Houseplants for a sunny spot
Choose cacti and succulents for a bright windowsill indoors
The full sun and heat are ideal for plants which originate in desertlike conditions, like cacti and other succulents. These groups of plants are extremely tolerant to extreme conditions and are also able to withstand a drought because they store a large amount of moisture within their structure; break a leaf off a succulent and squeeze it to see the amount of juice it exudes.
A selection of different echeverias make an interesting display, their colourful rosettes vary from silvery greens, variegated, rose/ pink tipped to full-blown black in the aptly named echeveria ‘Black Prince’. Grow them in individual pots or plant them together in a shallow pot in a natural-looking desertscape with carefully chosen stones and gravel top dressing.
Grow them in a free-draining compost. I like to use houseplant compost mixed with an equal quantity of Perlite, and during the spring and summer feed fortnightly with a high-potassium feed.
Echeveria can be easily propagated from offsets, or individual leaves. Propagating from leaves involves gently twisting a complete leaf off the mother plant, leaving
it exposed to the air for three or four days to allow the wound to form a callous. Next, lay the leaves on the surface of damp, freedraining compost, with the callous touching or slightly under the surface. Keep cuttings warm, ideally 18-25C (64-77F), and humid and after three or four weeks you’ll see the young plantlets appearing. Once they’re large enough to handle transplant into individual pots filled with free-draining compost.