Gardening with Succulents

What plant needs little and infrequent watering, looks good all year round, is available in many shapes and sizes, is interesting and fun to propagate and is easy to obtain in the first place? The answer is a succulent.

Scientifically the category “succulent” also includes cacti and epiphytes, but most gardeners consider succulents to be a group of mainly low growing, rosette-shaped plants with fleshy leaves. Sue Adams tells us that a succulent is a plant with cells that are adapted to store water. These cells can be in the leaf, the stem or, less often, in the root. They are ideal for French gardens as they tolerate heat and drought, thrive on benign neglect and can be incorporated into planting plans in containers, walls, roof tiles and sunny, dry, sheltered corners of the garden and borders. Whilst many can remain outside all year round, some of the tender succulents may need to come inside for the coldest winter months. These are small and, therefore, easy to house under cover.

These include the Sempervivums (or house leeks), Echeveria, Sedums and Hylotelephiums and Aeoniums. We grow them all, with the exception of Aeoniums, although I covet the beautiful almost black Aeonium “Zwartkop”. Our largest collection is of Sempervivums, planted in a series of low troughs along a sunny south-facing gravel path where the different shapes and sizes give year round interest. Colours can change, with several turning a rich red in the summer months, only to fade to green each autumn. At the height of summer they develop a very pretty, fleshy flowering stem, and the rosette immediately below the stem may die after flowering. Sempervivums are sometimes nicknamed Hens and Chicks because they reproduce vegetatively by sending out little shoots with miniature plants on the end. These tuck their roots into the adjacent ground and quickly become independent plants. Others, such as Echeverias, can be propagated by removing a leaf, sticking it into suitable soil and waiting. Tiny plants appear, either sprouting directly from the leaf or nearby. I also have a Kalanchoe which I propagated from a large plant. I nipped off a tiny portion but didn’t pot it for two weeks. It is now not only established but has produced tiny offsets. Another favourite of mine is Lewisia which flowers its heart out for at least six months, regularly producing offshoots which I gently peel away from the parent plant and pot up. The flowers range from yellow through orange to pink and they look great grouped in shallow containers in semi-shade. Again, in the colder months I bring these inside.

Although all of these plants are easy to grow and propagate, their requirements are very strict. They hate to be wet so be careful about how and where you plant them. Many will comfortably survive several degrees of frost providing their feet do not sit in water and their leaves are never submerged. Shallow troughs are ideal as the plants have shallow roots. If the troughs are wide or long you can compose an attractive arrangement of different shapes and forms to include green, red, bicoloured and even “cobweb” covered Sempervivums (Sempervivum arachnoideum).

Line the base of the pot generously with old crocks to help drainage and then add a loose soil mixture. I also add vermiculite to open up the texture of shop-bought compost or compost I make myself, and I also mix in some gravel. The little rosettes are gently pushed into the soil and anchored into position with more gravel while the roots develop. A mulch of gravel around each plant throughout the year will raise the leaves above the soil and help to keep them dry. If they are left outside in winter ensure that they never sit in water. We usually line the more sensitive ones up at the foot of a south facing wall, under the eaves.

Wherever you plant them, the beauty is that you can love them and leave them, and when you return weeks later they will still be there, their sunny face turned upwards to welcome you back

Sue Adams has lived in SW France for 15 years and is developing a small field into a garden with orchard, vegetable and soft fruit garden, flower beds, dry garden and a wildlife haven. It’s still a work in progress. You can read more from Sue at www.jardinpaysan.com