See: Take a tour around Monty Don’s beautiful Longmeadow garden in Herefordshire In a BBC Gardener’s World (opens in new tab) video on the BritBox’s YouTube channel, Monty shared his succulent care tips, with plenty of advice on how to pot them out, too, which we go into below. Midway through the video though, he shared his warning about a certain species of succulent that can be irritating to skin and eyes if broken.
Succulent planting tips
Succulent planting tips
Monty begins with planting out a large selection of succulent plants from all over the world in a wide shallow pot, starting with the centerpiece – a Kalanchoe Thyrsiflora ‘Bronze Sculpture’ or Paddle Plant. ‘Like all succulents,’ he says, ‘its leaves are designed to be fleshy and to store water. That’s how they’ve evolved to cope with drought.’ He follows this with an Aeonium Tabuliforme or Flat-topped Aeonium which ‘will spread out and grows like a dinner plate. It doesn’t grow high, it grows outwards. Next up is an Echeveria ‘Moonshadow’ which comes from the Americas and which he says is relatively easy to grow. ‘They can be outside in summer quite happily. They can take even a little bit of shade,’ he adds. Once that’s planted, Monty reaches for the succulent that should come with a health warning. The succulent – in this case a Euphorbia Obsea, also called the Baseball Plant due to its bulbous pumpkin-like shape – is he says, ’like all euphorbias… filled with a milky sap. So if you damage it, that will be an irritant, particularly to your eyes.’ Monty follows this up with a spiral aloe plant – ‘one of my favorites’ – explaining that ‘aloes should always be planted at a slight angle – that means that any water that gets into the middle of the plant will drain out because it’s the center of the plant that is most likely to rot.’ See: Monty Don reveals his top birdhouse ideas and expert tips Finally, he finishes his planting with a Royal Agave which he says ’like all agaves, has real spikes so just watch out, either wear gloves or be wary’. Once planted up, he finishes it all off with a layer of grit on the surface of the soil and up around each of the plants to ensure ‘any water goes straight through the grit so there’s no risk of the base of the plants, where they touch the soil, rotting,’ he says.
Succulent care tips
Succulent care tips
How often to water succulents?
How often to water succulents?
And his final tip? ‘If you’re growing your succulents indoors, only water them when the compost feels bone dry,’ he says.
