Thursday, March 21, 2013

A Suffusion of Succulents

Okay, I have a bit of a thing for alliteration, hence the title of this post, but I think you can say that succulents have "suffused" (i.e. spread in the manner of fluid or light) into our nurseries, at least here in Southern California. There was a time when succulents were rather hard to find outside of specialty nurseries.  Not so any more.  They're everywhere.  Unfortunately, their prices increased with their popularity too, which is frustrating given how easily these plants can be propagated from cuttings.  Recently, a few local nurseries have begun offering inexpensive succulents in 6-packs.  No Agaves or Dyckias - most of the succulents offered for sale this way are the more common CrassulasSedums and Echeverias - but the less expensive offerings are still appreciated.  This little display in my garden was created in February entirely with succulents from 6-packs.

Crassula radicans 'Small Red', Graptosedum 'California Sunset', Sedum 'Salsa Verde'

Whereas succulents, if they were available at all, were once tucked in the odd corner of the nursery, garden centers are now featuring these plants front and center in their displays.  A friend took the following pictures for me at Rogers Gardens in Orange County a couple of weeks ago using her phone:





Okay, in the interest of truth telling, this display wasn't actually at the front of the nursery but rather toward the back near the nursery's business offices but, nevertheless, it is a large and prominent display.  Rogers moved most of the succulents it offers for sale up from the back of the nursery to the front last year, reflecting their increased popularity with shoppers as well as the nursery's push for increased use of "California-friendly" plants.

A lot of nurseries offer fanciful, densely planted succulent pots.  These are generally very pricey but they can provide inspiration for your own creations.  I took the following pictures at Sperling, a nursery in Calabasas, on a recent stop.



This pretty arrangement comes with a birdbath but did you note the hefty price tag?

As those of you who viewed my earlier post on succulents know, I already have a lot of containers filled with succulents.  Even so, I'm preparing to add some succulent-filled hanging baskets.  With our Santa Ana winds, hanging baskets filled with herbaceous plants require constant attention whereas hanging baskets filled with succulents, like the one pictured below, bloom despite benign neglect.

6 comments:

  1. 6 packs. Wow, how wonderful that would be. Looks like it is going to be a wonderful little spot when it grows in. HD had a lot of succulents last week and I grabbed a few but the displays at Roger's are out of this world. When I lived in Irvine 30 years ago ( gosh, just saying that makes me shudder) I don't remember this style of gardening. In fact I know it wasn't because I redid a garden and no one ever suggested succulents. They were still landscaping for green. Like oyu I have moved towards succulents in hanging baskets. Too hard to water others, as you say.

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    1. As you might expect, the local landscapers still accommodate the requests of clients who want the gardens they remember from childhood, even though a large percentage of them migrated here from very different climates. Progressive nurseries and horticulturists nonetheless are gently nudging us toward a greater appreciation of plants more appropriate to our zone. And it helps that those succulent prices are getting more reasonable!

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  2. What a beautiful display! Succulents are so very interesting - and so many of them are colorful. I like the idea of succulents in baskets. I am notorious for forgetting to water my container plants. Maybe i'll put succulents in them this year!

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    1. I'm also notorious for ignoring pots and baskets until the plants in them shrivel. Even the "self-watering" pots haven't worked for me. Soon, all I may have in pots will be succulents - they like to be ignored!

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  3. Succulents are becoming very popular here as well even though they are houseplants at best for more than half the year. If they weren't so expensive I'd be inclined to treat them as annuals. Instead I just add very few every year. Love them though.

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    1. I'm sure I'd feel very different about succulents if I had to haul them inside every winter. My husband doesn't even like having the cats inside - I can't imagine how he'd feel about a room filled with pots (or, worse yet, his garage/workshop filled with pots).

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