Grow One Popular Herb With Your Succulents And Watch Them Both Thrive

Succulents are a great choice for the gardener with limited time. This category of plants covers a range of varied species that are known for their heartiness and low-care needs. They typically have fleshy leaves and stems to help store water, and thrive in regions such as arid deserts with low humidity. Certain types of cacti thrive in the range of USDA Hardiness zones 9 through 11, limiting their natural growth to Mexico-bordering regions, including southern Texas and California. Individual succulents will have different growing conditions, but most look for soil with good drainage and benefit from just a light amount of fertilizer to counteract the loss of nutrients in small pots. These low-maintenance characteristics mean succulents are great for growing inside and outside of your home. If you're already going out of your way to grow succulents at home, you can also try growing a crop of rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), alongside your collection.

It might initially seem odd to lump cacti together with a herb such as rosemary that's used to garnish dishes such as lamb or potatoes. However, this member of the mint (or Lamiaceae) family is similarly native to dry regions, largely around the Mediterranean. Rosemary thrives in USDA Hardiness zones 8 through 10, extending its outdoor growing potential just a little further. This limited reach, combined with a low tolerance for humid regions, makes rosemary a great companion to grow alongside succulents as part of your home garden.

Like succulents, rosemary is going to grow best in soil that has good drainage to avoid becoming waterlogged. It's also a hearty herb, able to thrive even in shallow, rocky soils that have more acidic pH balances. Rosemary is resistant to problems, such as heat, drought, and dry soil, and you can keep your rosemary plants thriving all season long with a simple watering tip: following a schedule. An added bonus? Rosemary is deer-resistant, making it a great bordering hedge plant to protect a garden full of succulents. In fact, rosemary is said to be a perennial herb that enjoys neglect, so it might be better to actively forget about your growing crop and let it do its own thing.

Though succulents and rosemary make for great indoor plants when given proper full sun conditions, rosemary in particular might have a shorter life when grown indoors. Mixing garden soil with small rocks and sand will create a coarse growing medium that's perfect to grow both kinds of flora in an outdoor garden. Since rosemary is a great pollinator plant for attracting bees and butterflies, there's a nice symbiotic relationship for what it brings to a succulent garden, which can also easily thrive on your patio. There are over 10,000 species of succulents (making up about 3% of all flowering plants on Earth), so there is no shortage of low-maintenance options to mix around your rosemary.