Succulents provide a natural and interesting medium for creating living sculptures and garden artwork. They come in a variety of colors, textures, and shapes—and don’t have to be watered as much as other species of plants.

You can use succulent art as dramatic focal points in the garden or use multiple areas of succulents to create a desert-themed or eclectic garden.

Creating these living works of art is simple. All you really need are succulents and dirt. But you can get as elaborate and creative as you’d like.

Supplies

The first step of this project was to plant succulents with a variety of colors. I chose colored sand and rocks as decorative accents.

• Succulent plants, such as Aloe, Echeveria, and Sedum. For a small container, try using a tall plant, a medium plant, and a small “filler”—all with contrasting colors and textures.  

• Soil that provides good drainage, such as a mixture of one part potting soil, two parts sand, and one part leaf mold. You can also find specially formulated soil mixes for cactus and succulents.

• A container that provides good drainage. Consider using a ceramic pot rather than plastic. You can, of course, plant direct in the ground as well.

• More decorative accents, such as rocks, sand, sea shells, and anything else you’d like to try.

Steps

After adding blue playground sand, I added decorative rocks by closing my eyes and letting them fall wherever they wanted.

1 Choose a location that will get plenty of sunshine and not too much water.

2 Prepare the soil—either in the ground or in a container.

3 Plant the succulents wherever you would like them. A guideline to consider is planting a tall succulent in the middle or back, medium succulents off to the sides or in front, and smaller plants that will fill in all around or even spill over the side of a container.

4 Add any additional decorative elements next to the succulents. You may want to try sand, decorative rocks, a seashell, or even outdoor figurines.

You can be as creative as you’d like.

Maintenance

This living art provides a nice focal point--and conversation item--in the courtyard garden.

You’ll need to figure out your watering needs based on the type of succulents, soil, location, and climate. Succulents are pretty forgiving, so it may take some trial and error to learn how much you’ll need to water your succulent art.

You may also want to redecorate your living art as it grows. Some succulents may grow over the decorative accents or outgrow the container.

The only other words of advice are to be aware that creating succulent art can become quite addicting! You may need to give friends and family your succulent art creations as unique gifts for the holidays and special occasions.

By Shannon Mendez