HARDY SUCCULENT,
BOTANY’S BIG SUCCESS STORY
Trying to understand succulents’ surge in popularity is a little like trying to explain why the sky is blue.
You know the science of it. Succulents are fairly easy to grow, have the ability to survive on benign neglect and are perfect for our droughtplagued environment. But if you focused only on those things, you would overlook the ethereal qualities that appeal to succulent savorers — the beauty, the opulence, the singularity, the form and the structure.
“One of the things I find especially appealing in succulents is their array of colors,” says Brian Kemble, curator at Walnut Creek’s Ruth Bancroft Garden, a mecca for succulent lovers. “You don’t have to depend so much on flowers for color if you have leaves tinged with red or orange or pink or purple. Another point of appeal is the endless variety of their forms: rosettes and columns and stacks of paddles. I like plants that are oddities, and there are plenty of these among the succulents.”
There are more than 60 succulent plant families and within each, hundreds and even thousands of different plants, giving the gardener a wealth of options.
Kemble believes the current craze has roots in the realization that water-guzzling landscapes are just not sustainable in drought-plagued California.
It was a drought of a different type that led musician Ken Shelf to open his San Francisco nursery, Succulence Life and Garden Center. In the early 2000s, Shelf and his wife bought a quaint video store in their Bernal Heights neighborhood. And over the next few years, it all unfolded exactly the way you know it did — until Shelf made what he calls the “ultimate pivot.”
“I sort of stumbled into this idea to redo the break area as a plant store,” he says. It was, he admits, an “interesting challenge to get people to understand there was a store out there. Most of the time it was just me and the plants.”
Shelf spent the quiet time reading and learning about succulents, improving his stock and making vertical art gardens. He used everything he could get his hands on, including old picture frames that he backed with curtains and stuffed with growing medium and succulents.
One day while Shelf was on tour with a band, his staff called to say they had sold one of his succulent art creations for $500, and Shelf knew he’d found the future. As he phased out the video store and built up the nursery, eventually more people were coming in for the plants than the videos, and the store became official.
“If you remain open to life,” Shelf says, “life will open to you.”
Since then, Succulence has expanded. Shelf briefly opened a second store at Ghirardelli Square, which was doing well until the pandemic lockdown forced its closure. But the Bernal Heights store has branched out to offer personalized video shopping and, with the doors back open, is doing good business. All those people working from home have apparently become disenchanted with their décor and views and are looking for ways to brighten up their spaces with greenery.
Shelf, who has written a best-seller, “Essential Succulents: A Beginner’s Guide” (Rockridge Press), says succulents offer something for everyone. Whether you want a tall, thin plant, one that will take over a corner of your yard or tiny specimens perfect for a fairy garden, succulents provide.
Kemble and Shelf offer these tips for nurturing your own succulent obsession.
AN INDOOR GARDEN
Many succulents can be grown indoors if placed in brightly lit rooms. Haworthia, some aloes and cactus
make excellent houseplants. The main problem, Shelf says, is if you try to bring a plant that requires full sun indoors.
Shelf says succulents are survivors. The plants will try their best to capture all the light they can, which usually means your nice, compact plant grows leggy and oddly shaped. It might live, but it won’t thrive. Growing conditions
Soil is the most important consideration for succulents, Kemble says. Whether you grow in pots or in the ground, the soil needs excellent drainage.
If you don’t have that, you need to amend the soil or plant in mounds of a soil mix formulated for succulents.
Whether indoors or out, watering also is key. Kemble recommends giving the plants a thorough soaking, then allowing the soil to dry out before watering again.
KNOW YOUR PLANTS’ NEEDS
Although we associate succulents with the hot, dry desert, not all plants can withstand full sun. A barrel cactus thrives in full sun all day long, Kemble says, but an aeonium will burn up if given the same treatment.
Some plants grow well in the winter and want a resting period in summer, while others want the opposite. Still others will grow all year around.
It’s also important, Shelf says, to know how big your plants will get. Aloes and agaves can get really ginormous, he says. Don’t put them in a spot you’ll regret later.
A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR BEGINNERS
Some examples of easy-to-grow plants for indoors include haworthias, gasterias and sansevierias, Kemble says.
For outdoors, prickly pears, agaves and yuccas are all easy-to-please groups in general. Aeoniums are very easy to grow near the coast, but vulnerable to summer heat and winter chill in inland areas.
Within each group, some varieties are much easier to grow than others, Kemble says. Taking the echeverias as an example, Echeveria imbricata is very tough and adaptable, while Echeveria laui should be left to the experts.
“Once again,” Kemble says, “learning something about the plants when you get them can make all the difference in keeping them happy.”
And you along with them.