I started having visions back in December of a desert rockery on the Southwest
corner of the yard. I've come to realize this small corner has an
amazingly desert-like microclimate: it's in full sun most of the day, it's right next
to the road which soaks up heat during the day, and it gets some frost & rain
protection underneath the canopy of a tall deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara).
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jCmpctFcyTM/UXipt-HVgfI/AAAAAAAAEWA/9HekmVVDIAo/s640/IMG_0225.JPG) |
December 28th, 2012 |
There was a Japanese maple, an umbrella pine, a barberry, a small hardy banana cutting, and a fairly ugly patch of candy tuft that all had to be transplanted somewhere else (by the way, the picture below was taken on Dec. 28th, 2012 - pretty amazing the banana leaves were still in tact that late into the season).
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7YXSRsR5FVY/UXipv1L6xeI/AAAAAAAAEWQ/Wjxs90ZMVrE/s640/IMG_0226+2.JPG) |
December 28th, 2012 |
There was only one thing left to do to make this the best possible spot
for growing opuntias, agaves, aloes, dyckias, and other heat-loving
plants outdoors....Add lots and lots of sand...
Six 100-pound bags to be exact. This sand was so pristine and
white, I almost felt guilty burying it all. I hand-mixed it with garden
soil to create a "dirty sand" mix of about 60% sand and 40% soil. This pindo palm (
Butia capitata) that has been growing in a pot for the past few years finally has a permanent home.
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-If7TxtvrAB4/UXipwMNJtbI/AAAAAAAAEWU/qXq4lXLj-X8/s640/IMG_0900.JPG) |
March 3rd |
I started taking cuttings of some plants growing in other places. The plant with the silvery-green leaves is
Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear'. Of course I had to borrow (permanently) some big rocks from other places in the garden to make a sort of skeleton to keep all that well-draining sand in place. It's hard to tell in the picture, but this hill is about 3' tall, with pretty steep slopes.
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O34miMLaJ-U/UXipwRmPvvI/AAAAAAAAEWc/glcEf3vuMCw/s640/IMG_0901.JPG) |
March 3rd |
The little plant in the lower left corner in the picture above is
Opuntia humifusa. I saw this growing as a groundcover outside the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. I wasn't about to let Chicago grow a cactus outside that I didn't have in my garden. Luckily
Far Reaches Farm came to the rescue and had the plant in stock.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3l-q1GBlALk/UXipxhY8jkI/AAAAAAAAEWo/Y4Z-6YLDUSE/s640/IMG_1047.jpg) |
March 16th |
I used pea gravel as a mulch.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mtCDvdUZg6Q/UXipynCY_TI/AAAAAAAAEWw/jCatATvsIvM/s640/IMG_1068.JPG) |
March 23rd |
It will help keep the sand from blowing away and hopefully keep dogs and cats and kids from digging in it (it's basically a giant sandbox after all).
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C4Cvp69dgfg/UXipytBE1-I/AAAAAAAAEW0/yEgEdxBmYZQ/s640/IMG_1118.JPG) |
March 31st |
Here are a couple before & after shots (Dec. 2012 Vs. April 2013):
What started back in January as Project #1 for the year is now 99% complete...which is about as complete as it's going to get!