Plants & Varieties
Supermarket Kalanchoes: Succulents You Grow for Their Flowers
Supermarket kalanchoes (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) are succulents you grow mainly for their flowers. They have been hybridized and sold as flowering plants long before succulents in general became popular. Succulents are plants that look like flowers, and although all succulents produce them, they’re generally not the reason people buy them. Yet this one succulent has been commercially…
Read MoreSucculent Desk Buddies, DIY
“Desk buddies” are succulents that look good on your desk and require almost no care. They’re cute and classy, and visitors invariably ask about them. All you have to do is dribble water on them twice a month (which also keeps them dusted). I chose haworthias for my desk buddies because they do great in…
Read MoreSunset’s Midcentury Succulent Cover Story
“Once in the ’90s and again in the late ’20s, gardeners have turned to succulents with an intensity amounting to a craze. Now they are coming back into favor again, and this time it looks like something more than a temporary infatuation.” — Sunset magazine, June, 1954* Fifty years ago, each hefty, half-inch-thick issue of Sunset magazine cost 20…
Read MoreEcheverias: Succulent Roses That Last
Is any plant lovelier than a ruffled echeveria? These rosette succulents are soaring in popularity, and new cultivars are being introduced all the time. Don’t miss my YouTube series featuring renowned echeveria hybridizer and grower Dick Wright.
Read MoreWhich Aloes Are Best for Your Garden?
One of Southern CA’s in-demand landscape designers, Bill Schnetz of Schnetz Landscape, Inc., likes to use aloes of all sizes in residential gardens. If you love succulents, live in a mild climate, and grow these South Africans in soil that drains well, “they’ll soon become your favorite plants,” Bills says. For a natural setting, he suggests…
Read MoreShowy Succulents for Snowy Climates (Debra’s WSJ Article)
Showy Succulents for Snowy Climates (Debra’s WSJ Article): A shorter version of this article appeared in the Wall Street Journal, 3/9/18. This is the unabridged original. Snow heightens the color of hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum globiferum ‘Connie’). Photo: Mountain Crest Gardens Is it a given that Northerners can’t grow succulents? Not at all. Granted, most of these moisture-storing, arid-climate…
Read MoreSoft Succulents: Jeff Moore’s Stunning New Book
Jeff Moore’s books are the See’s of eye-candy, filled with photos that show the very souls of fleshy plants. Moore is a succulent expert, garden designer, photographer and author who for 26 years has owned Solana Succulents nursery in Solana Beach, near San Diego. We met in 2003, back when I was covering gardening for magazines. He struck…
Read MoreSpring in My Succulent Garden: Flowers Wow with Bold, Hot Hues
My spring garden’s most vivid blooms are those of succulent ice plants. Aloes, bulbine and numerous arid-climate companions are bright and beautiful from March through mid-May. Increasing temps tend to put the kibosh on delicate spring flowers. If you live near the coast of CA, you’ll enjoy a longer spring, but you may not get…
Read MoreDesigning with Cold-Climate Succulents
How to select, grow and design with cold climate succulents—sedums, sempervivums and more. Tips from Becky Sell of Sedum Chicks at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show
Read MoreHow to Make Succulents Bloom
Is there a way to make succulents bloom? Yes and no. It partly depends on a plant’s age. It may not be large or mature enough to gear up for reproduction (which is the point of flowers). But there IS something you can do to make a succulent bloom if it’s just sitting there, sulking,…
Read MoreWhy 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,…
Read MorePlants and Pots at the Cactus & Succulent Society Show
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 specimen is grown, its rarity, and how well it’s “staged” in its pot. Pots aren’t…
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