Succulents are constantly year-round colorful, even without flowers, and need little water. Echeveria 'After Glow', Graptopetalum superbum, Sedum 'Coppertone', and so on.

Hah! I JUST planted some succulents in front of my small pond where we re-did all the Korea grass, and converted to dwarf Mondo grass and rocks, yesterday. I planted Echeveria 'Perle Von Nurmberg', Graptoveria 'Moonglow', Aeonium 'Kiwi', Echveria azulita, one Echeveria agovoides (I think it's 'Lipstick'), and a Kalanchoe 'Chocolate Soldier':

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I did think about just planting succulents. They're my "go to", if I'm concerned about watering issues. I could also plant some trailing succulents as well. Good suggestion, hoovb. I'll think about that!

Patty s.

Thanks, Carla. Didn't think of this. I'll definitely check this out, thanks for the photo!

Patty S.

I second herbs. Thyme cascades too.
Renee

I could do a nice combo of herbs and succulents. I think I just might do that. I like the smell of thyme, too. And I think that might look very Tuscan, too :-)

Patty S.

Your pond looks great, Patty. I have Korean bunch grass around mine too. So far there's enough sun to keep it looking good, but I dread refurbishing it in a few years.
Renee

Thanks, Renee. They're nothing special, just two plastic ponds, but they're pretty, and I love the sound. One has a little waterfall, and the smaller one has a cute frog that spits water into the pond. The frog's pump died this morning, so I have to pull out the filter and pump, and see about replacing it. Hate to put my hands in the water, it's about 50 degrees, and I'm a big baby!! I should have taken a photo of the Korea grass before I yanked it all out. It had developed that fungus, so there were big patches of dead grass. It was pretty ugly. I think the dwarf Mondo grass will look much nicer. I'll snap some pics of the area once we get the rest of the smaller rocks in around the Mondo grass. Wished I could have planted the variegated Dwarf Mondo grass, but it was prohibitively expensive. Besides, I think the color contrast between the dark green and the buff rocks will look nice.

Hope I can get the rose trees replanted, so I can get my figs into the pots. I'm anxious to get those pots finished up, and my figs growing! Learning to like figs, so hopefully these two varieties will be as yummy as I've heard. I also have some Ronde de Bordeaux cuttings potted up. Hope they all take, as these are very rare and hard to find.

Patty S.

We had our first substantial crop of figs last year and they were oh-so-wonderful, I want another tree.

So, what varieties to you grow, hoovb? I have a Panache, which are delicious, a Brown Turkey which actually were quite good, and a Flanders that is recovering from a rabbit or rat girdling it. I wanted to plant the Violette de Bordeaux and the Peter's Honey in the rose pots, but weather prevented me from re-homing the tree roses. So, hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday I can get the roses planted and then the figs in the pots. I did pot up 6 Ronde de Bordeaux cuttings, and it looks like at least 2 or 3 of the cuttings are starting to take root and the buds are swelling. Very excited about the Ronde, they are very hard to find, and supposedly one of the finest figs out there. Hope they all root! I think I'm going to try a combination of the ornamental oreganos and succulents for the underplantings. That should stay nice-looking, and not be overly demanding of water.

Patty S.

Patty, I am so jealous of your Ronde cuttings! I went a wee bit crazy with fig cuttings this year, and I'm trying to root 25 different varieties. I think there are sixty something cuttings total, all from Jon Verdick who I'm sure you know through CRFG. Hopefully I will have enough to spread the figgy love around!

Wow...I'm REALLY jealous that you have that many varieties to root. I've been rooting cuttings of my ONE fig tree...lol...and thinking of how I need to do more.

Ah, Karly! You are I a "sistas from another mista", lol!! You're going to die - I just picked up an Indio Mandarinquat, an Australian Finger Lime and a Kiyomi Tangor (Mandarin). The Kiyomi is one of the "parents" of the Dekopon, and I'm going to try some cross pollination experiments with the Kiyomi and the Kishu to see what I can get growing. It will be a long-term experiment, but I'd love to get something like the Dekopon, but better tasting. And, it doesn't have to be ginormous. Just bigger than the delectable Kishu mandarin. And yes, sure know Jon :-) In fact, I just went to a grafting class on Saturday sponsored by our local CRFG. I can now say I can do decent cleft grafting on stone fruits. Next is to learn how to successfully graft citrus. I checked my Ronde cuttings, and they are starting to bud-swell, so, if I'm lucky, I'll get at least 4 to take. If I can get them growing, I promise you cuttings!! Gypsy, what fig are you rooting? They're fun to start, since they're pretty easy to root from cuttings.

Patty S.

Patty, you are hijacking your own thread, LOL.
But to contribute--I tasted some Finger Limes last fall, and it was an interesting experience, but I can't imagine using them. They look like skinny hot green peppers, and the "fruit" looks like caviar inside the citrus shell, and is pretty strong flavored. Maybe you could use it either on top of sushi, or in a cocktail?
Now mandarin varieties I can't get enough of! Kiyomi would be cool.

Carla in Sac

Hah, so I am :-) I wanted to try cooking with the Finger Lime. It's kind of an oddity, and I had a spot in the garden that could use an interesting-looking tree. It has very teeny tiny leaves, sort of looks like Fly Dragon (Poncirus trifoliata). So, back to the thread - hoping that I can get the roses in the ground tomorrow. Ground will be nice and soft, and we have sunshine and warmer temps on tap for tomorrow. Yea!

Patty S.

Oh Patty, you know we are soul sisters! I have roots on ten of my little fig cuttings so far, and I think one is ready for it's own pot almost. So funny that you are posting about underplanting figs, i had just decided to pot my figs from last year and put them around my spa, some pretty underplantings will def be in order.

I've been contemplating adding a finger lime to my citrus patio. I just wish we could get the ones that are pink inside here.

Hah :-) I wish our weather would warm up a bit. My fig cuttings look good so far. Keeping my fingers crossed. I will be potting up my figs today - roses got re-homed yesterday. And, trying to get some grapevines in today, too. Want to get everything in before our possible rains this weekend. That would be the ultimate. Got the Kiyomi tangor and Indio Mandarinquat in yesterday. If the weather cooperates, I'll run over to the Altman outlet and pick up my choices of succulents, and then over to Green Thumb in San Marcos to pick up some ornamental oregano.

Patty S.

I have White Adriatic right now....but I think I'm hearing the calling of the need for more...lol..

Oh, so many lovely varieties, gypsy! You might want to try a Violette de Bordeaux. They stay compact, and are quite delicious.

Patty S.