Home > Books > Book details

Succulent Container Gardens: Design Eye-Catching Displays with 350 Easy-Care Plants

By Debra Lee Baldwin

As I paged through this book for the first time, I think I shouted some obscene expression of admiration every few pages.

Mari Malcolm, Omnivoracious Blog

New

With their colorful leaves, sculptural shapes, and simple care, succulents are beautiful yet forgiving plants for pots. If grown in containers, these dry-climate jewels — which include but are not limited to cacti — can be brought indoors in winter and so can thrive anywhere in the world.

In this inspiring compendium, the popular author of Designing with Succulents provides everything beginners and experienced gardeners need to know to create stunning container displays of exceptionally waterwise plants. The extensive palette includes delicate sedums, frilly echeverias, cascading senecios, edgy agaves, and fat-trunked beaucarneas, to name just a few. Easy-to-follow, expert tips explain soil mixes, overwintering, propagation, and more.

Define your individual style as you effectively combine patterns, colors, textures, and forms. Discover how top designers interpret the dramatic options, in ideas ranging from exquisite plant-and-pot combinations to extraordinary topiaries and bonsai. Expand your repertoire with plump-leaved plants that resemble pebbles, stars, and undersea creatures. Short on space? Create vertical gardens and hanging baskets, and use daisylike rosettes in wall displays.

Each of the more than 300 photographs offers an inspiring idea. A-to-Z descriptions cover 350 of the best succulents, plus companion plants. Whether your goal is a gorgeous potted garden for a sunny windowsill or outdoor living area — or simply making great gifts — this is a comprehensive primer for creating vibrant, living works of art.

Filed under: container, garden design, new books, succulents, bonsai, cactus, care

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 248 pp.
Book dimensions: 7⅝ x 9¼ in. (235 x 195 mm.)
Images: 320 color photos
ISBN-10: 088192959X
ISBN-13: 9780881929591

Video

Media reviews

"Seeing how gardeners turned birdbaths and tiered water fountains into flowing arrangements of sedum, aeonium, echeveria and crassula struck me as the perfect comeback to those who say succulents are boring."

—Craig Nakano, Los Angeles Times

"As I paged through this book for the first time, I think I shouted some obscene expression of admiration every few pages."

—Mari Malcolm, Omnivoracious blog

"Planting succulents in containers opens the way for a hobby within a hobby."

—Dean Fosdick, Associated Press

About the author

Debra Lee Baldwin

Debra Lee Baldwin is an award-winning writer and editor based in Southern California. She has written hundreds of feature articles and columns about architecture, homes, gardens, landscaping and interior design, and people who have made significant contributions to our culture.