Tiered succulents

Succulents are good-looking and hard to kill. Show them off in a three-tiered pot.

The perfect plant for non-gardeners! Most do best in full sun, and don't over-water.

You'll need:
3 terracotta-look plastic bowls in different sizes
Scraps of flywire
Fine gravel
1 large bag cactus potting mix (or use ordinary potting mix blended 2 parts to 1 with river sand)
9-month controlled-release fertiliser
4 types succulents (we used haworthia, 2 types of Sedum rubrotinctum, and Echeveria elegans)

Here's how:
1. Put the pots in their permanent positions (they're heavy to move once planted up). Cover the drain holes with flywire, then add a few centimetres of gravel. Pour enough potting mix into the biggest pot so that the base of the middle pot sits below this bottom pot's rim. Place the middle pot hard up against the edge of the bottom pot and make it sit level. Almost fill the bottom pot with potting mix. Repeat the process with the top pot so you have a tier of three pots.

2. Add 3 level dessertspoons of controlled-release fertiliser to the bottom pot, 2 dessertspoons to the middle pot and 1 dessertspoon to the top pot. Mix into the potting mix.

3. Plant your top pot. Mound the potting mix, then plant it with rosettes of haworthia. Buy a small pot of haworthia, divide it and dot the divisions over the mound. Within a few months they'll grow to form a cover.

4. Plant your middle pot. Two types of 'Jelly beans' (Sedum rubrotinctum) are used here - you'll only need three or four small plants.

5. Plant your bottom pot. Break up a pot of haworthia and spread small clumps over the area. Place echeveria in the gaps. Spread any remaining fine gravel as a mulch over any exposed potting mix.

6. After a week, start watering the pot well once a week, increasing to twice a week during the hottest months of summer. Ease off the watering as the weather turns cool in autumn, and hardly water at all in winter.

How to propagate succulents You can propagate succulents from cuttings, leaf cuttings or divisions. Cuttings: Snap off a stem 10-15cm long. Leaf cuttings: Snap off a leaf from a biggish-leafed plant. Division: Pull apart plants that grow as clumps of rosettes. 1. Place the cuttings, leaf cuttings or divisions in a dry, well-lit spot out of direct sun. Leave for a week (longer if the cutting is particularly thick) to dry out the wound and reduce the chance of rotting. After a week, place into a pot of moistened seed-raising mix. Push cuttings or leaf cuttings into the mix so they support themselves; just firm divisions into the surface. 2. Keep the pot in brighter light, with a few hours of morning sun (no hot midday sun). Keep lightly moist, not wet. Every two weeks, move the plants into more sun. They'll form roots in six weeks and should by now be in full sun and ready to plant out.

Source:Better Homes and Gardens