This post is dedicated to my mother who passed away, way too soon, this week 24 years ago...
I get a kick out of these new hip and happenin' succulent container plantings. There's no gardening magazine this spring that doesn't feature them in some form or fashion. Instead of striking me as new and exciting, although they are exciting, they simply fill me with nostalgia for my SoCal childhood.
I guess this is one of those times when I've lived long enough to see something come around for the second time. You see, succulents figure big in my early plant memories.
My mother would arrange these lovely little plants in shallow terra cotta bowls (that she made herself in pottery class) and then arrange the bowls in groupings on our patio back in Southern California. I'm lucky to have a backup memory with her painting of that first backyard.
Santa Ana Backyard by Loree Fleming The Garden Buzz
You can see it was a magical place and the succulents were just a tiny part of the whole scheme. Yet I think the jellybean shapes and candy colors of the succulents fixed them firmly in my young mind.
Succulent planting with beach rocks The Garden Buzz
Through the years I've done many of my own succulent creations as an homage to my mother and her forward-thinking garden style. It may be that California gardeners were all using them, but I like to consider that she did it with that same unique flair she brought to all our homes and gardens.
Longing for a little green, I recently set out on a cold and blustery day to the garden center, just to look, honest, and surprise, there was an entire display devoted to succulents (from Proven Winners, how about that). And like a kid in a candy store, or should I say a middle-aged woman in a garden center, I pounced on as many as would fit in the cart.
Note the little teacup-sized budding kalanchoes in another display that tempted me too; just the size of my blue willow demitasse cups. We're talking Lilliputian.
Teacup plant The Garden Buzz
I decided to plant the narrow self-watering container that the Lechuza company was kind enough to send me last fall. It had a contemporary vibe and seemed to fit the bill. I'll be doing a post on "containers" soon and we'll dig deeper into the pros and cons of these particular pots. But I digress.
Succulent Composition The Garden Buzz
Assembling this skinny composition was just the cure for my playing-in-the-dirt cravings. I used the following plants for this combination:
- Echeveria subrigida "Fire and Ice" Blue green fleshy foliage with deep pink edging
- Kalanchoe thysiflora "Flapjacks" Large, flattened foliage with a rosy tint
- Echeveria hybrid "Violet Queen" A beautiful rosette of gray with lavender tips
- Sedum rupestre "Lemon Coral" Lime green fine foliage for weaving texture throughout
- Echeveria rudolfhii "Metallica" Truly metallic looking gray-pink luster for a little edge
- Senecio vitalis "Chalk Fingers" For height and cool blue color
- Crassula coccinea "Campfire" Blazing red color intensifies with cool temps
Adding the diminutive blooms of the little common kalanchoe plants for a unifying touch of color, the container turned out more like an indoor windowbox, definitely helpful for fending off cabin fever.
Cool sunset colors! The Garden Buzz
That's just another of the great things about succulents, they are truly year round plants. They survive even the most desert-like conditions of heated homes in winter while transitioning outdoors come spring. In fact, the change of light and temp seems to trigger blooming in many of them, especially the echeverias with their delicate flower stalks.
In indoor and outside container plantings I like to use rocks, crystals, beach glass and shells to play off the colors and textures of the succulents. I also might add that mounding the soil in the center above the rim (you can use potting soil or specially formulated cactus medium) not only helps to drain moisture to avoid rotting but shows these small and somewhat ground-hugging plants at a better angle.
For more ideas and inspiration let me recommend two books that I think are exceptional on the subject of succulents...
"Succulent Container Gardens" by Debra Lee Baldwin
"The Jewel Box Garden" by Thomas Hobbs
But mostly succulents just make you smile!
Frog pot by Isobel Bloom The Garden Buzz
