Create Potted Gardens of Colorful Aeoniums or Echeverias Amazing tips

New video: See my recent potting demo at the Palomar CSS show

It's similar to the mounded, floral-style arrangements I did at Rogers Gardens. But instead of a hefty ceramic pot, I used a large, lightweight one from Lowes. Such pots...

• Are easily portable (I can lift the largest with one hand).
• Add height, interest, and color to patios, decks and garden beds.
• Create focal points that give a landscape style and continuity.
• Resemble ceramic more than "recycled plastic" or resin.
• Are sturdy and typically last for years.
• Come in various colors. I like dark red because it stands out and repeats (or contrasts with) numerous succulents. Another good choice is teal blue.
• Are inexpensive. The pot in the video is 16.5 inches in diameter at the rim; 14.5 inches high; and cost $30 with sales tax and delivery. On Amazon, comparable ceramic pots start at $55.

SHOUT OUT: Many thanks to Oasis Nursery in Escondido, CA for providing the aeoniums for this potting demo. 

Curious about my plastic bottle hack?

Aeoniums, like many succulents, are shallow-rooted, so they don't benefit from excess soil that'll hold water, which can lead to rot. I filled the pot 3/4 full with tightly capped, empty plastic bottles. Less soil means a lighter-weight arrangement---and for roots, bottles are the same as rocks!

Make flowerpots lighter in weight by filling them 1/2 to 2/3 with capped plastic bottles.

Colorful aeoniums for a 16-inch pot (mounded arrangement)

Step-by-step mounded arrangement

You'll need 10 to 12 one-gallon nursery plants for a 16-inch-wide pot.

1. Fill the pot with potting soil to five or six inches below the rim.
2. Slide plants out of their pots and rest their necks (where rosettes meet stems) on the rim, facing outward.
3. If a pot contains multiple plants, pull the root balls apart and position them amid the larger rosettes (for design interest.)
4. Stack more plants, root balls and all, atop those leaning outward.
5. Add soil and tuck small plants or cuttings into gaps.
6. Use a chopstick to push soil downward and to settle roots.
7. When finished, position the potted arrangement where you want it. Water lightly to clean the leaves and settle the roots.
8. After that, water as you would any potted succulent: When nearly dry.

Enjoyed my aeonium combo? Then you'll love my potted echeveria garden!

Potted echeveria garden on my deck

Above: Large plastic pots planted with echeverias are a conversation starter, and are visible from both my outdoor and indoor dining areas. Throughout the year, I easily keep an eye on prized succulents that in the ground might get marred or engulfed. As needed during the year, I move my "echeveria garden" into greater or lesser sun, and occasionally cover it for frost protection. Summer into fall, I keep an eye out for mealy bugs.

 

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Make a Mounded Succulent Arrangement

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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Plant an Echeveria Garden in Pots

Echeverias do great in containers, so why not plant an echeveria garden all in pots? Because echeverias have great color, symmetry and resemble fleshy flowers, my own potted collection suggests an exotic flower garden.

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Red and Pink Aeoniums, Varieties and Care

I was excited to see “Carnival” Aeonium cultivars at Oasis Nursery in Escondido, CA.  A spokesperson for Altman Plants (which owns Oasis) told me these pink-and-ruby beauties “are going out to garden centers as a limited item through April.” To create new hybrids striped with red, pink, cream, green, or yellow, breeders likely crossed dark…

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12 Collectible Succulents Anyone Can Grow Amazing tips

At the recent convention of the Cactus & Succulent Society of America (CSSA) in San Diego, it was fun to catch up with old friends and meet collectors, and vendors from all over. To break the ice, and because I was curious what they'd say, I asked a dozen experts:

My question for CSSA experts

Haworthias won by a narrow margin

Attila Kapitany and Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana

Surprisingly, only two chose the same type of succulent. Convention speaker Attila Kapitany from Australia said, "There are so many choices, but if anything, it has to be safe, hardy, versatile, non-poisonous, and non-spiny. Haworthias!" His second choice was gasterias. "A little more demanding, but just as versatile. And both haworthias and gasterias can grow indoors."

Jack Tian and Haworthia atrofusca 'Watermelon'

For beginners eager to collect unusual succulents but who "don't have much experience," Jack Tian of Thorn Oasis also recommends haworthias. They're widely grown, Jack said, adding that hybridizers in the US and beyond continually introduce new varieties with wonderful forms and patterns.

Euphorbias: one common, one unusual

Al Klein and Euphorbia obesa

Two expert growers, also vendors, recommended plants in the genus Euphorbia, but the species each chose couldn't be more different. Al Klein of Botanic Wonders went with bestselling Euphorbia obesa. He recommends growing "baseball plants" in a fast-draining mix---his is 80 percent pumice and 20 percent peat moss---in pots not much larger than the diameter of the plant. "Letting them get pot-bound is OK."

Kyle Williams and Euphorbia francoisii

The other Euphorbia enthusiast, Kyle Williams of Kyle's Plants, surprisingly recommended obscure Euphorbia francoisii ("fran-SWA-see-eye"). Kyle, who often goes to Thailand, brings back these leafy, seed-grown succulents that form a caudex over time. Collectible Euphorbia francoisii specimens are multicolored, often with prominent veining, and may have overlapping, star-shaped leaves. "They're amazing houseplants," Kyle said. "They need low to medium light, and warm, even temperatures." And typical of succulents, "They don't want to be soaking wet, but don't let them go dry."

For cactus lovers

Hunter Martinez and Mammillaria shiedeana

Collector Hunter Martinez of Cactus Quest on YouTube chose the genus Mammillaria, because "their geometry and forms are really beautiful." For people who don't like spines, he suggests mams with fine, flexible, pectinate spines, which are "more like feathers covering the body than knives sticking out." One pectinate species Hunter is "infatuated" with after seeing it in habitat in Querétaro, Mexico is Mammillaria shiedeana.

Ralph Moran with San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi)

Ralph Moran is a horticulturalist on staff at the San Diego Zoo, where the plant collection exceeds that of the animals. He likes how easy succulents are to propagate and grow. One he said is "so common people give it away," makes a statement in any landscape and starts readily from cuttings: Echinopsis (Trichocereus) pachanoi (San Pedro cactus). "Chop, callus, plant," Ralph said with a smile. "Neglect them, water whenever, and they'll give you a nice, tall, columnar cactus."

Aloes tall and small

Phúc Huynh with a pot of sedum and dwarf Aloe hybrids

Phúc Huynh ("Fook Hwin") from Redlands, CA, serves on the CSSA Board of Directors. He recommends aloes as a genus that's rewarding, easy-care, and fast-growing. Phúc personally prefers tree aloes (now split into Aloidendron), but for beginners, he suggests such in-ground varieties as Aloe vera, Aloe cameronii, or others in nurseries and garden centers. For pots, Phúc recommends colorful, dwarf cultivars from Altman Plants. (Which are sold at Oasis nursery north of San Diego -- DLB.)

Online live-sale vendors

Rita Lunceford with spiral cactus (Cereus forbesii spiralis)

Rita Lunceford of Grow Margo and Poon Thongpool of Beleaf and Grow both have online shops specializing in succulents and exotics, and both do live sales. For beginning collectors, Rita recommends one of her bestsellers: spiral cactus (Cereus forbesii spiralis).

Poon Thongpool with Dracaena (Sansevieria) 'Moonshine'

Poon, originally from Thailand, imports plants from there, China, and Italy. She suggested sansevierias (now lumped with Dracaena), especially her favorite: silvery-green 'Moonshine'.

Btw, if you're looking for a particular succulent, Poon or Rita might be able to help. Both keep up with what's available from growers in San Diego and beyond.

For the climate-challenged

Cindy and Richard Schreiber with Crassula ovata

Richard Schreiber, president of the Mid-Iowa CSS in Des Moines, and his wife---club treasurer Cindy Schreiber---suggest that aspiring collectors who contend with harsh winters start with jade (Crassula ovata), of which there are many varieties. To get them to flower indoors, Cindy says, "Take them outside so they're happy all spring and summer, and when you bring them indoors in September, you'll notice they'll have little buds." She added that "shorter days and longer nights are what causes them to bloom."

Addictive caudiciforms

Tina Zucker with Pachypodium brevicaule

San Diego CSS member Tina Zucker has been collecting, propagating and selling succulents for nearly 50 years. What first  excited her about succulents were caudiciforms: plants with a caudex---a thickened, fleshy, bulb-like base or trunk that stores water and nutrients. Many caudiciforms are succulents, despite having thin leaves. "They're addicting," Tina says. "There are so many kinds."

Agaves and More

Gerhard Bock and Agave victoriae-reginae

Agaves are still his first love, says another plant addict: Gerhard Bock, who does the popular blog, "Succulents and More." "They're so variable," he explained. Gesturing to juvenile agaves in the sale area, including Agave albopilosa, he added, "you might think those were completely unrelated plants." Agaves that get large "make great landscape plants," Gerhard noted, "and small ones make great potted specimens." His favorite species? Agave victoriae-reginae. "It has beautiful markings, and can live in a pot for 30 years before flowering."

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May Succulent News & Events Amazing tips

We've an exciting May ahead! Here's what you can look forward to, succulently speaking, during this merry month.

Sat., May 17: Join me at Wanda's

I'm a docent during the Fallbrook Garden Tour at Wanda Mallen's garden (yes, THE Wanda Mallen, shown above in her garden with yours truly).

Fallbrook Garden Tour 2025

A group of professional landscape designers recently toured her two-acre estate, so that tells you there's more to see at Wanda's than merely (!) her renowned potted collection of rare and oddball succulents. Mature, exotic trees---many in bloom---provide an ideal microclimate for cycads, in-ground succulents, and numerous other lovelies.

Sat., May 24: My Palomar Presentation---Do Come!

At the Palomar Cactus & Succulent Society's spring show-and-sale I'll present Why Aeoniums are Perfect Landscape Succulents. You'll see wildly colorful cultivars, learn their pedigrees,  and get cultivation and care tips.

I'm bringing these and more to show-and-tell at the Palomar event.

Notice the new location:

 

Should you attend a Cactus & Succulent Society show-and-sale near you? Absolutely! Find out why in my recent interview with Fiona Ng, Weekend Editor, LAist (NPR).

Showy hesperaloes

Currently in bloom is a landscape succulent good planted in multiples: Hesperaloe parviflora. These desert natives with upright, slender, gray-green leaves get several feet high. They make great, easy-care, dry-garden filler plants.

Hesperaloe 'Brake Lights' (Monrovia photo)

Flowers that line tall, slender stalks vary from red through shades of pink, orange and yellow. One cultivar with vibrant red blooms is 'Brakelights', perhaps because in Arizona (where it's planted in street medians), drivers slam on their brakes for a closer look.

Ice plants ablaze

Ice plants in bloom now

These ground-cover succulents are low green shrubs until all hues break loose in spring. Now's time to select colors. Find ideas and IDs on my site: Ice Plant Uses, Photos and Varieties.

In your yard now, wow!

Also on my May calendar is "watch for baby birds." You can tell them apart from their same-sized parents by the way they flutter, beg, and cheep-cheep-cheep. Nothing cuter. Enjoy and discover fresh fledglings in my video:

Attending the Fallbrook tour? And/or the Palomar CSS Show-and-Sale? LMK in the Comments!

Coming soon to my YouTube channel: "Collectible Succulents Anyone Can Grow." Insights from engaging experts I interviewed at the recent biennial CSSA convention.

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Wanda’s Collection of Weird & Wonderful Plants

Wanda Mallen’s collection of weird and wonderful plants on two acres in Fallbrook, CA, is a must-see for succulent enthusiasts.  For 25 years she’s directed husband Gary Vincent in planting (sometimes jackhammering) the property’s decomposed granite substrate. “The good thing is DG drains well,” Wanda says. The result is a many-layered landscape unlike any other.…

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Red and Pink Aeoniums, Varieties and Care

I was excited to see “Carnival” Aeonium cultivars at Oasis Nursery in Escondido, CA.  A spokesperson for Altman Plants (which owns Oasis) told me these pink-and-ruby beauties “are going out to garden centers as a limited item through April.” To create new hybrids striped with red, pink, cream, green, or yellow, breeders likely crossed dark…

Read More

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