Succulents look best against a backdrop that shows off their textures and shapes. Use our brand-new field guide, Succulents 101, to learn everything you need to know about our favorite succulents and how to use them to best effect in a garden.
Aeonium ‘Mint Saucer’ thrives in plantswoman Flora Grubb’s Bay Area garden. Aeonium’s rosette shape is useful both as a single accent in a garden bed or when clustered, to complement other textures and colors of nearby foliage.
Aeoniums
Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.
Echeverias
Echeveria elegans is part of a garden quilt of color on a rooftop in Mill Valley, California.
Photograph by Nicholas Worley.
Indoor Succulents
Succulents and other hanging plants in architect Simon Astridge’s own London bathroom.
With their pointed and fleshy leaves, agaves are symmetrical, drought-tolerant succulents.
Agaves
Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.
Photograph by Justine Hand for Gardenista.
Unless you live in a very warm climate (think USDA growing zone 10 or higher), your aloe plant will live in a pot indoors. In a warm climate where you can plant Aloe outdoors, you have a choice of more than 500 species, from tiny creepers to robust trees.
Aloes