Hello, I followed DigginDirt home from a big box garden center a few weeks ago but he doesn't know what kind of succulent I am. Personally I think it's kind of funny watching him pull out what hair he has left scouring the net. Other plants here on the porch think that's mean (although some of those same plants enjoy watching him sneeze his way through spring), so if he could get some help perhaps he can raise me properly. Oh, and please don't tell him I'm not house broken yet because I'm living indoors when the weather gets cold.
Thanks!

Echeveria nodulosa. Nice!

Thanks Baja! I was guessing Echeveria but totally lost beyond that. It is growing very nicely in a pot with several other succulents (mostly Crassula varieties). As the plants fill over the next couple years in I will probably move him to his own pot.

Those are so pretty! I hope to find one someday too!
Painted Echeveria (Echeveria nodulosa)

This one came from a local Lowes but Home Depot had them too. I know their selections are catch as catch can but occasionally they have something interesting; I bought this one and two others because there was a specific Crassula I had been looking for and I hated using a debit card for such a small purchase (my wife seems to get any cash that finds its way into my wallet so I use plastic for everything). I am hoping to get a few minutes this week to check out a couple nurseries that are supposed to have succulents.

Once this one (and other succulents) is well established I will see about rooting some cuttings and leaves. That may take several months I would be more than happy to share them when they establish.

Agree, I go to L's once a year or so & never know what I'll find. I love your optimistic, sharing attitude!

Since most succulents are easy to propagate I see no reason not to do that and share them. There are so many different things people do with them: Wreaths, pots, planters, rock gardens, etc; I'm sure there are lots of people who would like to experiment with growing them in different ways.

At some point I hope to collect enough blue & purple succulents to make a pot. I would also like to do the same thing with "autumn colors" and I'm still thinking about black & white. Maybe I should think smaller and build up the collections in order to make them sooner than later.

DigginDirt said:At some point I hope to collect enough blue & purple succulents to make a pot. I would also like to do the same thing with "autumn colors" and I'm still thinking about black & white. Maybe I should think smaller and build up the collections in order to make them sooner than later.

I was really into purple succulents for a while... the kind that I ended up growing and keeping are only their most royal purple in full sun, otherwise they tend to be blue or green. Interestingly many of the plants that turn pretty colors in response to sun stress (like aloes) also would do it as "autumn colors" in response to the beginning of cold nights. So you have the two-in-one package there. If you do ever end up collecting these plants, you've got a tricky juggling act keeping them going in NC. Overwintering, and then dialing up the exposure when they're outside to trigger the color, without causing a crash.

Here are a couple of my favorite purple plants, an aloe and a Dyckia (not a succulent but same lifestyle), in their full-sun and 50% shade versions.

Nice, Baha.
My plan for this next year is to make a succulent "garden" that will be mostly platforms for pots at different heights. That way I can place tender succulents so they will look like a garden but still be able to bring them in during the winter. In between platforms I could then grow hardy ones so it wouldn't look like I just have a stack of pots. That would allow for the possibility of various groups in different pots so I could try to be creative yet arrange pots for sunlight & watering needs (I know some like to go quite a bit longer than others between watering).

I like the platforms for pots at different heights idea. It's hard to tell because of perspective, but there are 3 different heights of platform in this picture (bottom 8, next 8, rest) which are either parts of shipping pallets or tables I made myself. The structure is temporary as almost all these plants will move to another area in the fall when the light changes. It's all modular and pretty portable, as plant furniture goes.

The plants are ordered based on differences in exposure. The ones toward the bottom get the most sun and the ones by the wall get some protection early in the day. They are all in a state of migration toward the bottom, where they exit for various destinations when they are ready.

That's a great idea, making the platforms portable. What I had in mind was making a raised garden, and adding cinder blocks for the platforms. They would be hidden with rocks and soil; I envisioned at least some having the openings filled with soil and planted with hardy plants as well as plantings between some of the rocks.

A local arboretum has a nice display where they have flat rocks standing on edge on rows and plants growing between and around them. I never thought of that - I use flat rocks for stepping stones. I hope to try that since it would make a nice cascaded look.