Succulent Care Basics

Probably jade plant, unless it's exposed to frost.

Your climate sounds like mine, and I grow nearly everything in my books. Most senecios, agaves and aloes do fine out in the open, but echeverias, aeoniums, kalanchoes, crassulas, sempervivums and fine-leaved sedums need protection from frost in winter and scorching sun in summer. Grow them beneath latticework or lacy trees, or perhaps in an open-air greenhouse with a shadecloth roof. Protect the plants from rainfall in excess of 20 inches/year lest the roots rot. Most commercial growers apply a balanced liquid fertilizer whenever the plants are watered during the growing season (generally spring and summer)---once a week, half strength. You'll find succulents among the easiest plants to propagate by pups, offsets or stem cuttings.

It's normal. You can do either, the plant doesn't care, although dry leaves do offer greater protection from sunburn and climactic extremes (if those are issues).

Echeverias, aeoniums and most rosette succulents form new leaves from the center of the rosette, and older leaves dry and fall off, exposing an ever-lengthening stem. So, yes, they'll need to be cut back if you want to keep the planting dense and low to the ground. The tighter you want a composition, whether garden bed, wreath or container, the quicker you'll have to cut it back due to plant growth. And don't fertilize. If they're not fed, they tend not to grow too rapidly.

When it comes to growing large, dramatic, picture-perfect echeverias and other rosette succulents, the best way to do it is to observe their growing conditions in the nursery where they came from. Generally, you'll see that they're in pots, not in the ground, and protected from harsh sun and extremes of heat and cold. They're in a coarse, fast-draining potting mix and receive small doses of a balanced fertilizer during their growth season (spring for echeverias, winter for aeoniums). They get good air circulation to discourage pests. Perhaps most importantly, they grow in bright, diffused light, beneath shade cloth or (if in a greenhouse) translucent white plastic.