How to Care for Your Houseplants that are Succulents

Hi-yah, you’ve got me at my kitchen table today instead of in my bedroom where you normally see me.  And that’s sort of because it just seemed like a more sensible place to talk about what I want to talk about today which is plants and house plants and succulents in particular.  Up until a year ago I didn’t have any house plants at all there’s a fantastic collective called urban jungle bloggers.  Online as urban jungle bloggers dot com.  And there’s a brilliant gallery on there of styling ideas for using plants in the home.

If you’re ever in need of inspiration it’s a great place to look.  It was that that caught my attention and so I started investing in houseplants and my collection grew and grew and grew and now I’m not sure there’s any room in our house that doesn’t have a plant in it now.

How to Maintain Houseplants that are Succulents

I think one of the reasons that I didn’t have houseplants before is that I was convinced I would kill them because I am not particularly green-fingered.  But the great thing about succulents in particular is they are perfect for beginners.  They’re really really hard to kill and I wanted to share some of that with you.  With my pick of my three favorite easy succulents.  So if you don’t have a single plant in your house try one of these.  I bet you can keep it alive.

First up is what I know as a Money Plant.  It’s also known as a Jade Plant.  I can remember these clearly from my childhood.  Now some people do accuse the Money Plant of being a bit old-fashioned but I think that’s unfair.

Now these plants live for years.  These are literally plants that will accompany us into our old age.  The Money Plant really likes a sunny spot but they are okay in spots that don’t get direct sunlight too.  This one lives on a shelf in my living room.  Actually it doesn’t get a heck of a lot of sunshine there so I’m going to move it onto my windowsill and see whether that helps it grow a bit faster.

Now the secret to looking after succulent’s is don’t overwater.  This is absolutely key, and it goes for all.  And that is why they are great for people like me.  I have a tendency to forget to water their plants.  You just have to stick your finger into the soil I don’t know that an inch down.  If it’s really dried out, then give it a water.  Just want to keep the soil reasonably moist but not sort of saturated with water.

Next up the Echeveria.  I don’t know how you pronounce it, I’m guessing Echeveria.  Now this is like the trendiest of succulents.  These are what you see in the photographs by the most style conscious bloggers and Instagrammers.  There are loads and loads of different varieties of Echeveria around.  I don’t know what this one is.  What’s distinctive about the Echeveria is it sort of grows in this lovely rosette shape.  They like a sunny window spot so mine lives on our windowsill in our living room.

Like all succulents you don’t want to overwater these, and you want a soil that is going to drain quickly.  There are special succulent soil mixes that you can buy at the garden center or a cacti mix is fine which is what I use.  It’s quite a sandy consistency so that it will drain quickly.  Basically, you also want to have a flower pot that has a hole in the bottom.  I use old sources or side plates to pop these on so that the water doesn’t go everywhere when you water them.

The other thing about the Echeveria is that you don’t want to water their leaves you want to water the soil underneath.  Water it until water starts coming out of the bottom.  Do that a couple of times and then it’s good until the soil is dried out again.

Houseplants that are Succulents

This is my aloe vera.  This was one of the first house plants that I got.  There are a tough species that are really easy to care for.  Now the aloe vera loves bright conditions but not really direct sunlight.  This one actually lives on my windowsill where it is quite bright and sunny, and it sort of looks okay if the leaves are growing upwards then that’s perfect.  If they are growing outwards like this one that lives on my bedside table then that probably means it’s not getting enough light.

I think this one is ready for repotting really.  It’s getting quite top-heavy.  It’s also had what I call rude pups these sort of little offshoots that are growing up.  There’s one there and I’ve just spotted there’s a bigger one this side too.  Once they’re 2 inches high they’re big enough to take out and plant on their own as a separate plant.  The aloe vera has a root system that is quite shallow.  It’s a shallow spreading root system so a wide planter is better than a sort-of taller planter.

One thing I didn’t like about house plants as I thought they would really collect the dust.  What I do if they get dusty and they do get dusty is I give them a little shower.  I try to make sure that not too much water goes into the pot so I just tilt the pot slightly, shower off the leaves and then they look good as new again.  So there you go there’s my top three succulents for beginners.  [snip]