Garden Design with Cacti

This past week Jo Ann and I attended a wonderful lecture presented by Martin Smith, the curator of the cacti collection at el Charco Botanical Jardín in San Miguel de Allende. The purpose of the lecture was to discuss how you can use cacti and succulents in your landscape and garden designs in lieu of using the more traditional plants and flora that most people from the US are accustomed to.

During the lecture Martin covered many landscape design concepts and how the use of cacti and succulents can be both attractive and eco-sensible. The plants that are on display and for sale at el Charco are solely native plants to Mexico and so are able to handle the disparities of the temperature, the potential of draughts and the high winds that we can experience living here in the high desert.

Through out the lecture Martin also covered a number of key design concepts that he integrates when he is designing gardens both here in San Miguel as well as in his home country of England. These concepts include the use of the rule of thirds, complementary and contrasting colors (using the artistic color wheel), implementing odd numbers and using repeating patterns. All of these concepts can greatly enhance the ambiance and serenity of your gardens and outdoor living space.

As we walked through the various cacti gardens, Martin would demonstrate hands on how they had transformed the various cacti gardens. Here are two examples of gardens that they completely transformed into one of the most engaging gardens that I have experienced.

If the concept of learning how to use cacti and succulents in your garden and outdoor living space, and you missed attending this lecture, we are having a similar session for the San Miguel Down to Earth Garden Club on the 22nd of February from 3 to 5p. There will be at charge of 70 pesos for members of el Charco and 100 pesos for non-members. If you are interested please go to the group web page here.