How-To’s & Tips
Succulent Garden Maintenance: Tasks
Do these succulent garden maintenance tasks seasonally to keep your succulent garden healthy and looking good: Trim damaged or excessive growth
Prune succulents to show the beauty of the plants and keep them tidy. Use cuttings to
Succulent Garden Professionals: Referrals
Where to find or recommend a succulent garden designer or maintenance professional. Do you know or need someone skilled in this? Tell us!
Read MorePick the Perfect Succulent for Your Pot
If you have a special pot that needs pairing with the perfect succulent, take the pot with you to the nursery or have it nearby when you’re shopping online. Plant-pot pairings are a lot like picking throw pillows for your sofa or a
Read MoreWhat Grow Lights Do You Use?
If you grow succulents indoors, what lighting do you recommend? Kristen R in Philadelphia is asking how to keep her indoor succulents colorful, specifically what lighting works best. “I have a ton of grow lights keeping them alive, but I’m really looking for their bright colors to come back!” At present I don’t use grow…
Read MoreHow to Behead and Replant Echeverias
Fancy ruffled echeverias—those large, flowerlike succulents—eventually need to be beheaded and the rosettes replanted. This is a bother, but it comes with a benefit: New clones will form on old, headless stalks. But not always. Here’s how to ensure success.
Read MoreWind and Your Succulents
Certain succulents seem made for wind, like dasylirions. Succulents by and large withstand high winds. However, those with delicate leaves, thin skins, and leaves that pop off easily are at risk of impact damage. Hanging pots and baskets are especially vulnerable to wind gusts.
Read MoreAvoid Mail-Order Succulent Misery
Recently Mountain Crest Gardens, a succulent mail-order nursery in Northern CA, asked me to evaluate their packaging. They selected succulents especially challenging to ship: aeoniums that mar easily: a cactus with glochids, a euphorbia with milky sap, and quite a few with leaves that are fragile, brittle or pop off. The box arrived upside-down on a 95-degree day.
Read MoreShould You Cut Echeveria Flowers?
Here and in my new video, “Should You Cut Echeveria Flowers?” I explain why you should snip echeveria bloom stalks, and how you and your plants both benefit.
Read MoreHow to Redo an Overgrown Succulent Garden
Every three or four years I redo this succulent garden outside my office window. Last time was 1-1/2 years ago when I added the fountain. It’s an important view area because I spend so much time…uh…gazing outside instead of working. (I can’t help it. The fountain doubles as a bird bath.) In my YouTube video, How to Refresh an Overgrown Succulent Garden, I…
Read MoreUse Plastic Bottles to Make Pots Lighter
I use plastic bottles to make large pots lighter before I add potting soil. It makes pots easier to carry, cuts down on the amount of soil needed, and is better for shallow-rooted succulents. Before I plant any tall or large pot, I half-fill it with tightly capped empty water bottles. Good design and aesthetics…
Read MoreAnts in Your Succulents? What to Do
Late summer into fall, Argentine ants like to nest in the root balls of potted plants. Haworthias, aloes (especially dwarf varieties), gasterias and gasteraloes are highly vulnerable. Ants overwinter in the soil and consume the plant’s juicy core. Leaves eventually fall off and the plant dies. Ants push soil up from below. The first line of defense is to…
Read MoreLaura Eubanks’ Top Ten Tips for Succulent Garden Design
Laura Eubanks of Design for Serenity is a celebrity succulent garden designer in Southern California. Her “Succulent Tip of the Day” sent her popularity skyrocketing on social media, and her YouTube channel recently exceeded 4,000,000 views. Here, Laura shares her Top Ten Tips for Succulent Garden Design. The photos are from two videos I made…
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