Designing with SucculentsHow to incorporate succulents and cacti into your garden design
There are n’t many lieu where you could stop in for a cup of coffee and leave with a succulent plant life . In fact , the charming little Succulent Café in Oceanside , California , may be one of a form . Its court is a succulent fantasy land , featuring a delightful raiment of plants everywhere you look , all grow in unique containers , from old lawn tennis brake shoe to hanging lanterns .
The possessor of the café , Peter Loyola , enjoy make vertical succulent arrangements like this one which fuse multiple lush variety and pieces of driftwood within a wooden frame . picture by : Kole Montross .
Owner Peter Loyola learn a passion for succulent about 10 year ago , when he embarked on a project to transform his backyard into a drought - tolerant landscape . “ I choose succulent over cactus because I did not want my untested boys to get poke while they played in the yard , ” he says . “ Plus , succulents render me a wide range of people of color , textures , size and shape to opt from , from miniature mintage to giant , from harmonious to rosette - shaped , leaves , to angry foreign - similar forms . My choice were endless . ”
Several hundred arrangements are on display , many of which can be purchase . Succulent Café owner Peter Loyola enjoy decorating the paries with vertical succulent arrangements , often frame up them like works of artistry . Photo by : Kole Montross .
What started as a hobby soon became a business . Loyola started selling succulent arrangement at his sis ’s bakehouse during Valentine ’s Day and Mother ’s Day and they would quickly sell out . “ My client would say that my arranging were a work of art and I should have them usable year - round . Those kind Word of God and constant feedback lead me to what is now Succulent Café , ” he says .
Today , his café has several hundred succulent plants in line of descent , include many unusual varieties . Some of Loyola ’s favorites include hens and skirt ( Sempervivums ) , euphorbias , crassullas , haworthias and sedums , to name a few .
Loyola constantly challenges himself to come up with unusual containers for his arrangements , such as this quondam stoolie . “ If I have to tweak or do some engineering to a container to hold soil , it will finally have a succulent in it , ” he says . Photo by : Kole Montross .
For the novice nurseryman , most succulents are well-off to grow and quite forgiving , Loyola say . “ Succulents command direct sun for a few hours a day , but also bask the wraith . I irrigate my succulents once a workweek . In world-wide , they choose dryness between waterings . ” His preferred planting culture medium is only a plain potting mix with append fertilizer .
An old lantern becomes a wizardly container for trailing succulent . Photo by : Kole Montross .
Loyola particularly enjoys creating erect succulent arrangements , from low framed piece of music to giant paries dangling . “ With horticulture infinite being an issue , going vertical is the movement and the future , ” he enjoin . To make his succulent wall , he use cuttings and infix them through whatever framework he has selected . He then lay the plant inning horizontally for a few calendar week until the plants take root before standing the frame vertically . “ you’re able to test this by pull the succulent . If there is resistance that imply your succulent is rooted and is quick to stand vertically , ” he say .
A succulent video display doubles as a window valance . photograph by : Kole Montross .
Where does Loyola get along up with the unique ideas for his displays ? “ Honestly , I do n’t have any trick or secret when it come up to putting an transcription together , ” he says . “ I feel like my judgement and fingers go on auto pilot burner . It just flow naturally . ”
Succulent Café is place at 322 N. Cleveland St. in Oceanside . For a menu and hour , visit their websitehere .
