Next to edible plants, succulents are probably one of the hottest topics in the gardening world. They’re sculptural, and modern looking, and are much easier to care for than vegetables. I know whenever I (re)read Debra Lee Baldwin’s book on succulent container gardening, I want to run outside and combine my succulents in new ways.
The other day, I went into a garden center during my lunch break looking for tomato stakes (I have a vegetable garden growing at my office). They were all out of stakes in the size I wanted, but while there I noticed that they had a bunch of succulents on sale for 15% off. Lemon, meet lemonade! I am sure I am a garden center owner’s dream customer. “Hi Fern, no, sorry, we don’t have the $3 worth of stakes you’d like to buy, but here, why don’t you spend $15 on some succulents!”
Anyway, I snatched up two of the plants they had on sale (A and B) and combined them with the Burro’s Tail sedum and a pot I already had.
- A – Aenoium ‘Plum Purdy’
- B – Echeveria ‘Doris Taylor’
- C – Sedum morganianum also called ‘Burro’s Tail’
Potting up succulents can be kind of tricky because it’s easy to accidentally knock off their fleshy leaves. But basically, I follow the same method I use for potting regular plants. I placed the aeonium first, because it was the flashiest part of the combo and I wanted to make sure I oriented it just right. Then I squeezed in the echeveria because it was the next largest plant. If a plant doesn’t quite fit in your pot, you can gently tease the roots and knock off some of the dirt to reduce the size of the rootball. Finally, I put the sedum in front. If anyone knows of a trick for potting those guys without squishing a ton of leaves or causing them to pop off left and right, I’m all ears.
Something I learned from Debra’s book is that a lot of succulents do better in part sun or filtered light. Since moving my other succulents into a spot with less direct sun, they’re looking even better than they did before. This pot will go near my front door that gets a bit of direct morning sun, then light filtered through a tree, and no direct afternoon sun. Hopefully it will be happy there. I’ve killed the last two plants to reside in that spot (I rarely go through the front door and I forget to water that pot).
Another thing you’ll notice is that I put gravel down to cover the exposed dirt. This is also something I picked up from Debra, she’s a big fan of top dressing. It does make the pot look finished, and has the added benefit of reducing the frequency of watering and gravel prevents soil from washing out of the pot during rain storms.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I am always amazed at the succulent containers you come up with. Mine never seem to look so full. I need your help!
Do you have a preferred soil mix for your succulents?
How do you stop the soil from washing out the bottom of the pot when you water?
Do you leave an inch or two between the soil line and the rim of the pot? It looks like the top-dressing goes right to the rim.
What a fun story and arrangement! And that book–I can’t shut up about it, so inspiring.
I just got some succulents for a container on my porch. I hope it turns out as nice as yours. I’m going to copy you and Debra by using a stone top dressing. Fun.
Bob: I buy those little round meshy things to put over the drainage hole, and they stops the soil from washing out. You could easily improvise a similar function from an old window screen or something.
I also use a pre-made cactus potting soil for quick drainage.
Just for kicks, I figured I’d share my succulent container that greets me at the door too! http://www.flickr.com/photos/starjewel/2500578943/
Thanks for the tip, Kimberly. I put this planting together this past weekend. I gave up on most succulents and decided to stick to sempervivum and sedum, since they are almost impossible to kill. http://yfrog.com/3wmiwj
Bob–You seem to be doing just fine from your pic! I follow the same principles for succulent container gardening that I apply when doing other containers. As far as making them look full, I try and include a plant that is filling each different type of “space” from spilling over the side, to the surface of the pot, mid-height, and tall.
I don’t use special potting mix (though don’t tell Debra on me!), I just mix in a little extra perlite to my usual mix. If I was super hard core and creating containers I was going to enter into contests or something, I would get cactus mix. But I’m lazy, and don’t feel like storing a bunch of specialty potting mixes.
Angela–I hope you’ll share photos!
Kimberly–Looks great! I see you already have the whole gravel mulch thing down. I like the type used better than what I did, it looks like it has finer granules.
Very nice!. Is it staying indoors or are you putting it outside?
That Sedum morganianum is a great spill succulent. I find that it hold up well over time too. Great looking succulent container. Matti
I think succulents are the coolest, most misunderstood plants. I agree with the filtered light. Most people think they can tolerate full-bore sun, but they can’t. They burn just like a lot of other plants. They do like dry heat though.
They also do need to be watered, something that I can’t seem to convince some people of. Hmmm… this has gotten me thinking about a blog post I should write.
Roberta–It’s now outdoors, near my front door.
Matti–Thanks! I agree. Although the leaves pop off like crazy so mine has a few bare spots from handling it while putting together this pot.
Eva–Yep, I learned about the part shade from Debra Lee Baldwin’s book. I water this pot about once a week, and the plants seem pretty happy with that.
I made a hanging basket full of succulents, the only problem is it weighs about 20 pounds from soil and plants… next time I will fill the bottom with packing peanuts first, then potting mix so i can use a pretty top dressing. I like to use tumbled glass or quartz crystals, or even marbles to reflect some light. I especially like to make succulent gardens in small birdbaths that are broken or leak. I have one now that has a stone frog and lots of crystals, marbles, and those “mermaid tears” you use in aquariums. It looks like the frog is guarding his jewels among the plants.
In answer to your question about how to pack the plants in really tight without losing leaves, lop off the roots – I’m serious! Succulents re-grow roots really easily, so you can place them really close together in the dry potting soil, and the new roots will start to grow in a few days to weeks. Taking off the root ball makes it much easier to plant them right on top of each other, making a really full container.
I’ve never had the need to lop off their roots to fit them really closely together…
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