Sexy Succulents

LeverageRE

Little wonder why succulents are one of the hottest trends in home decor. They play nice with many of today’s most popular interior styles—from Fixer Upper farmhouse chic to Kardashian monotone to Asian eclectic. You can spin their appeal by choosing the right container and voila, magic happens! And they’re fun take on as a super-simple project. Here’s how.

These days almost every plant nursery and home improvement store carries a large selection of succulents to choose from, along with the necessary supplies. In Austin, East Austin Succulents has more than an acre of dazzling beauties and is ready to help with advice. They recommend using a succulent-suitable potting soil to get your plants off to a head start. And because you’ll be building a kind of horticultural 7-layer dip, you’ll also need decorative pebbles, activated charcoal, and sphagnum moss.

In your chosen container, lay down a layer of pebbles, charcoal, and moss, about an inch deep for each layer. These materials will act as a water filtration system, keeping your succulents’ roots away from standing water—which they do not like. Then add soil to fill the container. Avoid packing the soil tightly as succulents like a loose growing medium. Using a pencil or wooden spoon handle, poke a hole in the soil and gently nestle your succulents into their new home. If desired you can add more pebbles to the top for a neat-looking finish.

Your plants will do best in a bright spot that doesn’t get direct sun. Water once a week and don’t overdo the soaking.

The hardest part about creating a succulent garden may be deciding what to plant them in. There are no rules. At East Austin Succulents, they have plants growing in lunchboxes, cowboy boots, and scooped-out pumpkins.

If you’re DIY-handy, you can spray-paint empty tin cans in fun colors and create a montage of succulent pots.