Success With Succulents

Discover succulents with Debra Lee Baldwin, bestselling author of
Designing with Succulents, Succulent Container Gardens and Succulents Simplified

Welcome!

I'm pleased to offer you 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? Go to PESTS AND PROBLEMS. Want to grow succulents perfectly? Go to SUCCULENT CARE BASICS. Need garden maintenance? See REFERRALS. Do use the MENU and SEARCH BAR above. Overwhelmed? Browse until you're better, or CONTACT me.

Looking foR Videos?

Then you'll love my YouTube Channel. With over 9,000,000 views, it provides entertaining, expert info on succulent design, cultivation, plants, tips, gardens, and much more.

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

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…

Jun 24 2016

Succulents for a Meditation Garden

If you enjoy gardening, you know how it can be a form of meditation and a treat for all the senses. But have you considered how simply looking at certain plants induces serenity? Explore this by enhancing a sitting area with succulents that incorporate geometric patterns and spirals. The Fibonacci sequence is a pattern often…

Jun 15 2016

LA Drought-Tolerant Festival Highlights

At the recent Drought Tolerant Plant Festival, I managed to smile despite sitting on a cactus cOUCH. The LACSS (Los Angeles chapter of the Cactus & Succulent Society of America) hosts this popular garden festival annually at the Sepulveda Garden Center (a community garden) in Encino, CA. The setting is parklike, with grass underfoot and tall trees providing…

Succulent design class (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Apr 15 2016

Make “Stunning Succulent Arrangements” in My Online Class

You’ll love creating succulent designs in my online class, Stunning Succulent Arrangements! During the 7-lesson class, I explain succulent varieties, care and propagation; and show how to make wreaths, terrariums, floral-style arrangements, a succulent color wheel and more. Craftsy’s student-oriented approach allows you to take the class anywhere and anytime; pause, rewind and restart at…

Apr 10 2016

Make a Succulent Mug Gift Bouquet

Make a succulent mug gift bouquet the next time you need a little something for a friend or hostess. This transcends the traditional flower-stand bouquet and has utility long afterwards.

Apr 8 2016

A Dozen Reasons to Love Cacti

Why do I love cacti? It's a natural progression: As we gain appreciation for the lines, textures and shapes of succulents, we arrive at those that exhibit elegant simplicity—never mind that they have spines (in fact, sometimes because they do). Here are a dozen reasons.

Mar 25 2016

Echeverias from Altman Plants

New Succulent Plant Introductions Let’s say you’re in the nursery business and can crossbreed popular succulents so their offspring combine their parents’ most desirable traits. What would you aim for? That’s what I found out on a recent visit to Altman Plants, the largest grower of succulents in the US. I was there to photograph Altman’s spring succulent introductions—new beauties…

Debra Lee Baldwin in her succulent garden

Mar 11 2016

Debra’s Own Garden

My goal with my own garden is to create a three-dimensional art form that serves as a backdrop for videos, photo shoots and casual get-togethers. Whether in books, photos, videos or presentations-or with plants, rocks, and sweat—I’m invariably about entertaining and sharing in equal measure. It’s one way I define joy. Yours truly in the lower garden with…

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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 it came from.

Mainly, do learn from and enjoy my site. It's my pleasure to share its wealth with you. -- Debra Lee Baldwin

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