over the next 5-10 years.

Allen

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:37 am

Looks like Josef has everything you are wanting to try Allen except maybe the Yucca Riggda next to the very nice Y. Faxon.

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:09 am

Hi Aaron
Next to the Y.Faxon is nice doublehead thompsoniana.

Josef

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:32 am

I never seen one that looked so much like riggda before, what is the one on the far left? Sorry for the confusetion

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:58 am

Hi Aaron
From right Faxy,2head Thompson,Rostrata,2head Elata,little 3head Thompson
Josef

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:02 pm

For yuccas, I would be pushing it to try anything beyond Zone 5 as I have no plans to 'house' them.

Any trunking yuccas that are not zone 5 hardy would get too tall to protect with mulch and snow after a few years.

I will have to be satisfied with Y. rostrata, baccata, harrimoniae, flaccida and filamentosa. That still gives me some selection.

Allen

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 4:47 pm

Allen, everybody except me seems to be able to open your pics...I just get blanks!

Josef...you have beautiful beautiful plants and a very good eye for design/placement.
Congratulations on a stunning vignette.
Barb

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:58 pm

The first cacti pics have disappeared from the image host. The others are still there. Can you see the first pic of the first post?

Allen

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:23 pm

Allen, just tried it again. Links 2, 3, and 4 are totally blank...nada.

Link 1, nice landscaping job, the curve is very attractively done.
Link 5, hens n chicks (close your eyes and they'll overtake your place, ha ha).
Link 6 + 7, yuccas in gravel. Nice start. They'll do well there in full sun.

The dead links looked like they were prompting to POST/UPLOAD an image, rather than displaying an image.
Barb

nlafrance3 · Post by **nlafrance3** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:04 am

Allen,

Have you read about yucca thompsoniana? Apparently its almost identical to rostrata but hardier. The faxoniana and Elata have performed very well at a zone 5 also. I think yucca's are way hardier with age, once they have a good trunk forming they will be much better off then when they are on the ground where they can rot much easier.

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 8:18 am

Thanks Nate.

I'll do some reading about them while I wait to hear from 'Kelowna Barry'. I expect a call or email any day now as he said that his truck will be picking the palms etc. up in mid April.

I am not sure whether I will put more effort into yuccas this year. I may just concentrate more on palms and watch your experiment in zone denial.

I should have a trailer by the time that I go down to Kelowna. I may be able to haul back more than I expected if the weather cooperates.

Allen

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:30 am

Hi
Few new pics

Josef
Czech

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:22 am

Allen leave some room in that trailer to take home Okanagan Springs 1516 beer from their Vernon brewery!

Josef, unbelievably beautiful! I hope the City of Prague has considered your landscaping for a beautification award...man, what you've done to my perception of "eastern" inland europe (my birthplace).

<---icon for utter amazement.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 8:27 pm

Just a guess on your agaves Josef , maybe A. havardiana, A. neomexicana, A. parryi, and A. utahensis?

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:43 am

Hi Aaron
Right !!!!
Josef

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:32 pm

Hi.
My desert is complete

Josef

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:41 pm

Josef, as always stunning.

There's new growth on all of them, so I'm guessing you're in Zone 6 ???

In the North Okanagan of BC, we're having one of the coldest springs in recent memory.
A bit of growth showing on the yucca, fruit trees in bloom, but COLD...

Congratulations on your desert.
Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:21 pm

That is WOW

Your yard is so nice and clean

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Sat May 05, 2007 1:10 am

Hi
Hesperaloe parviflora beginning bloom

Josef

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat May 05, 2007 10:47 am

Beautiful.
I had never seen a red yucca before so I googled the latin name.
Stunning desert plant.
Looks better than the filamentosa I have.

Congrats AGAIN, Josef!
Barb

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Allen

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