Make a Mounded Succulent Arrangement

Add soil to fill gaps (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

Many eye-catching succulent arrangements are mounded, meaning plants are massed atop the container. Mounded arrangements look established right away and are quick and easy to assemble.

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Avoid Mail-Order Succulent Misery

Senecio herrianus (String of tears)

Recently Mountain Crest Gardens, a succulent mail-order nursery in Northern CA, asked me to evaluate their packaging. They selected succulents especially challenging to ship: aeoniums that mar easily: a cactus with glochids, a euphorbia with milky sap, and quite a few with leaves that are fragile, brittle or pop off. The box arrived upside-down on a 95-degree day.

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Showy 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…

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