Structural succulents pot display

More container gardening inspiration:

• 12 of the best succulents to grow
• How to grow succulents
• How to grow echeveria

Find out more about how we planted up this colourful succulent container display and how to care for it, below.

The plants we used

Burro's tail, Sedum morganianum 'Burrito'

The burro's tail, Sedum morganianum 'Burrito' is a delightful succulent with trailing stems bearing a profusion of fleshy leaves. Handle this plants gently as the leaves break off very easily. Keep some of the leaves that do break off – each leaf will root easily in a small pot of gritty compost to produce a new plant. Other succulents you could plant in its place include Crassula 'Hottentot' and Senecio radicans or string of bananas.

Echeveria 'Purple Pearl'

'Purple Pearl' is an impressive variety of echeveria with glaucous purple leaves, delicately edged with pink. Place it in full sun for the best colour - in time it should produce lovely coral pink flowers. Other echeverias would work well, too – our favourites include ‘Perle Von Nürnberg’, 'Taurus' and 'Tarantula'.

Crassula 'Gollum'

Crassula 'Gollum' is a popular cultivar of the money tree, Crassula ovata. It has intriguing tubular leaves and eventually takes on an attractive branched form. Crassula orbicularis or Crassula tetragona would look good in its place.

Care and maintenance

Once planted, position this pot in a sunny area of the garden to ensure these succulents retain their attractive, compact forms. Don't let the container become waterlogged - adding perlite to the compost when planting will aid drainage. The crushed grit mulch is both decorative and helps to ensure water doesn't sit around the plants, helping to prevent rotting.

Water this container no more than once a week. Avoid watering if the compost feels moist. Containers placed outdoors may never need watering as they'll receive plenty of water from rainfall.

None of the plants in this display are frost hardy, so the container will need to be placed somewhere frost-free in winter and early spring. You can then move it back outdoors for the warmer months, after the risk of frost has passed. It could remain indoors all year round, too, as long as it's in a sunny spot.

We mixed in slow-release fertiliser when planting up this container, which should provide the plants with enough nutrients for the growing season. In following years you can keep the compost topped up with nutrients by applying a liquid seaweed feed while the plants are in active growth.

Once planted, this container will look good for a few years. Then, each plant could be potted on separately, in a larger pot, using a gritty compost mix.