Succulents, Design & Expert Succulent Advice

Above: Debra Lee Baldwin with Echinopsis (Trichocereus) 'Flying Saucer'

I'm pleased to offer over 100 pages on every aspect of succulents, all ad-free. If that seems too good to be true, scroll down to "Why No Ads?"

Need a plant ID? Go to TYPES OF SUCCULENTS.
Worried about your plant? 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.
Overwhelmed? Browse until you're better, or CONTACT me.

If you prefer Videos...

You'll love my YouTube Channel. With over 9,350,000 views (and counting!), my channel provides reliable, entertaining info on succulent design and cultivation---plus interviews with renowned experts and tours of world-class gardens.

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

Aug 9 2017

Why Cactus is Popular

Long a pariah plant, cactus is gaining popularity. You could even say that in the gardening world, “cactus is the new black.” Here’s why spiny succulents are catching up with smooth ones, notably in art, home decor, clothing and gift items. A little perspective: The first edition of my book, Designing with Succulents (Timber Press,…

Jul 4 2017

My Sea-Themed Potting Demo at Roger’s Gardens

For my sea-themed potting demo at Roger’s Gardens, I combined rosy-pink barnacles with cuttings of a pink-tipped, cream-striped crassula, and did a multiplant arrangement in a seashell pot. These were something I decided to do on the spur of the moment. Roger’s Gardens (the largest independently owned garden center on the West Coast) is all about…

May 20 2017

Plants and Pots at the Cactus & Succulent Show

Above: I take you behind the scenes at a C&SS show. The excitement is palpable! To see amazing succulents in elegant art pots, attend a Cactus & Succulent Society Show. The largest in the US is the annual Inter-City Show at the Los Angeles Arboretum mid-August. Judges award ribbons and trophies based on how well a…

Elaborate succulent bouquet of wired rosettes

May 5 2017

Make a Bouquet of Succulents

When I need a hostess gift, thank-you present, or an arrangement for a special friend, I make a bouquet of succulents. I start by selecting a coffee mug or glass container (usually a jar, thrift-store vase, or clear bottle), the size of which determines the size of the arrangement. Then I head into the garden with clippers.…

Fabulous Fallbrook Garden of Patrick Anderson (c) Debra Lee Baldwin)

Apr 28 2017

Patrick Anderson’s Exceptional Succulent Garden

I chose classical music for the video because Patrick, in addition to being a succulent expert, is an opera singer. In my YouTube video, “Patrick Anderson’s Succulent Garden,” I take you on a tour of the residential garden that launched my love of succulents. You’ll see it as it looks now, 25 years after I…

Apr 20 2017

Why You Need the Second Edition of Designing with Succulents

Above: A handsome reporter with perfect teeth, wearing royal blue, makes a perfect backdrop for orange aloes. Seriously, what a sweet man, and an ace interviewer too. Watch how he put me at ease, kept the pace brisk, and anticipated what viewers would want to know. When publisher Timber Press proposed a celebratory 10th…

Ball fountain surrounded by a circular garden of colorful succulents

Mar 23 2017

Circular Succulent Garden

When I first saw fitness coach Amy Van Liew’s circular garden and spherical fountain, I envisioned how it might look replanted with colorful succulents. A great fountain and garden bed deserve to be seen, especially when in the middle of a magnificent home’s entryway. In the spring, when I took this photo of Amy, the flowers in the…

Jan 16 2017

Create a Cactus Curio Box

Cacti are succulents with simple shapes, and none illustrate the plants' elegantly elemental geometry as well as spherical varieties. To showcase the beauty of these often-ignored succulents, I went with an open wood box with a dozen partitions, each just right for cacti in 2.5-inch pots. My goal was to elevate textural, glowing orbs to the status of jewelry or artwork.

Oct 13 2016

Why You Must Read “The Bold Dry Garden”

Ruth Bancroft was both gardener and collector. Her legacy is a botanic garden destined to long outlive her. As she researched her book, The Bold Dry Garden, it dawned on Sunset’s garden editor Johanna Silver that plant collectors are not necessarily gardeners, and vice-versa. The subject of the book, Ruth Bancroft, was both gardener and collector—as is…

Ferocactus glaucescens (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Jul 24 2016

My Must-Have Garden Tools for Spiny Succulents

The tools I use when working with spiky, spiny succulents include 12-inch tweezers, kitchen tongs, artist's brush, chopstick, scissors, metal teaspoon, inexpensive garden gloves, and duct tape.

Jul 11 2016

Cactus Cupcakes, Materials and Links

[With Video] The materials and resources listed below go with my Cactus Cupcakes video on YouTube. The cacti are Echinopsis ssp. 'Domino Cactus.' Have fun! Debra

Jul 1 2016

How I Get Rid of Gophers

For over a quarter of a century, I’ve trapped four to six gophers a year in my half-acre garden near San Diego. Top photo: If an agave keels over and there’s a clean, concave depression at its base, a gopher likely got it. But more often the cause of agave collapse is snout weevil. UPDATE: A…

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