Spruce up your holiday tabletop this year with a succulent Christmas tree!
From sedum and senecio to sempervivum, aeonium, and kalanchoe, succulents aren’t just for the hot and humid outdoor days of summer. Just take a look at these adorable succulent Christmas trees made with a variety of green and spiky echeverias, haworthias, sedums, and others. Who wouldn’t want to receive one as a gift?
Terracotta Corner FL, found on Etsy, sells these unique and handmade 13-inch “trees.” There’s an Alpine Succulent Tree that combines 50 haworthias with several smaller and colorful varieties to resemble ornaments.
Courtesy: Terracotta Corner FL on Etsy
The Aurora Succulent Tree has 25 echeverias, and the Succulent Christmas Tree in a Pot has several different types as well as decorative accents that look like cranberries. It’s available in small and large sizes with or without lights. The Faux Succulent Christmas Tree is arranged in a triangular box that resembles a tree.
Prices for succulent trees range from $130 to $285, depending upon the style. Silver or gold stars top the trees. If you’re looking for something smaller, there’s a 2.75-inch jingle bell ornament that we think is just adorable. It’s $19.
Succulents for Christmas Decor
Succulents, cacti, and even air plants can be implemented into your Christmas décor and gardens in all sorts of ways. The multi-green shades of succulents look great alongside your traditional poinsettias, holly, amaryllis, and Christmas cactus. Red succulents include aloe Christmas sleigh, sempervivum red lion, the echeveria agavoides Romeo, and the triangle-towered leaves of the crassula capitella red pagoda.
Cyclamen and hellebores (also called a Christmas rose even though it’s not technically a rose) make stunning displays for the holiday season. Even predominately green succulents can have red-tinged leaves (like the paddleplant and the crassula nudicaulis). All of these ideas can make for a striking outdoor garden if you’re lucky enough to live in a year-round temperate zone.
Crafty gardeners and DIY fans may want to try making their own succulent Christmas tree. We found this great DIY project that uses approximately 40 succulent clippings, sphagnum moss, floral wire, and U-shaped pins. You can even make a succulent wreath that will blend perfectly with all the balsam, spruce, pine, and fir of the holidays.
Succulent Care
Succulent plants store their water in their leaves (that thick “fleshy” part). They love extremely arid environments and actually thrive during droughts. They can often go 10-14 days between watering. This is a plus for those of us absent-minded gardeners.
Succulents like a nice deep drink of water, but they need porous soil so that the water drains away without drowning the roots. Well-drained soil, 4-6 hours of morning sunlight (but not too hot as some varieties can get sunburned), and 60-80-degree temperatures are perfect conditions for most succulents.
Do you have a favorite succulent? Have any good growing tips for a newcomer to the succulent world? Let us know in the comments.
