Succulents are beautiful plants and though they may not appeal to everyone, they have unique qualities that deserve attention. I especially like seeing them used in containers. While tropical and/or colorful plants like Coleus, Lantana, Sweet Potato Vine, Geraniums and many others are common components in summer containers, succulents can be quite show stopping in the right combinations. Here is a example of the container that is currently on display in our Madagascar Glasshouse. It contains easy to locate plants such as Pencil Cactus (actually a succulent, not a cactus), other Euphorbia species, Aeonium, and Jade plant to name just a few. Note the different textures and colors. They are, of course, in full sun and receive regular weekly waterings througout the summer. Although they are kept in a greenhouse in the winter, we severly cut back their water and force them into dormancy so that they don’t get too leggy. One word of caution, do be careful with all Euphorbia species because if you snap a leaf off or break a stem, they exude a white sap that can be irritating to your skin and downright painful if you somehow get the sap in your eyes. Trust me, I personally know how this feels. I was bent over clipping back one of our large Pencil Cactus and my nametag was inadverdently caught up in one of the branches. Not knowing this, I stood up, a branch snapped and the sap squirted into my right eye. I went immediatly to the hospital and was given eye numbing drops and antibiotic drops. It was painful to put it mildly and I had blurry vision for three days. Nevertheless, everything healed fine and I learned a valuable lesson: wear eye protection next time.

 Posted by Cynthia Druckenbrod

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 7:00 am and is filed under Cynthia Druckenbrod, Succulents, container gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.