Desert garden

Grow this hardy desert garden with cacti and succulents, and watch it thrive with little water.

You will need:

dirt and sand
a pot
pebbles or small rocks
larger, decorative rocks
gravel
cacti and/or succulent plants
a sheet of newspaper

How can a plant survive without water for months on end? Some plants wouldn't even last a week!

Cacti are different - over millions of years they have adapted and developed some amazing abilities to deal with a lack of water. Clever cacti. Maybe we can learn a thing or two from them about saving water.

Here are some crazy cactus facts:

- Cactus spines are super-adapted leaves. They lose almost no water through evaporation.

- Some cacti grow hair. This creates a shady cover to protect them from the heat of the sun.

- Cacti are miniature water tanks. They can expand when it rains to store lots of water in their fleshy stems, then shrink again as they slowly use up the water.

- Some cacti are grey or blue. These colours reflect light and heat better than green.

- Some cacti are round like a ball, and others are long and thin. These shapes give them the least exposure to the hot midday sun.

- Most plants need to take in carbon dioxide gas during the day. This is called transpiring and it causes water loss. Cacti are clever - they transpire in the cool of the night to save water.


Come and visit the Powerhouse Museum's exhibition Ecologic to see lots of other great water-saving ideas.


From the Powerhouse Museum's collection:

These colourful hand-tools were designed to make gardening activities safer and more efficient. They won an Australian Design Award in 1995.
Take a closer look.