Succulents have been popular with plant collectors in the UK for many years, today they are increasingly popular with landscapers and as house plants, both for the easy care nature of succulents and the increasingly beautiful and fascinating forms available through hybridization. Succulents have adapted to dry conditions due to their ability to store and retain water. This water retention tends to give plants a swollen appearance and this is often refered to as 'succulence' hence the name Succulents. Combined with a waxy or prickly surface to leaves and a metabolism that is adapted to dry conditions, succulents are ideal as a low maintenance, low water requiring plant.


Succulents use different parts of their systen to store water:

• Stem Succulents such as Euphorbia and Cacti store water in their stems.
• Leaf Succulents such as Aloes and Sempervivums store moisture in their fleshy leaves.
• Root Succulents as the name suggests use underground storage.

Is it a cacti or a succulent, well all cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti. All Cacti come from North and South America. Succulents come from all over the world.

Growing Notes for Cacti and Succulents.

All Cacti and the majority of Succulents come from arid or semi arid areas. Good drainage and light are the major needs, warmth is important for some but not all species.

It is essential to buy named species and obtain some specific growing notes, any nursery that can't provide a name or some growing notes is probably best avoided.

Some interesting succulents include:
Aeonium, Agave, Aloe, Beschorneria, Calibanus, Cereus, Cotyledon, Crassula, Cussonia, Echeveria, Euphorbia, Furcraea, Gasteria, Haworthia, Lithops, Mammillaria, Sempervivum, Stapelia, Yucca