Succulent gardens are among the easiest gardens to grow. Besides being almost impossible to kill, succulents offer such gorgeous shapes, colors and textures.
Last week I was at a nursery and saw these amazing succulent container gardens and succulent fountains that I just have to photograph and share them with you! Let’s look at:
5 easy steps from planting succulents, succulent care, to succulent garden design secrets.
Here are the 5 simple steps to plant gorgeous succulent gardens outdoors or indoors!
Step 1. Choose the best light and temperature conditions to plant succulent gardens.
The first thing we need when planting succulents is to select a spot with good light and temperature conditions to plant succulents.
As a garden designer, I often hear people ask: ” How much light do succulent need?” or ” Can I plant succulents outdoors / indoors?”
Most succulents love sunny locations. Some will grow in the shade but they will look different than the same species growing in the sun. For example, Sedum nussbaumerianum takes on a vibrant orange color in the sun, and green in the shade.
If your succulent looks leggy or dull in color, it is likely that the plant needs more sun.
In order to grow healthy succulents indoors, give them the brightest spot such as a sunny windowsill. In the warmer months, bring them outside if possible, for some extra fresh air and bright sun. This will make them stronger before you bring them indoors again for the winter.
If you like these concrete geometric planters perfect for succulents, you can check out the tutorial here!
DIY concrete geometric planters.
When it comes to planting outdoor succulent gardens, the main challenge is temperature. Almost all the succulents will thrive in places that do not get freezing temperatures.
If you live in a colder climate, there are still lots of hardy succulents to choose from that can even survive -20 Fahrenheit! These include lots of Sempervivum ( Hens and Chicks ) and Sedum ( Stonecrop ) varieties.
Step 2. Best soil for planting succulents
The native habitat of most succulents are on dry sunny slopes, which is why succulents love well drained soil. Below is a good soil mix recipe for planting succulents.
Succulent soil mix recipe:
2 parts by volume of standard potting soil, 1 part 1/4″ to 1/8″ fine gravel, and 1 part fine bark. The bark provides slow release nutrients and holds water but allow good air circulation. The gravel helps with drainage and also holds heat.
Now we have our planters and soil ready, let’s start planting succulents!
The following two steps are succulent garden design secrets. Being a garden designer, I have to share some design tricks, right? 🙂
Step 3. Creative containers for succulent gardens
The whimsical shapes and forms of succulents and their shallow root systems make them the perfect candidates for unusual creative container plantings!
Find containers with lost of character. Make sure they have drain holes, especially if they are going to be outdoors exposed to the rain.
If you need some inspirations for succulent containers, check out these 32 artistic and creative re-purposed planters!
32 artistic and creative DIY planters
Step 4. Think scale, color and texture in a succulent garden
Succulents have such unique looks: some look like rosettes, some resemble chubby little branches, some form a dainty textured carpet…
The key to a stunning succulent planter is to have enough contrasts in the scales, colors and textures.
Remember the design formula ” thriller – filler – spiller” in these gorgeous flowering containers? The formula works just as great for succulent plantings!
24 gorgeous container planting designs with plant list for each!
Step 5. Succulent care: how often to water and fertilize
If you live in a climate that rains at least once a week, there will be almost no need to water your succulents. Only water them during a hot and dry spell.
In a climate like here in Southern California, when there’s almost no rain from spring through fall, succulent gardens need to be watered once or twice a week.
Succulents need less water and fertilizer than most plants. However, potted plants do need supplemental nutrients. During the growing season, fertilize your potted succulents with an all purpose fertilizer diluted at 1/2 to 1/4 the strength recommended for other plants.
Hope you are enjoying lots of beautiful time in nature! See you next week!
Samantha
Oooo! Thank you for these tips! I have been thinking about adding a few succulents to a flowerbed in our front yard. Or maybe some inside the house. Or everywhere! Lol! 🙂
Willow
These are all things I need to learn! My husband has the green thumb around here. He grows a ton of succulents. I have a black thumb!
Rachel Ritlop
Oh wow how gorgeous and creative! I love this idea!
Sue Tanya McHorgh
These are all things I need to learn! Thanks for sharing
jessica
well i think i just found my weekend project…i LOVE succulents and can’t wait for my own little garden. thanks for the tips!
Hikayesi
Realy Beatiful!
Chamoise
Oh I love love love succulents and i would like to have many one!
It’s your garden ,your collection succulents?…So lovely!
Thank’s Ananda
Have a lovely summer with all yiu need in your life…
Tendreness
Lucy
After going through your blog about succulent gardens, I would love to try succulent in front of my home. I loved your garden pictures. Keep on writing such good blogs about gardening tips.
ktc
Just what we need for our broken water fountain! What a show stopper for our front yard. Thanks
CGinAZ
Beautiful fountains. But I’ve been wanting to tell you about the 3 ways to whitewash wood post you made and I pinned. Since that day, that pin has been repinned nearly 200 times. Just from my board, painting how tos. I can only imagine how popular it’s been on your original site. Congrats on that. And I thought whitewash was over as a trend. But it’s still a thing!
ananda
hi! thank you so much! =) i was surprised too- it’s like 200k! can never predict what get shared like crazy! =)
Simran Ahuja
They look so beautiful I just loved it Great work!!!!
Crissa Clark
Love them all……stunningly gorgeous
Kimberly Delgado
Wow! I’m so glad I haven’t done my succulent plantings yet, so now I know what to do. Thanks so much, you are incredibly creative. All the arrangements are stunningly beautiful and those fountains!!! Omg! Now I want to do our fountain like that too but I know hubs will say no. A birdbath would look really pretty too, I think that’s what I’ll do. Have you done succulent birdcages? They are so gorgeous too. That’s one of my pending succulent plantings.
ananda
thank you kimberly! haven’t tried birdcages 🙂 there are endless possibilities!
Lindsey
Hi Ananda, great post with nice photography 🙂 btw I have one question in my mind, did you use vermicompost as a natural fertilizer, actually I am doing with this in current time and its great for high Yield 🙂
ananda
hi lindsey, i have used worm compost and had the best tomato seedlings! =) our succulents don’t get fertilized much.