5 Sensational Succulent Arrangement Ideas For A Showstopping Container Anyone Can Try

Combining the vast number of forms, colors, and textures is one way to capitalize on your succulent arrangement ideas. There are over 10,000 varieties of succulents, although some are not as commonly available for the home gardener. Some of the best ways to showcase your succulents involve inventive container garden themes, mixing up heights, locations and container types.

Succulent plant arrangement ideas are limited only by available plants and your imagination. Visit any nursery or garden center, and you’ll be inspired by all the choices. Pick a unique container, make sure it has drainage holes, and get ready to have some fun!

Selecting the Best Container Arrangements

Succulents in container gardening combinations must be happy with the same growing requirements. The range of plants includes tropical succulents and hot weather container plants like the holiday cacti and desert specimens. Plant together only those that like the same conditions.

Additionally, plants that enter dormancy at the same time should be planted together. There are both winter and summer dormant plants. Sedum, Kalanchoe, Echeveria, and Agave are all winter dormant. Aloe, Aeonium, Dudlya, Senecio, and Haworthia are all summer dormant plants.

When considering succulent potting ideas, one of the most common ways to design a plant display is to have a thriller, a filler, and a spiller. There is one main (generally larger) plant at the center. A few plants cascade over the planter rim, then fill in with smaller succulents as filler.

1. Mixed Succulent Dish

This is a classic way to display bright bold succulents and smaller succulent plants. Arranging succulents with different characteristics but the same growing requirements can result in a lush, diverse harmony of features.

Give young, immature succulents enough room to grow in a dish. Eventually, you will have a lovely blend of spikes, pads and rosettes. Gray, blue, green, pink and other pastel hues meld together for a vision pleasing to the eye. Most succulents don’t have deep root systems, so a shallow dish is perfect for these types of succulent potting ideas.

Use a good succulent mix and install the plants at the level they were in their nursery pots. Water all the plants in well, then let the soil dry before watering again.

2. Fairy Garden Pot

Fairy gardens have become popular in recent years, due to their diminutive features and whimsical nature. Inventive succulent fairy garden ideas are ideal as a way of encompassing the whimsical and diminutive nature of these gardens.

There are many accents you can incorporate to enhance the charm and storybook nature of a fairy garden. Little succulents fit in perfectly with the scheme. Lithops, smaller Mammillaria, Echeveria, aloes, jade plants and many more will fill the fairy garden with representations of tiny bushes, trees or even grasses.

3. Terrarium Succulents

A terrarium is traditionally a plastic or glass container filled with plants and often items like moss. They may have driftwood or other natural items as accents. With succulents, a desert-themed display will be supported on a bed of succulent or cactus soil.

For optimum succulent terrarium care, select plants that can handle the humidity that will build in the container. Hens and chicks would thrive in such an enclosure. Just be sure the container doesn’t have a lid. It needs to be open for plenty of airflow. Watering in this situation can be tricky. The roots of the plants must not sit in excess moisture. One way to avoid this is to place each plant in its own container so you can monitor each plant’s water needs individually.

Hide the containers with sphagnum moss so the plants will appear to blend seamlessly with one another. Place the container well away from a southern or western window. If the terrarium is too close, the light will reflect and amplify the heat, potentially burning leaves and stems.

4. Hanging Succulents

A vertical wall or hanging planters adds dimension and draws the eye upward. String of pearls and Burro’s tail are classic examples of succulent hanging plants that can add elevated visual interest. Fishbone cactus and rope hoya are other excellent plant options for raised succulent designs.

If you want to make a vertical display, one inexpensive and easy way to make it is to plant it in a door-hung shoe holder. These are readily available and come with pockets to insert your shoes and keep them off the floor. Nestle succulents in sphagnum moss with just a bit of soil inside.

When you want to water the plants, move the whole affair to the bath and hang it on the curtain rod. Dispense small amounts of water to avoid excess moisture building up in the pockets.

5. Go Crazy With Containers!

Because succulents come in such diverse forms, they complement any container – so the more whimsical, the better! One way to create a display is by repurposing common household items. Any vessel can be made into a container for these adaptable plants. If you have a glue gun or are a fair hand with a paintbrush, prettying up even a sour cream container is a snap, and you will have a perfectly handy pot for succulents.

For a cheap and easy succulent container idea, I have a very old, rusty, metal toolbox that I have drilled holes into the bottom. Inside reside some very happy hens and chicks that bloom and keep producing more and more pups. An old snuff tin, baby shoes, the drawers of a dresser, cups and bowls and even a coffee can are all appropriate and unique pots for succulents.

These containers are perfect for cheering up a quiet corner of your yard, or for accenting any existing outdoor succulent garden you might have. If the item can hold soil and have holes put into the bottom, it's a succulent planter. If the container is large enough, plant a larger succulent in the center, and smaller or cascading plants around the outside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Great Container Ideas

• Looking for inventive dish garden ideas? We show you how to design a dish garden by selecting the right container (and plants) for your space.
• Being able to mix up ornamentals and edibles is a technique that the French have been doing for centuries – here we guide you through the process of foodscaping for containers that can pop with color and flavor!
• If you’re seeking reliable, cutting-edge container designs, don’t worry – we’ve got your covered! Check out the selection of specially curated pots and planters in the Gardening Know How Shop.

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