To say I am obsessed with succulents would be a mild underestimation. As per my previous post I was not gifted with a green thumb. So my foray into succulents was my attempt at keeping a plant alive that was more in line with the shade of my thumb. Plants that need little water or attention, that’s something I can handle.

While at Home Depot buying our lime tree for the cocktail garden, I also picked up a few succulents. I originally planted them in the ground in the yard, and they looked small and sad, yet alive.

One of the succulents completely took off. It grew so quickly that it looked like a mutant plant and wasn’t all that attractive any longer. I had heard about propagating the succulents and breaking them into more plants so I decided to try it. I cut off all of the smaller plants from the mother plant. I was able to turn one plant into 16 more.

I decided to plant all 16 and see what happened. It took a while, but they all took root and our succulent garden grew into another planter. By this time I also had already bought more succulents, trying to collect all of the varieties, a futile effort I’ve learned.

Every week the gardener comes to the house to trim the plants and the lawn; they also loved to dig up my succulents. They would rake the soil, and in turn, dig up my precious succulents. Weary of replanting my plants every Thursday after work I decided it would be best to move the succulents to pots.

I dug them all up and laid them out. I also was generously given some succulent clippings from a friend’s collection, so I could further grow my varieties. I ended up buying several more to completely fill the new planters.

I actually ended up potting the succulents twice, so learn from my mistake. The first time I did not drill holes in the bottom of the pot. I also did not allow for any internal drainage. What I ended up with was soupy manure. And man did it stink. Cleaning those pots out was one of the grossest experiences of my life. So don’t skip the pertinent steps of drainage.

When re-potting, I drilled large holes in the bottom of each pot. I also purchased medium sized river rocks and stacked them in the bottom for additional help with drainage, as well as to keep the soil in the pot. I replanted all of the succulents and I haven’t had a sewage problem since.

The succulents are thriving and I haven’t had to replant any since.

My only problem now is that I’ve run out of space for new succulents – so I guess it’s time for some more containers…

Cost:

Plant Pots – $19.99/each x 3 = $59.97

Stones – $3.36/bag = $3.36

Succulents – too many to count. Between $3-$12/each (depending on size)

Total: $63.33 + plants