Super Succulent Celebration

May 24, 2018 11:15 AM

"...a drought, social media, and a generation of itinerant aspiring gardeners—and suddenly, the succulent became the trendiest members of the plant kingdom." "Over the past decade, horticultural and technological forces have collided to make succulents the unlikely heroes of modern gardening. Succulents, the plants defined by their fleshy, water-retaining leaves and stems, are inescapable in 2018."
posted by narancia (52 comments total)

succulents are lovely, and I love seeing them in gardens in CA, where the use of sprinklers always makes me wince a little.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:21 AM on May 24, 2018 [7 favorites]

The only trouble with succulents is that they do accumulate. My housemate started with a couple of jade plant varieties and due to repotting, breakage, etc, we now have something like forty plants. Forty plants in ceramic pots are really heavy, and I live in dread of a floor collapse.
posted by Frowner at 11:25 AM on May 24, 2018 [15 favorites]

I was early on the succulent/cactus bandwagon because I'm terrible with plants and they are easy to care for.

I honestly always assumed this was key to their explosion in popularity.

I am better with animals, who will generally let you know when they are hungry/sick, whereas plants its this obscure guessing game where I'm having to play doctor scientist on a living thing that eludes me with its alien-ness.

Also I'm color-blind, so having to read a plants health based on color is just fucking useless to me.

Huzzah for easy to care for succulents and cacti.
posted by deadaluspark at 11:25 AM on May 24, 2018 [14 favorites]

I just put in a succulent pot with 8 choice specimens including the delightful "string of pearls". Its outside, and looks absolutely lovely. I'm tempted to get another 18 inch post and do another, with more cacti this time.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:29 AM on May 24, 2018

Succulents are the gateway houseplant. Plant-growing training wheels. I'm going to start trading mine out this year for things I can eat. Like thyme.
posted by aniola at 11:30 AM on May 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

i like them because they are small and round and cute, and can also stab you.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:31 AM on May 24, 2018 [45 favorites]

I like succulents, because they are weird and kind of architectural, plus they make being a bad, forgetful plant owner into a virtue. I have managed to keep a bunch of succulents alive for like four years, which is a definite record for me.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 11:32 AM on May 24, 2018 [9 favorites]

i like them because they are small and round and cute, and can also stab you.

That's why I like cats.
posted by Foosnark at 11:34 AM on May 24, 2018 [33 favorites]

Succulents can get a little same-y, but if you live in a dry, sandy state like CA they're really great in semi-shaded gardens.

Their Instagrammability/Pinterest-friendliness is a huge part of the boom right now. They look good in small-pot arrangements that are easy to photograph. Other houseplants feel more "pleasant" to me sometimes, but they don't photograph as well.
posted by JoeBlubaugh at 11:56 AM on May 24, 2018

"In spite of all her care, her lavish blandishments, the creature still declined.
It pined for something.
It defied all kinds of fertiliser. It began to fade away and die.
And only I knew why; I recognised the state.
And it's a fact that what that cactus lacked was a prickly little soul-mate."
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:58 AM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

i like them because they are small and round and cute, and can also stab you.

That's why I like cats.

I've never had my botanist cat-lady self explained so succinctly.
posted by pemberkins at 12:00 PM on May 24, 2018 [8 favorites]

Here in California we're seeing succulent-related crime:
How an irked Northern California postal patron helped crack a global plant smuggling scheme
A long wait at the post office led one woman to help crack a kidnapping ring — for plants
Stolen succulents: California hipster plants at center of smuggling crisis
posted by Lexica at 12:04 PM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

because they are weird and kind of architectural

Yes! "Architectural" is how I always describe them.

I've been accumulating air plants for a few years and recently convinced myself that I had "graduated" to houseplants that need soil, and I've become a bit of a nut for interesting sansevierias (like the boncel variety, a new favorite). They are great for all of the reasons succulents are great (minimal care) but don't like to be bathed in direct sunlight the way that cacti do and can actually tolerate pretty low light. If succulents are the training wheels for other plants, sansevierias are like... tricycles? Scooters? And there are so many different kinds! Haworths are great succulents that don't need intense, direct light, either.
posted by Anita Bath at 12:06 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

Can I tell an aloe story? I'll tell a quick aloe story that made us giggle.

A friend of ours, and a lifelong resident of Florida, was told by her husband to go out and break a piece off the aloe plant in the yard for a small burn she got on her shoulder. A few too many minutes later he goes outside and sees her, a bit worse for wear from the battle, rubbing the ragged end of a sentry/century plant on her shoulder. The aloe plant was twenty feet away, untouched, and seemed to be peering our way warily.

Bless her heart, we love her but the goofy factor can be a bit high at times.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:12 PM on May 24, 2018 [5 favorites]

The mad number of annuals that need replanting yearly, loads of water, fertilizer, and don't regularly rebloom without trimming was the gardening madness that succulents killed and I say huzzah! I think the work with succulents and local perennials is some of the best practical to laypeople science going on right now.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:13 PM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

Succulents can get a little same-y

oh ho ho!
These are string of pearls!
These are called flapjacks
there's a variety I just put in called sedums that essentially function as succulent ground cover, the one I planted was yellow and looked like creeping thyme! But the Sedum genus is huge and includes all sorts of weirdos!

I think when gardeners think of succulents to a lot of us we only think of Echeverias which are very pretty and I have 4 different varieties, but yeah they are a little same-y. And sadly sometimes that's the only variety a lot of places sell.

But oh man are there more than just Echeverias!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:17 PM on May 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

I haven't found the knack to keeping a string of pearls plant going yet, which is sad because they're awesome. But I have a little burro tail sedum spiking out of the back of a hedgehog planter and that is delightful.
posted by rewil at 12:20 PM on May 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

burro tail sedum

*googles*

MUST HAVE! Oh man I knew I wanted a second succulent pot- I'm gonna have to see if Sloat gardening center has those- I mean if they don't they must know who does, that is gorgeous!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:27 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

The only trouble with succulents is that they do accumulate. My housemate started with a couple of jade plant varieties and due to repotting, breakage, etc, we now have something like forty plants.

I used to have a similar problem, but started putting out the word at work and through Facebook when I had cuttings available, and now friends and co-workers take them off my hands. It somehow went from a space-encroaching PITA to an unexpected chance to bring some plant-related joy into the lives of marginal acquaintances and random folks in HR.

Also, maintaining an anti-capitalist, mutual aid space for succulents in their current neoliberal moment feels like the right thing to do.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:27 PM on May 24, 2018 [14 favorites]

Based on my daily research of the hippest, most high-fashion restaurants, salons, and coffee shops in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as well as HOURS every day researching this topic on Instagram, I believe the following:

Succulents are OUT

Tropical plants are IN
posted by rebent at 12:34 PM on May 24, 2018

The real reason suculents are trendy is because they are easy to propagate (just pull a chunk off and stick it in some dirt) which makes them super-duper cheap to churn out in mass quantities. Anyone can buy one little $5 spiky whatsit and immediately split it into a dozen or more plants. Do that a few times, and you’ve got yourself a business going.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:37 PM on May 24, 2018 [5 favorites]

I used to have a similar problem, but started putting out the word at work and through Facebook when I had cuttings available, and now friends and co-workers take them off my hands.

I may have a friend down the street with a mega jade plant that I could probably get some cutting potential twigs off of, I need to look into what's required here because that would be a nice project for the older kiddo and myself to dive into maybe.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:40 PM on May 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

a mega jade plant that I could probably get some cutting potential twigs off of

You don't even necessarily need a cutting. Jades will reproduce from single leaves.
posted by Spathe Cadet at 12:43 PM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

I may have a friend down the street with a mega jade plant that I could probably get some cutting potential twigs off of, I need to look into what's required here because that would be a nice project for the older kiddo and myself to dive into maybe.

If not, I will happily mail you cutting of several unkillable succulents. They're what I taught my kids to repot on, since they're so tolerant of manhandling.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:49 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah, if anything I'd have thought succulents were on the way out.

They are great for getting people into the hobby, and were one of my first favorites 20 years ago, but in hip plant circles I think they are seen as a newbie game with a sort of "bless your heart" air. Unless you're doing super exotic stuff, or grafting weird sports, but that's not what this is about.
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:54 PM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

Most succulents are very easy to propagate. But those get boring quickly for collectors and people who are in it for status.

This is where smuggling enters the picture. Many rare and slow growing species are practically extinct in the wild. This specially sucks for difficult plants taken from the wild just to die after their Instagram photoshoot.

If you get into the hobby please consider starting from cuttings from friends and neighbors. Do some research, start with easy plants, get good.

If you decide to get into rare species please learn how to grow them from seed bought from reputable companies (I like http://www.koehres-kaktus.de).
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:56 PM on May 24, 2018 [7 favorites]

Also, succulents are for posers.

Difficult cactii is where it is at. I spent last weekend mixing germination medium with plant growth regulators (hormones) to try to germinate 40 year old seeds.

I had enough time to graft a couple dozen seedlings into preskiopsis stock.

So much fun.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:59 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

They are great for getting people into the hobby, and were one of my first favorites 20 years ago, but in hip plant circles I think they are seen as a newbie game with a sort of "bless your heart" air.

Last comment: f*ck that, plant snobs - I live in a cruddy place that climatically (never mind my overbooked, kid-assaulted schedule) cannot support delicate life of any kind. Generic succulents bring a lot of green happiness into what would otherwise be a fairly drab living situation, help connect us to the natural world, and - as noted above - allow me the pleasure of distributing plants to people even with even more nature-starved and crappy living situations than me. I love them.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:01 PM on May 24, 2018 [22 favorites]

I think perhaps some here might be misunderstanding what we mean when we say succulents are “trendy.” We don’t mean they’re trendy among plant-people. Of course they’re not; they’re barely even plants. We mean trendy.

Like, friggin’ Urban Outfitters sells succulents, ffs. They’re trendy.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:07 PM on May 24, 2018 [6 favorites]

The Onion tweeted this old story a few days ago and I couldn't stop laughing: Cactus Scientists Recommend Drinking 8 Cups Of Water Per Year.
posted by plastic_animals at 1:12 PM on May 24, 2018 [5 favorites]

The Onion tweeted this old story a few days ago and I couldn't stop laughing: Cactus Scientists Recommend Drinking 8 Cups Of Water Per Year.
I don't think saguaro cactus make any recommendations because they are the "I don't know" plant, forever just shrugging away. "hey cactus, how much farther to Flagstaff" IDK. "Hey cactus should I pass this slow driving car on a narrow mountain pass?" IDK.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:18 PM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

Echeverias are trendy anyways. When sedums and string of pearls are being sold at urban outfitters then succulents are trendy!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:21 PM on May 24, 2018

Ctrl+F "stapelia"

0 results found

MEDIOCRE

enjoy your jade plants
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:21 PM on May 24, 2018 [5 favorites]

carrion flowers are succulents? *takes copious notes* I'm learning so much from this thread!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:26 PM on May 24, 2018

succulents are nice because they're lil guys :') my girlfriend has a bunch of big plants in our room, including a giant fern!!!!! and we're growing peppers and tomatoes outside on the porch. it's fun having plants!!!!!!!
posted by gucci mane at 1:44 PM on May 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

Last comment: f*ck that, plant snobs
Oh for sure. Don't even get me started on (some of the) bonsai and orchid folks. Like anything, people want to look down their noses and stratify based on free time, space, expendable income, etc.

I am in no way trying to defend classism and snobbery, more just a statement about style trends. Then again a lot of stuff that was cool now is based on what was cool 20-30 years ago, so maybe I just underestimated the swing.
posted by SaltySalticid at 1:58 PM on May 24, 2018 [6 favorites]

They are great for getting people into the hobby, and were one of my first favorites 20 years ago, but in hip plant circles I think they are seen as a newbie game with a sort of "bless your heart" air. Unless you're doing super exotic stuff, or grafting weird sports, but that's not what this is about.

I think that succulents are trendy among people who think of plants as more home decor than hobby. If houseplants are your hobby, you probably have different/ higher standards.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 2:12 PM on May 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

My boyfriend has a nice little collection in early winter. We bought some chosen for color and got a bunch from family. Others we scored from the 99 cent store. :)

I love how they grow from a leaf. Also how with some of them, they look better when they're left alone.
posted by luckynerd at 2:37 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

We had this horrific 18" strip of thin, poor soil between our driveway and our patio where nothing would grow.

And then we put in like three succulents.

The whole forty feet was filled in within a year and they look great all year round and they have NO COMPLAINTS about the hot, dry microclimate created by the driveway! And they need zero care. I miss them!

I've been growing lithops in a pot since we moved, but they need more sun and I don't want to put up a shelf b/c it's a rental (the window arrangement would require attaching a solution to a wall), so I think I'll have to start over when we move somewhere more permanent.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:44 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

I realize now I was indeed misunderstanding "trendiest members of the plant kingdom", and how this is about pop culture at large, and the fact that apparently Urban Outfitters sells Echeveria now, Instagram, etc.

They do have lots of advantages, including hardness, low cost, small space requirements and easy clonal propagation.

Anyway, time to go long on Monstera stocks I guess; I figure they are a few years behind succulents in trendiness, and about to go big.
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:47 PM on May 24, 2018

It certainly seems like having a shelf with a bunch of random succulents on it is some sort of Thing for everyone I know in their 30s, much like making half-assed attempts at running and Going Vegan, Someday. It may be because Lidls constantly seems to be selling them in cute pots for a couple of quid.

I have no green fingers whatsoever. My succulents cover a large windowsill and I like them because they are unkillable and, whatever, I think they look sort of alien and cool.

Although surely the current #trending plant is the swiss cheese plant? There seem to be tons of clothes and prints with it at the moment. On preview - a monstera! That's what it is. SaltySalticid I'll buy some of your shares.
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 2:58 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

Succulents are a thing in Sweden too, apparently. And that is a good thing because it is hard for me to keep plants alive and because the succulents remind me of my native California. So shortly after I moved I bought a little succulent that I named Spud, after a friend. I found a different and larger one I bought on sale and named after a different friend. Then a bought a third (and final, for now) succulent I named Liz after a friend who, like the succulent, is both wonderful and a bit pointed at times. I think people are snobs about all kinds of different things, and they are allowed but I have grown to enjoy succulents and expect to continue that. Thanks, OP! Also thanks to Lexica for the crime roundup. I had no idea, amazing stuff!
posted by Bella Donna at 3:01 PM on May 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

a dissenting opinion
posted by Berreggnog at 3:12 PM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

"I was early on the succulent/cactus bandwagon because I'm terrible with plants and they are easy to care for."

Tell that to my graveyard of dead succulents. I've never been able to keep a plant alive unless it was a weed for more than few months.
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:41 PM on May 24, 2018

Have grown and collected succulents - echeveria, aeonium, agave - as well as cacti for 30 or so years.

The change and diversity available in echeveria now is unbelievable. These are some of the most beautiful plants.
posted by chris88 at 3:45 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

One of the advantages of their being/having been trendy at the moment is that there are loads of different types of succulents available, and I'm taking full advantage of this while I can. Also, ahem, when I was very hard up and couldn't afford to buy new plants, the fact that you can grow most succulents from a tiny cutting or even a single leaf makes it very easy for unscrupulous plant-lovers (oh alright, me) to replenish their stock from places like Ikea.
posted by Fuchsoid at 3:46 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

Stapelia gigantea isn't really as smelly as claimed. It's pretty easy to keep alive and grow if you keep it warm; my family's been caring for one for nearly thirty years now (along with many of its descendants.) I bought it for fifty cents at the state fair.
posted by asperity at 4:03 PM on May 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

I don't know about other species, but the flowers of the Stapelia I have (probably S. variegata) don't smell especially bad, unless you shove your nose right into them, when they smell distinctly of dead-mouse-under-the-floorboards. The flowers also seem to attract flies. but are otherwise pretty attractive in an odd way, with a texture exactly like chamois leather.
posted by Fuchsoid at 4:16 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

I don't know how I manage to do it, but I can even kill succulents.

However, that Christmas cactus from 3 years ago? Still growing strong!
posted by spinifex23 at 5:01 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

I had a couple of them in Woolly Pockets on my wall facing the patio. They survived despite my extreme maltreatment.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:54 PM on May 24, 2018

I think they look sort of alien and cool.
I think many are kind of creepy.
posted by sammyo at 6:57 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

We have string of pearls seniceo in hanging baskets to put their delightfully fragrant blossoms at convenient nose level to enjoy the scent when they bloom. They thrive even when neglected in our climate zone.
posted by X4ster at 11:21 PM on May 24, 2018 [2 favorites]