Succulents – Here to Stay

The use of succulent plants (plants that have swollen, fleshy and/or thickened parts that retain water) in warmer and arid climates is certainly not new.  However, over the past 10 years, I’ve seen an explosion in the use of non-hardy succulents in the Midwest landscape.  These uses including bedding schemes, containers and other situations that would benefit from the wise range of foliage colors, textures and certainly flowering contributions in some cases.  While we use very few succulents at RBG, I was amazed at the wide spectrum of availability seen at various trade shows and trial gardens that I’ve visited over the past couple of years.  The intent with this blog is simply to share some of what I’m seeing as you will certainly run across these treasures at area greenhouses. Keep in mind that while we have “hardy succulents” (i.e. Sedum, Sempervivum, etc.) that thrive in our climates, many of these “fancy” selections seen in the blog would need winter babysitting inside between November and April.  Know your plant!