How to Grow an Instant Garden with Succulent Mats

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By Gardengates
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How to grow an instant garden with succulent mats

Altman Plants, one of the largest cactus and succulent growers in the United States is working on a new product: Succulent Mats. You can use one of their mats when they are released for public consumption in the near future or you can copy the idea to use yourself. Of course, Altman Plants have the ideal materials and are experts on growing succulents, but if you want to take the time to make the effort, you can use the same concept.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Succulents at the LA Landscape Show 2009

The concept is that of growing succulent plants -- mostly sedums -- on mats similar to the way sod is grown in mats. This makes a living rug that can be laid out on a hillside, to create an instant garden, or to cover green roofs or other surfaces that will benefit from a living, growing instant cover. It will roll up like sod for easy transport but doesn't dry out so fast.
Step 2

Light traffic can be tolerated on these surfaces since the succulents that are used can regenerate quickly. Broken pieces will root in place and most plants will sprout anew. Heavy traffic will turn a succulent mat into mush, however.
Step 3

Many Sedum plants grow low and they come in a variety of leaf sizes, shapes, designs and color tints. They look decorative, have low water needs - maybe twice a week in full sun - and are perfect for replacing lawns, filling hard-to-get-at areas and creating decorative and fire-resistant slopes and hillsides. They're ideal for covering green roofs. In fact, in dry, hot-sun areas, grasses used to cover green roofs are hard to water efficiently so succulents are a much better solution. By pre-planting the plants on mats they are instantly ready to use.
Step 4

Succulents used in the mixed garden

These sedum mats are created by scattering the plants on a flexible mat formed of soil compressed and held together into a mat-like surface. You could create your own but the trick is to put together the growing medium into an easily moved mat form and, of course, to have patience while the plants grow in firmly - something that can take about a year.
Step 5

Altman, being one of the largest succulent growers in the country has come up with 3' x 3' x 4' mats based on coconut fiber. At present these mats are being developed for use by architects, landscapers and commercial markets, but they plan to offer them to the residential market in the near future.
Step 6

You can play around with the concept yourself now or be patient until succulent mats are available to the general market. Being an easy, ecologically friendly and fast solution for covering surfaces you can get an instant garden cover with succulent mats. Stay tuned in. This new innovation is likely to become more popular and available for the individual gardener in the next year or so.

Comments

evgnspaces said

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on 10/17/2009 Now that is another creative way to sell succulents.

LilacGirl said

on 9/27/2009 This is great, I think this idea would work for many people who want an almost instant garden. Thanks for the information.

momose said

on 8/29/2009 I LOVE succulents! They are so care-free and beautiful, and multiply so prolifically! Thanks for this idea to keep in mind for the future. In the meantime, traditional "poking in a leaf here and there," guess we'll have to keep on keepin' on! Thanks, gardengates! *****