Succulents, Design & Expert Succulent Advice

Debra Lee Baldwin is an award-winning author, journalist and horticulturist credited with launching worldwide interest in succulents with her three bestselling books on succulents. With over 9,000,000 views, Debra's YouTube Channel provides reliable, entertaining info on design and cultivation, plus interviews with renowned succulent experts and tours of world-class gardens.

Need a plant ID? Go to TYPES OF SUCCULENTS.
Worried about your succulent? Go to PESTS AND PROBLEMS.
Hope to grow succulents perfectly? Go to SUCCULENT CARE BASICS.
Need garden maintenance? See REFERRALS.
Something else? Use the Search Bar or menus above.

HOW-TO'S, TIPS & IDEAS

SUCCULENT DESIGN

Discover how to plan and design lovely, carefree succulent gardens in containers and in the ground. Also under Design you'll find firewise landscaping info, DIY gifts and projects, and holiday decorating ideas - all beautifully showcasing succulents.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

SUCCULENT CARE

Get expert advice on growing, caring for and propagating succulents. Find out how to water, fertilize, control pests and diseases, overwinter succulents, grow them indoors, and by season and region. Under Varieties, view hundreds of labeled photos of easy-care kinds.

LOCAL & NATIONAL

SUCCULENT RESOURCES

Wondering where to find and purchase top-quality succulents? Which tools, books and supplies you need? It's all here under Resources, along with nurseries, public gardens and destinations in America's finest succulent city (San Diego) and beyond.

Subscribe to My Newsletter and Receive

Debra's 7 best succulents

In this free PDF exclusively for subscribers to my "Celebrating the Joy of Succulents" newsletter, you'll learn the 7 best easy-care succulents that thrive in pots and landscapes. Whether you're new to growing succulents or an experienced succulent "parent", you'll love these 7 beautiful plants.

Succulent Updates and Articles

Dec 18 2019

Ten Tips for Establishing a Succulent Garden

These ten tips for establishing a succulent garden are from "Celebrating the Joy of Succulents" newsletter subscriber George Tabora of Riverside, CA (between Los Angeles and Palm Springs). His tips are hard-won, based on trial and error.

Dec 12 2019

My Succulent Podcast with a British Nurseryman

Recently I did a succulent podcast with British nurseryman Alan Lodge of Newlands Nursery. We were on opposite sides of the planet, but we chatted as though in the same room. Alan hosts weekly podcasts with international gardening experts.

Dec 4 2019

How Rain Benefits Succulents

Here's how rain benefits succulents: It provides dissolved minerals and washes away dust that inhibits photosynthesis; it dilutes and flushes salts and harmful chemicals that have built up in the soil from tap water; and it provides nitrogen essential to growth,

Nov 23 2019

The Only New Year’s Resolution You Need

The only New Year's resolution you or anyone really needs is effortless and costs nothing: Find beauty. In the new Sacred Elements Guidebook, author/photographer Karina Aldredge shows how momentary joys

Nov 13 2019

Winter Care for Frost-Tender Succulents

Depending on where you live, here's how to get frost-tender South African succulents---like crassulas (jades), euphorbias, senecios and aloes---through a North American winter.

Nov 4 2019

How 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.

Euphorbia inermis or Euphorbia esculenta

Oct 23 2019

Meet Snake-Leaved Medusa Succulents

This essential info on medusoid euphorbias (snake-leaved plants) is from "Spiny Succulents: Euphorbias, cacti, and other sculptural succulents," by renowned nurseryman Jeff Moore, owner of Solana Succulents near San Diego. I highly recommend his brand new book.

Oct 21 2019

My New Favorite Succulent Pumpkin

I love its loose, airy look, which Pat told me came about because her original design needed something. "I wasn't thrilled with it," Pat said. "After I glue-gunned all the cuttings,

Ariocarpus, CA Cactus Center (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Oct 18 2019

Can You Grow Ariocarpus?

It's autumn and the ariocarpus are in bloom. Typical cacti, they do it spectacularly. But atypical of cacti, they're not easy to grow. Unless you live in Texas or northern Mexico, forget about growing ariocarpus out in the open.

Agave flower spike in the wind (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Oct 11 2019

Wind 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.

Oct 9 2019

Super Fall Succulents

Those plants that made the final cut are lovely year-round, especially in autumn. These tall, medium and low succulents combine to create a balanced, aesthetically pleasing landscape. And if you have an entire yard to fill, they're wonderful repeated.

Autumn succulent arrangement (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Sep 18 2019

Ten Autumn Succulent Must-Do’s

These seasonal succulent must-do's are mainly for southern and coastal CA, from the Bay Area south. If you live beyond, please visit my site's Succulents By Season and Region page.

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Why no ads?

I don't like (or trust) websites stuffed with ads, and I figure you don't either. It's ungracious to make visitors hunt for info buried amid commercials.

If you'd like to support me (thank you!): Obtain my books, watch my videos, and follow links to the few vendors I'm affiliated with. Want to use my text or photos? All I ask is attribution: Imbed the excerpt with a link to the page on this site that it came from.

Mainly, do learn from and enjoy my site. It's my pleasure to share a career's worth of information with you! -- Debra Lee Baldwin

See More on My Succulent YouTube Channel