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The wonderful world of Surreal Succulents

Found all over the world, succulents are drought-tolerant plants with bold and architectural shapes. Growing in a fascinating array of sizes and colours they’re perfect for your home and garden

Succulents are incredibly easy to look after and need a free-draining soil mix. At the nursery, we use peat-free, multipurpose

compost with 40 percent grit or perlite added to keep the soil free-draining. We always feed our plants in the growing season. If you have an outdoor display, either planted in your garden or in containers, then let Mother Nature do the watering on your behalf. If you have a display indoors, water them every time the soil is bone dry and and when you do water them, thoroughly drench them.

These plants come in every colour of the rainbow. They’re perfect for a small garden, patio or even a windowsill where they will add colourful contemporary style.

Intricate and unusual, there are specimens to fascinate everyone from the hardy spiralling Aloe polyphylla.


To the colourful and ornamental Aeonium ‘Mardi Gras’.

Going vertical

Many succulents are perfectly adapted for vertical living. Some originate in remote locations and grow on cliff faces. Their leaves are waxy to protect them from windy and coastal conditions. We used this habitat as inspiration for a vertical garden and living walls.

No soil no problem!

You can use raised beds, planters and pots to create amazing succulent displays. Succulents are well adapted to thrive in small amounts of soil as they store water and nutrients in their leaves and stems. It’s a great way to create an exotic or tropical garden display in a small space.
 

Did you know?

It can take aeoniums three to 10 years to flower. And when they do, they produce the most incredible displays, which last for several months and are adored by bees.

Surreal Succulents

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Plants in this article you may like

Aeonium canariense var. subplanum
Canary Island flat giant houseleek
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Aeonium</em> <em>canariense</em> var. <em>subplanum</em>
Sedum × rubrotinctum
jelly bean plant
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Sedum</em> × <em>rubrotinctum</em>
Aloe polyphylla
many-leaved aloe
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Aloe</em> <em>polyphylla</em>
Aeonium canariense var. subplanum
Canary Island flat giant houseleek
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Aeonium</em> <em>canariense</em> var. <em>subplanum</em>
Sedum × rubrotinctum
jelly bean plant
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Sedum</em> × <em>rubrotinctum</em>
Aloe polyphylla
many-leaved aloe
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Aloe</em> <em>polyphylla</em>
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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.