This Article is Reprinted from the 2014 Fall Garden Notes Newsletter

Creative gardening with succulents allows you to free up your creativity and channel your inner artist in some easy, pretty much fail-safe projects using low maintenance succulents as the centerpiece. Indoors or out, on the wall, in or on the ground, or just hanging around they make for eye-catching displays. They can be potted in a design, highlighted on the own, tucked into mixed plantings and empty corners, or used in other ways that are more like art pieces than plantings. Envision wreaths, screens, miniature gardens, terrariums and more.

Succulents are usually defined as plants with fleshy leaves or stems that allow them to store water in arid areas or those with poor soils. They are flexible and will grow in most soil types as long as gardeners keep in mind how they operate. Since they are designed for storing scarce water the issue of watering is crucial. They can easily be over-watered in regular potting soil. There are commercial soils made for them that have more grit which let more water flow through rather than be stored in the soil (succulent roots get water from what's carried in the air around them rather than from direct contact with water in the soil).

Alternatively, one can add perlite to regular potting soil in a ratio of three-part soil to one part perlite. The most important factor is that it should be well draining. They should be watered deeply at regular intervals rather than lightly watered often for strong plants and root systems to form. Some sources recommend using a low-dose water-soluble fertilizer (20-20-20 or 20-10-20) in each watering. They do have dormant periods (some summer, some winter) during which watering should be lessened or stopped.

Once you have a handle on growing and caring for succulents, their flexibility allows

for much variety and creativity in ways they can be displayed. Free up your inner artist to make them whimsical (think teacups, old children's toys, niches and crannies, etc.), sculptural (a pyramid of stacked dishes), in single or mixed displays, matched or multi-colored. Succulents come in an amazing array of forms and in a huge range of colors, adding to the possibilities.

Modifying the planting process or medium allows you to decorate inside and out. The following is but a short list of possibilities (see references below for a myriad of photos and ideas for projects).

References:

http://www.themarthablog.com/2013/04/rooting-cut-succulents.html detailed with pictures of steps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmHOfIndBdY make your own succulent wreath (similar process for other design projects)

For ideas and directions for specific projects google the succulent project you are interested in.