How Succulent Designer Laura Eubanks Does It

Succulent designer Laura Eubanks of Design for Serenity is no stranger to crises. The challenges she’s had to overcome—including a horrific childhood—have given her wisdom, compassion and a keen desire to mentor and inspire others. Due to an unfortunate turn of events, she’s now the one in need of help..

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Plant Expert Tony Avent on Mangaves

Mangave 'Red Wing'

Tony Avent, Plant Delights Nursery According to plant expert Tony Avent, owner of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC, “the world of mangaves is exploding. The colors and forms continue to break new barriers of previously inconceivable foliage.”  Founded in 1988, Tony’s nursery is a premier source of rarities and natives, and offers more than 1,400 kinds of…

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Laura 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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Jim Gardner’s Succulent Showcase

At Jim and Jan Gardner’s home near Los Angeles, hundreds of varieties of mature succulents and low-water companion plants pack a colorful, well-thought-out landscape. For over 40 years, the Gardners have lived in Rolling Hills Estates on the Palos Verdes peninsula, which juts from the coastline like a burl on an oak. It’s a highly…

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Tips from a Top Succulent Container Garden Designer

Melissa Teisl of Fresh Chic is the designer whose artistry I show most in my book, Succulent Container Gardens. She and mom Susan had a floral shop in Solana Beach, CA when I met them in ’07. After Susan retired Melissa and partner Jon Hawley launched CW Design & Landscaping, specializing in gorgeous in-ground gardens. But container gardens…

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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…

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Lophocereus schotii (Totem Pole Cactus)

Succulent expert Don Newcomer showed me a rare columnar, spineless cactus from Mexico: Lophocereus schotii (totem pole cactus). It can be chubby and lumpy, tall and skinny, or columnar and spiral-forming. Lophocereus (Pachycereus) schotii has spines. The monstrose form has club-shaped trunks with spineless protuberances. There are three monstrose varieties: fat (obesa), spiral (spiralis) and skinny or totem…

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