I love this pot I photographed at Paul and Uli’s garden in Etobicoke a few month back. It uses a tender Kalanchoe as the centre feature and is stuffed full of tender echeveria (the frilled varieties are always my favourite), and pencil cactus (lower right).
This is a pot anyone can grow as long as the potting soil has a bit of grit added to it to help it drain well. Unfortunately, none of these plants will overwinter outdoors in cold climates, but they settle back indoors with little fuss.
I don’t even bother upending the roots. I just cut the stems, let them heal over for a few days (forming a callus over the cut end) and then stick them into some sandy soil. They reroot easily, and cutting them back in this way prevents those long and scraggly bare stems that are inevitable with these plants as they grow and drop their older leaves.
Those are some gorgeous succulents!
That is absolutely fabulous! I’m so excited about all the textures and colours of succulents – there doesn’t seem to be a bad combination.
Hey Gayla,
you have written about gardening in minimum space in Tokyo once but have you ever written about Patrick Blanc’s vertical gardens? Lately I’ve seen that Flora Grubb gardens sell a DIY vertical garden panel and they built with an architect a gorgeous succulent panel in a Hollywood house. Maybe you can show us examples of vertical urban farming, too?
i love succulents! somewhat hesitant about growing tender varieties, though, since i try to minimize what needs to be taken inside to overwinter.
the frilly ones look like ornamental cabbages :-)
Gorgeous succulents.