Alien looking, self-sufficient, popular with students and those of us that forget to water – succulents are a fascinating group of plants and can be very satisfying to grow. They are virtually indestructible and seem unbothered by most pests and diseases. That is unless you overwater them – and then they behave like the Wicked Witch of the East and melt away (but sadly to sludge rather than in a puff of green smoke).
This is a big group of plants; across many botanical families throughout the world some plants have found themselves in difficult terrain and have gradually adapted to their circumstances, developing ways to survive and conserve water. We might imagine they are all from warmer climates and deserts, but there are succulents found in mountainous regions too. It can get very cold at night in the desert and the winter in the mountains, but it tends to be dry in these places – until there’s a flash flood, or spring ice melt – and this is when the plants will rush into flower and suck up as much water as they can to last them until the next time. They will store water in their fleshy stems and leaves and manage to eke it out, sometimes for years, until it rains again.
This gives us a clue as to the sort of care they need and, although we don’t live in an arid desert (yet), we can try to mimic the situation. For a start we should choose the sunniest, driest part of the garden to grow them in. A rockery is ideal, as they are usually raised (and potentially full of useful rocks and crevices). This mimics the scree slopes and mountainous places and looks more natural.
These fleshy leaved survivors are adapted to harsh dry conditions, and will grow in the unlikeliest of places – cracks in paving, dry stone walls – and in the past were even used to plug holes in thatched roofs, earning the name ‘houseleeks’. The Latin name, Sempervivum, is interesting too, meaning ever-living, hinting at their tendency to keep going and not die back. Providing there’s good drainage and the right varieties have been chosen, they’ll manage outside through the winter too.
Plant them in the sunniest parts of the garden if they are going to live up to this ever-living habit – they will be ‘ever-dying’ if positioned in a damp, dark corner. The exception to this is Sedum spectabile – the ice plant, which seems to manage in most garden situations. This is a wonderfully useful, low growing perennial that comes into its own at the end of summer when its nectar-rich flowers are smothered in butterflies and bees.

Succulents make for very successful living roofs too. You can buy them either on a roll, or in shallow trays that can be laid like tiles. Providing there’s good drainage, they will need very little maintenance and will instantly beautify a bin store or shed roof – and attract wildlife.

Containers

Succulents make striking pot plants; you can design the display to bring interesting contrasts in form and colour that will rival a bedding display. A container of succulents will have one big advantage. While traditional summer pots and hanging baskets will need watering regularly – once or even twice a day in hot weather – you can happily leave succulents unwatered for long periods, ideal if you are away during the summer.
Choose a shallow container (troughs and low bowls work really well) and make sure that the growing medium is very gritty – add at least 50% horticultural grit to any multipurpose compost, or buy a specially formulated mix. Good drainage is the key to success – it’s important that any container has adequate drainage holes. If you are leaving them outside all year, they will need to be kept out of the worst of the weather and moved into a porch or sheltered place to keep them out of the rain.

Seasonal Care

Winter Watch… It gets cold in the desert at night, which means that many cacti and succulents are surprisingly hardy at low temperatures, thanks to a sort of plant anti-freeze in the sap. The big problem is the damp.

Cold, damp winters get the better of many of us, but if the fleshy leaves of a non-hardy succulent freeze, the cell walls will burst and then thaw into mush. Check labels on plants carefully when you buy them to see how hardy they are at low temperatures.

Frost resistant or not, none of them will like to sit outside in the rain for long, in fact it is more likely to be winter wet that does for them, rather than just the cold. Bring succulents in containers under cover if you can – into a cold greenhouse, porch or the shelter of an overhanging roof.
Springing Forth… The only time your succulents would appreciate a good watering is in the spring. This is the ideal time to give them a bit of tic in the form of feeding or repotting. You may find that they have produced offspring, which are endearingly called ‘pups’. These can be separated from the parent and potted up individually, or left in situ, where they will eventually take over from the main plant, especially if it is a monocarpic variety, which will flower once (often spectacularly, with their weird, tall flowers that look like something from Star Trek) and then die.
Summer Loving… The hot, dry summers we are beginning to experience here – though perhaps not this year(!) – while potentially treacherous, are ideal for succulents. In fact it’s more a case of ‘No rain? No problem!’ The rest of the plants may be brown and shrivelled, but these guys will keep going and thrive where others fear to grow. This is why they’re so good on living roofs – it’s unnecessary, and anyway mostly impractical to water, and so the weeds tend to frazzle and leave the succulents to it.

Houseplants

Tender succulents make perfect houseplants, but not in the kitchen or bathroom, where it could be too steamy for them. A hot sunny windowsill or bright and warm conservatory will suit them down to the ground. Like most other houseplants they are great air purifiers – and some are even medicinal. Aloe vera sap is skin soothing and contains a natural pain reliever – just cut off a little section and apply directly on the skin.

More is More

These addictive little plants are so ready to reproduce themselves that, aside from separating and growing the pups, you can even just pull off a leaf or chop a piece of stem, poke into the soil and before too long a miniature plant will emerge from the parent piece. Just make sure you leave the cut piece to callous over for a couple of days to prevent it rotting and that you insert it into a gritty compost mix. Within a few months you could end up with quite a collection of new plants…

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