How Michele protects her potted succulent collection

My friend Michele is one of the most enthusiastic plant peeps I know. She lives in a small planned unit development complex here in Davis where the homeowners’ association manages common areas, including the front yards. As I mentioned in this post from June 2022, Michele was given permission to create her own water-wise landscaping.

Michele in front of a mystery aloe she received from a friend, possibly a hybrid between Aloe maculata and Aloe barbadensis (aka the “real” aloe vera)

In my original post, the divider between the parking spaces (see below) was all mangaves. They’re gone now, either because they bloomed out or got too big. The current iteration of the divider is all aloes:

Aloe ‘Safari Rose’

Aloe ‘Tingtinkie’

The area next to the parking lot is a mixture of succulents, perennials, and shrubs. Most are still small; they’ll be fantastic in a year or two.

Last year, Michele converted the strip outside her backyard fence into a mound. It’s now home to a variety of cool plants, including aloes, grevilleas, banksias, and other Australian natives.

Cool rocks, too...

...like honey onyx

Aloe lukeana and Grevillea ‘Superb’

Michele’s backyard is filled with agaves, mangaves, aloes, yuccas, and other succulents. After taking out a large tree in the corner (on the left in the photo below), she created a dry garden. The plants are beginning to fill in now.

Living up to its name, Yucca ‘Bright Star’ is shining bright

A massive Agave ovatifolia in the back corner

Agave parrasana and armadillo

EB Stone’s Cactus & Succulent Mix is Michele’s go-to planting medium

A trio of Agave parviflora

In previous years, Michele didn’t protect her succulents against the rain, but she did use frost cloth to cover smaller plants on chilly nights (and shade cloth in the hotter parts of summer). However, the atmospheric rivers of the past few years have wreaked havoc on many succulents, especially those from winter-dry climates, resulting in crown or leaf rot and fungal disease.

Using tarps to cover large areas proved difficult as the stakes tended to collapse under the weight of the rain-covered tarps, so Michele began to look for a more permanent solution. Not wanting a permanent/fixed greenhouse, she opted for a flexible solution: a greenhouse tent with a steel frame and a removable cover. In the winter, it provides protection against the rain, and in the summer against the sun. The product Michele bought is affordable ($173.99 at Wayfair) and will last for years.

Michele still uses tarps for the plants that don’t fit in the tent, but she’s upgraded to transparent tarps with mesh fabric sandwiched between two polypropylene layers. They’re more durable and let in at least some light so they can be left in place longer.

The plants in front of the dining room and bedroom patios (on the left and right in the photos above) are covered with these transparent tarps:

Tissue-cultured agaves from Jeremy Spath (Hidden Agave)

Let’s take a closer look at Michele’s greenhouse tent.

Here is just the frame:

The frame covered with shade cloth (purchased separately) for sun protection in the summer:

And with the included cover in place for the winter:

Four roll-up windows provide ventilation:

At each end there’s a zippered roll-up door:

Right now, Michele’s plants are on the ground, but she’s looking into getting some sort of rack or shelving to accommodate more plants.

I often get asked how to protect succulents, and this is an excellent (and affordable) way to do it — both in the winter and in the summer.

© Gerhard Bock, 2026. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.