Cactuses thrive in the Basin’s dry summers
Karen Edwards, owner of Edwards Nursery in Moses Lake, shows some of the cactuses she has in front of the business. Cactuses can thrive even on the meager rainwater we usually see in the Basin, she said.
Joel Martin/Columbia Basin Herald
Blue salvia is a good perennial to plant in some of the lower parts of a contoured bed. It is also known as salvia azurea, the azure blue sage, azure sage, blue sage or prairie sage.
Hens and chicks, so named because they form up as a mother plant with underground runners to smaller “baby” plants, are a good option for a succulent bed.
MOSES LAKE — At first glance, a cactus doesn’t seem like the sort of plant most people want to grow. It’s spiky and bare-looking and it stabs you if you touch it. On the other (un-perforated) hand, cactuses are durable as all-get-out and they’re lovely when they flower.
In the dry climate of the Columbia Basin, sometimes it’s nice to have plants that don’t need a whole lot of babying. Cactuses and other succulents are a good option for that, said Karen Edwards, owner of Edwards Nursery. Many of the cactuses at her nursery are managing just fine on rainwater alone.
“They'll put more growth on if they get water maybe once every week to two weeks, but they don't have to be watered every day. In fact, they should not be watered every day. I recommend that you space watering out and maybe put pea gravel or something around the base. They need to be well drained. You don't want them to be sitting in water.”
It’s not difficult to tell if your cactus needs more water or less, Edwards said.
“If they're not getting enough water, then they shrivel and stay that way,” she said. “Then when they get more water - then they plump up.”
Some cactuses have additional options to help them weather arid conditions in the Basin.
“Some of the cactus that aren't native right here will have little leaves on them when there's enough rainwater and then when it gets real dry and hot, they'll shed the leaves as a defense mechanism,” she added.
Cactuses aren’t the only succulents that can hold up well in dry climates. Lewisias, named after the explorer Meriweather Lewis, have thicker leaves, hold water well and play nicely with cactuses in a shared plant bed. Hens and chicks do well in this climate too, as do some non-succulent perennials like salvia and lamb’s ear.
Edwards recommends an uneven bed for succulents, combining plants that take more or less water at different elevations, with the more drought-resistant plants on the humps and the more water-friendly ones in the low spaces.
“It'd be better if the bed is contoured and raised, some of it, so you have drainage,” she said. “You want to work a composition … and do them in a grouping. But not someplace where they're going to be hit by the sprinkler all the time.”
Planning is key when setting up a bed for succulents, Edwards explained.
“It isn’t just plunk – cactus, cactus, cactus in a row,” she said. “Maybe get a piece of driftwood or some rocks and work them into a design.”
Joel Martin can be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.
