Like hanging baskets? Try these drought

Hanging baskets. Mention hanging baskets to a veteran gardener and you are likely to get an eyeroll in response. “They’re just not worth the trouble,” you might hear. “They dry out so quickly that watering even once a day may not even be enough.”

Of course, it is always possible to set up an automated drip system through the rafters so that water is delivered to the baskets hanging from them as often as you wish. Yet if you are not inclined to bring drip irrigation to your hanging baskets, but you still aspire to grow plants in this manner, there is a solution: Select succulents for your baskets. And in order to better appreciate your selections, make them succulents that spill over the side of their basket and grow down vertically as much as several feet or more

Donkey tail. (Photo by Joshua Siskin)

String-of-buttons Crassula perforata (Photo by Joshua Siskin)

Variegated string-of-pearls Curio rowleyanus cv. Variegatus(Photo by Joshua Siskin)

String-of-pearls. (Photo by Joshua Siskin)

Chain-of-hearts Ceropegia woodii (Photo by Joshua Siskin)

The first plant I think of regarding this subject is string-of-pearls (Senecio/Curio rowleyanus), also known as string-of-beads. In fact, it’s the plant that inspired this column. I was entrusted with revitalizing someone’s string of pearls that had gone several months without water. Normally, the unusual leaves, which are perfect spheres around 1/4 inch in diameter, are a shiny bright green. However, the leaves/pearls of the plant I received had turned blue in color. This color change is a physiological response among succulent plants. When a succulent is stressed – whether from intense light, heat, or drought – it produces anthocyanin, a pigment that turns leaves blue or purple or it may produce carotenoid, a pigment that turns leaves yellow, orange, or red. These colors offer protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Sometimes, due to color change, a succulent’s appearance can actually be enhanced when it is stressed. Incidentally, two days after soaking the drought-stressed string of pearls, its leaf color had returned to green.

String-of-pearls is native to southwest Africa where it grows as a ground cover that is partial to shady locations. Given half-day sun in a hanging basket, it only needs to be watered once a month. Flowers bloom for four weeks during the summer, smell like cinnamon, and resemble miniature daisies. This is not an accident since string-of-pearls is a daisy family member. Its spherical leaves bolster its drought tolerance since there is minimum surface area exposed to the sun in relation to leaf volume. A variegated cultivar shows off green and cream pearls which, when given a few hours of intense daily sun, show off streaks of pink as well.

Like their string-of-pearls cousin, two cultivars of Senecio radicans produce distinctive chains of leaves that will eventually dangle three feet down from the hanging basket in which they grow. The Fish Hooks cultivar does indeed show off leaves that are unmistakable doppelgangers for the angular metal hooks used to nab fish. String-of-bananas have plump, one-inch banana-shaped leaves.

String-of-dolphins (Senecio peregrinus) is really something special as its leaves bear an exact resemblance to mini-dolphins. Trailing or weeping jade (Senecio Jacobsenii) has small paddle-shaped leaves studded tightly along pendulous stems; the leaves take on a violet to magenta hue when exposed to bright, if indirect, light. You can procure this extremely drought-tolerant species by mail order from anniesannuals.com.

String-of-buttons (Crassula perforata) has symmetrical circular leaves that are tightly stacked on the stem so as to resemble the beads on an abacus; other string-of-buttons cultivars have triangular to squarish leaves.

One of the most well-known hanging succulents is donkey tail (Sedum morganianum). Due to its slow growth, gem-like leaves, and minimal maintenance, it is a treasure that is often passed down from one generation to the next. Monkey tail (Hildewintera Colademononis) is a cactus whose hairy appendages can extend as far as eight feet in length and really do look and feel like a primate’s tail. Its flowers have the panache of cactus flowers generally and, in this case, they are a luminescent orange.

Other hanging cacti worth mentioning include rat tail cactus (Aprocactus flagelliformis), whose stems may hang down as far as six feet and are decorated with orange, red, or pink blooms. It is widely considered to be the easiest hanging cactus to grow. The stems of peanut cactus (Echinopsis chamaecereus) do look like peanuts for some time until they eventually elongate and hang down. And let’s not forget orchid cactus (Epiphyllum spp.), with those flat leaves that extend, over time, to 10 feet and whose flowers in every color except blue open up to 10 inches across.

While not strictly succulent, two highly popular, drought-tolerant hanging plants are chain of hearts (Ceropegia woodii) and wax plant (Hoya carnosa). Chain of hearts has pendulous stems that can grow to 13 feet, heart-shaped foliage that is variegated in some cultivars, and intriguing tubular blooms. Wax plant is so-named due to its flowers’ appearance and texture. Unexpectedly, the scent that wafts from these flowers is among the sweetest in the entire plant kingdom. There are multiple Hoya species and cultivars, including dwarf types, that any plant lover would benefit from growing.

Shop for drought-tolerant succulents in hanging baskets at the following nurseries: California Nursery Specialties, Reseda (california-cactus-succulents.com); California Cactus Center, Pasadena (californiacactuscenter.com); California Greenhouses, Irvine (ocsucculents.com.).

If you wish to grow plants of any kind in a hanging basket, you will find wire baskets and green sphagnum moss at most nurseries and home improvement centers; simply line the baskets with the moss and fill with the appropriate soil mix. You can also find wire baskets with fiber shells already in place so all you have to do is add soil and plants. Keep in mind that a cactus mix is recommended for growing succulents and cacti of every description.

California native of the week: Leather oak (Quercus durata) is a handsome evergreen shrub that is highly garden worthy and can easily take the place of junipers and other perennial evergreens of a similar stature. Although leather oak can reach 10 feet in height, it can be kept shorter through pruning and may be trained into a formal hedge. Just letting it grow without pruning is another possibility since it has a neat, mounding natural form. It is also useful as a container plant due to its slow growth and clean look. Leaves and acorns are around one inch long.

Share your experience growing plants in hanging baskets by sending an email to [email protected]. Questions and comments regarding any plant species or gardening practice or problem are always welcome as well as your photos.

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