Visit Pigment, San Diego’s Chic Succulent Boutique Amazing tips

In this new video, I take you to Pigment, a sophisticated urban gift-and-décor boutique. Pigment's simple-but-sophisticated pots frame succulents perfectly. Colors range from intense hues to white, cream and pastels.

Teal pots with succulents

There are three Pigment stores in San Diego: North Park, Point Loma, and Del Mar. (No disclaimer needed: I'm not being paid to promote Pigment.)

The shop began in 2007. Owner Amy Paul is an artist and college professor specializing in color theory. And color is what Pigment is all about.

This pair are waiting for mom to finish shopping.

Many customers are young professionals living in apartments and condos with no space for gardening. Succulents are often their pets, and they want containers that add color and personality to interiors, and that frame plants perfectly.

Succulent planted heads

Each store offers a plant-your-own potting bar and design assistance. There’s also an outdoor sitting area with assorted small succulents for sale.

Succulents under glass

When I did an article for Better Homes & Gardens about Pigment’s hanging succulent globes, I also made an impromptu succulent terrarium video that shows their method.

Succulent terrarium at Pigment

Here's the how-to-make-a-terrarium video:

Pigment as Destination

Pigment is a destination for people walking their dogs, parents pushing strollers, mom-daughter shopping excursions, and girlfriend meet-ups.

Succulent potting bar

You never know what you’ll see. The displays and merchandise change like a shifting kaleidoscope.

So, which pots and colors do you like best? Tell us in the comments below!

Related Info on this Site

Find out How to Water Succulents in Nondraining Containers.

Succulent Container Design

Succulent Container Design Design ideas and must-dos for beautiful, easy-care potted succulents Succulent Container Gardens, How-To Discover My Online Design Class! New! How to Group and Display Potted Succulents (9:48) DIY Floral-Style Succulent Centerpiece Learn About My Online Class! This lush and colorful succulent combo in a pedestal pot looks difficult, but it’s simple once…

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How to Keep Succulents Happy Indoors

Indoor Succulents Tips to help your succulents thrive inside If you love succulents but have no way to grow them outdoors, good news: Numerous varieties thrive indoors. Below are cultivation tips and a photo gallery of 40+ indoor succulents that are readily available. Place your succulents near a window Most succulents are from arid regions…

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Potted Succulent Tips and Hacks Amazing tips

I'm honored and delighted that the current issue of Garden Gate magazine shows ten of my tips and hacks for potted succulents. However...

From Garden Gate magazine

The magazine didn't have room for all the ideas I sent. So, for your enjoyment and edification, here are...

Additional tips and hacks for potted succulents

Echeveria gift basket

Design: Debra Lee Baldwin

Video: How to Plant a Gift Basket with Echeverias (3:29)

Succulents: Mountain Crest Gardens

Basket: 12-inch wicker with handles from Amazon

Tip: For a lovely floral gift, give echeverias. Bouquets of blooms quickly fade, but a basket of echeveria rosettes looks lovely months later. Plus they look like blue roses!

Leave the succulents in their nursery pots, or plant them into the basket. Before adding potting soil, line it with heavy mil plastic that you've poked with a few holes for drainage.

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Rattail cactus in elevated pot

Design: Diana Clark, Metamorphosis Design

Learn more: Got a Pot? Elevate It!

Succulent: Disocactus (Aporocactus) flagelliformis (rat-tail cactus)

Tip: Give a container importance by elevating it. Atop a pedestal, a potted succulent suggests a work of art. Find simple, inexpensive pedestals online, use metal candle holders from second-hand shops, or check garden centers for larger stands.

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Sempervivums in hedgehog pot

Design: The Succulent Café, 505 Oak Ave, Carlsbad, CA

Succulents: Mountain Crest Gardens 

Tip: Give your patio or garden personality with animal pots. Succulents that suggest a tail or fur are perfect to pair with a cute animal container. Here, pointy-leaved sempervivums lend texture and whimsy to a palm-sized hedgehog.

See My Tips in the Magazine

Related Info on This Site

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Succulent Container Design Design ideas and must-dos for beautiful, easy-care potted succulents Succulent Container Gardens, How-To Discover My Online Design Class! New! How to Group and Display Potted Succulents (9:48) DIY Floral-Style Succulent Centerpiece Learn About My Online Class! This lush and colorful succulent combo in a pedestal pot looks difficult, but it’s simple once…

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150 Ideas for Pots of Rosette Succulents

Enjoy and find inspiration in my idea gallery of 150+ floral-style, potted arrangements featuring rosette succulents. Each is a living bouquet!

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Pick the Perfect Succulent for Your Pot

If you have a special pot that needs pairing with the perfect succulent, take the pot with you to the nursery or have it nearby when you’re shopping online. Plant-pot pairings are a lot like picking throw pillows for your sofa or a

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Succulents for Hawaii, Florida, Tropics Amazing tips

Will succulents grow in tropical climates like Hawaii and Florida?

You might assume so, considering succulents like the same conditions you do when on vacation: Plenty of sunshine, not too hot, breezy and balmy.

However, what succulents don't like is high rainfall and humidity, especially in summer. One reason they do so well in Southern CA is that region's no-precipitation summers and year-round aridity. Makes sense: It's the same where many come from (South Africa, the Canary Islands and Madagascar).

Certain highly desirable succulents like aeoniums, echeverias and cacti can rot in tropical climates. It's hard to give them the sun they need to thrive while also protecting them from downpours and dampness.

Yet other succulents say "Bring it on!" to moisture and rain any time of year, so long as temps stay above freezing. You'll see the best of these bathing beauties in the 60-plant gallery.

Checklist for success

This isn't to say that you can treat moisture-tolerant succulents as you would tropical plants. These succulents will still need:

• to be kept as dry as possible
• minimal watering or not at all when conditions are damp
• to be on a covered patio or beneath eaves
• half a day's sun
• frost protection
• gritty soil to enhance drainage
• a sloping location if in the ground
• no pot saucers.

Go to Plant Gallery

Succulents for Florida, Hawaii, Tropics

Succulents for Florida, Hawaii, Tropics Looking for succulents that handle humidity? You’re in the right place! Will succulents grow in tropical climates like Hawaii and Florida? You might assume so, considering succulents like the same conditions you do when on vacation: Plenty of sunshine, not too hot, breezy and balmy. However, what succulents don’t like is…

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Succulent Personal Shoppers, How to Find or Become One Amazing tips

Using FaceTime, a succulent personal shopper shows clients what's new, interesting, seasonal and in limited supply at succulent specialty nurseries. As you direct her from your device, your shopper fills a tray with your selections. She then purchases, packs and ships them, or arranges delivery if you're in the area.

At present, I'm aware of two succulent personal shoppers. It's likely there will be more...maybe you yourself?

Jessica Cain of In Succulent Love, at Oasis Water Efficient Gardens

Why Succulent Personal Shoppers?

This innovative service solves a dilemma for customers and growers alike. Succulent personal shoppers show eager buyers what's available, and nurseries needn't say "no" to distant (sometimes insistent) collectors.

Due to high demand, succulent specialty nurseries are scrambling to keep up. Many don't have the staff or resources to package and ship plants, respond to customer inquiries, or keep online inventories up to date.

Note: Mountain Crest Gardens, the largest supplier of mail-order succulents, does everything right. MCG's impressive, ever-expanding inventory is fast catching up with Southern California's. I'm a proud affiliate. Check it out! 

Oasis, the Succulent Mecca

Complicating the supply-demand situation is the simple fact that it can take years for highly desirable varieties to grow large enough for sale.

Cool succulents, new and old, tend to show up at Oasis Water Efficient Gardens in Escondido north of San Diego. Oasis is owned by Altman Plants, a mega-grower that supplies Lowe's and Home Depot.

True, Altman sells retail online, but at present the selection can't compare with what you might find on a leisurely stroll through Oasis.

One adorable slow-grower that's nearly vanished due to demand is Euphorbia obesa.

Who's doing it?

Succulent-savvy entrepreneurs Jessica Cain of In Succulent Love and Teri Colbry of the Little Succulent Shop are bridging the supply-demand gap. And they're super busy.

I ran into Teri at Oasis recently, and on the spur of the moment did a short video of her assisting a client in Texas. In the video, Teri explains how it all works and what she charges.

I asked Oasis' manager Carmen Contreras if others provide this service. "Those are the only two that are succulent shoppers," she said. "The others have Esty or other online store fronts."

I also checked with California Cactus Center, a well known succulent nursery in Pasadena. Owner Molly Thongthiraj said as far as she knows, no one is doing it there. But then, CCC has decades-old rarities (like ariocarpus) that she doesn't recommend exposing to the rigors of shipping---or for that matter, to regions where it's not likely to thrive.

Don Hunt's art pots, on display at a Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale

Molly and I agreed that the art pots CCC sells (by Don Hunt and others) would likely interest clients of succulent personal shoppers---certainly as long as the traditional source, Cactus & Succulent Society Shows, aren't happening.

A Client's Perspective

Succulent enthusiast Jeanne Meadow uses Teri's service occasionally, and also recommends her online sales. "They're really something to watch," Jeanne says. "Thousands of people tune in. Teri shows a plant and gives it a number, and the first person to type that number gets it."

When Jeanne stopped by Teri's house the other day, she was amazed. "Seventy-six orders in big boxes!"

Teri Colbry of the Little Succulent Shop. From the video. 

Personal shoppers may be a luxury, but they do make it possible to cherry-pick desirable rarities. Moreover, if you're looking for a certain succulent, it's a good bet Teri or Jessica knows if and where it's available.

Want to be a succulent personal shopper?

In addition to business and multitasking skills, you'll need:

• Excellent knowledge of succulents
• A resourceful, can-do attitude
• Lots of time and energy
• Space for processing orders and storing plants
• An online presence and followers
• Organizational and marketing know-how
• Ability to safely package and ship fragile plants.

Your Turn

Do you know of others who provide this service? Or ways collectors might obtain plants from specialty nurseries that don't ship? Share your thoughts in the Comments!

 

Related Info on this site

Where do YOU shop for succulents?

Find out what to do if the succulents you want aren’t available near you. See others’ favorite succulent sources, mail-order and walk-in, and share yours in the comments below. Please tell us your city or region, what you’ve purchased, and anything else that might be helpful.  

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San Diego Succulent Sources and Destinations

In San Diego and Beyond… Nurseries, public gardens and destinations in North America’s “epicenter of all things succulent” Planning your visit Due to a perfect climate for succulents and a surging demand, San Diego county has a wealth of succulent specialty nurseries, each with its own distinct character. Land is more affordable away from coastal…

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Succulent Ice Plants, New Page and Video Amazing tips

Spring is the time to select ice plants so you know what you're getting. 

Announcing my new Ice Plant Page and Video!

The brilliantly beautiful succulent ice plants you'll see in the new page on this site and new video thrive in Zones 8-11. They come in eye-popping hues of purple, pink, lavender, rose-red, bright red, gold, orange and yellow.

In both the new page and new video, you'll find out how to effectively use ice plants in your garden and landscape, and see how beautifully they combine with other succulents and low-water flowering plants.

These cultivars and species of Drosanthemum and Lampranthus create vivid living bouquets. They're the daytime equivalent of neon lights!

Enjoy and discover:

• A gallery of 50+ design ideas featuring ice plants
• Which annuals and perennials look amazing with them
• The ice plant that's lasted 30+ years in my garden
• How to prune ice plants (and why you should)
• How to ruin a perfectly good ice plant
• Which one is terrific for containers
• Which ice plant variety is notorious, and why
• How to ensure that ice plants look their best
• What ice plants MUST have in order to bloom
• Why you no longer see red apple ice plant
• Which cultivar blooms on-and-off all year
• Why ice plants are called "mesembs."

[Read More]

Go to the Ice Plant page

See the Video

Ice Plant Uses, Photos and IDs

Ice Plant Uses, Photos, and Varieties What you need to know to successfully select and grow ice plants. Gallery of warm-climate varieties, all ID’d See the Video About Ice plants Succulent ice plants have in common shimmering, daisylike flowers. The bloom time for most is spring. Typically for the rest of the year, they’re merely…

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