Creating a Drought Tolerant Succulent Planter

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.  See full disclosure below regarding DIH Workshop.*

Today I’m talking about creating a drought tolerant succulent planter. Here in California and many other states, we are suffering drought conditions. How we use water… what we plant and how we use water is having to change.  I love succulents.  They are low maintenance, take only a little water each week and I think they are gorgeous. Succulents have a high drought tolerance and are perfect for where I live in Southern California, with our dry climate. I love the look of a well-landscaped yard, but honestly, I just don’t have the time… so succulents are perfect for me. So today I’m going to share what I learned about creating a succulent garden.

I went to my local Home Depot and collected my items for this project.

Materials Needed

• pots (I used 3)
• landscape fabric
• lava rocks
• potting soil (for cacti – succulents love it!)
• succulents

Choose Succulents

I decided I wanted to put pots on the 3 pillars in our front yard to go up to our walkway. This area gets full sun for about 9 hours of the day. I picked two pots in a deep red shade and one green.

I picked succulents that would contrast and yet compliment each other. I first picked a large succulent that would be in the center of each pot. For the red pots, I picked a lighter green succulent similar to the contrasting pot, and in the green pot, I picked a succulent that had a lot of red-tone foliage to it.

Just like in-home decor the “rule of 3’s” works in planning your landscaping and your container gardens.

I picked 3 smaller succulents to place around the large succulent and then filled in the spaces with succulents that would cascade out (I love that look).

I kept within the same colors… looking for succulents with red tones and light greens.

Prepare The Planter

So to start your potting, place some landscaping fabric in the bottom of the pot… that way the water can drain, but the soil will stay in, creating good drainage.

Then place a couple of inches of lava rock in the base… that will help with drainage.

Then on top fill with cactus potting soil. Succulents love a cactus soil mix. Fill the pot just high enough so you will have space to put in your center drought resistance succulent plant.

Once you placed it in your center succulent add some more potting soil, filling almost to the top.  Then add your 3 smaller succulents, creating a triangle around your large succulent.

Then add the cascading succulents in the open spaces.  Add potting soil if needed between the plants to help stabilize it.

And that’s it! I hope you found these drought tolerant gardens instructions helpful!

You could use the same formula in a larger pot, just increase your numbers… like 3 medium-sized succulents, then 5 small size succulents.

Care For Succulents In Your Planter

Give your pots a watering, just enough till the water is flowing through the base.  Once a week is all they will need and even less if they are lucky enough to get rained on.

I hope I’ve inspired you to plant some succulents.  They are great, low maintenance, water wise plants. You can your local nursery to ask about native plants in your area. They will typically grow better and are used to the amount of rainfall that your area receives. For my area that is drought resistant plants.

I love how my planters turned out.  They are the perfect addition to our patio pillars.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

*The Home Depot partners with bloggers such as me for DIH Workshop program.  As part of this program, I received compensation for my time.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about any product mentioned in these posts. The Home Depot believes that consumers and bloggers are to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.