Aloe polyphylla. Photo: Stan Shebs

Succulents grow in almost all parts of the world, apart from the Arctic and the Antarctic regions. However some of the richest areas for Succulents are South Africa and Madagascar.

Consider the beautifully arranged Aloe polyphylla, known as the ‘Spiral Aloe’ which has a rosette of foliage spiralling either clockwise or anti-clockwise and perfect for pot culture, even in cooler climates and light shady conditions. This plant, when larger will provide you with some attractive orange tubular flowers atop the upright flower stem.

Echeveria’s and Aeonium’s are also succulents with have a rosette growth habit. The former generally a short, stumpy, fleshy ‘cabbage’ like effect and with foliage coming in many colours from light pale blue, to maroon, to silvery-grey to pale yellow and a long flower stalk with orange to red small flowers.

Aeonium’s come from the Canary Islands and have a more upright nature, with their crowns resembling succulent rose flowers. These plants can be seen in some suburban gardens usually in a bronzy-green appearance or light green. The most beautiful of Aeonium’s in my opinion is Aeonium ‘Schwarztkopf’, which has very dark maroon almost black leaves when grown in full sun.

These two groups of plants, although not directly related grow at their best in well-drained soil in full sun but with some fairly regular irrigation and feed.

As we are becoming more conscious of being waterwise, these plants provide a great purpose of living colour, shape and texture to any garden, patio, balcony or container and yet their maintenance is minute compared to the more traditional groups of plants we grow. Planting a bed of different succulents grouped together and finished off with some sandy red gravel mulch looks fantastic!

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