At Homestead Gardens we carry a large variety of delightful – and amazingly easy to care for – succulent plants and cacti for both your indoor and patio gardens.
Succulents are perfect for shining solo in a unique and small pot, or for creating a colorful and distinctive garden featuring different shapes and textures. Plant them in rock gardens on the patio or using porous soil in artistic containers for a creative living decoration inside your home. Succulent container gardens work wonderfully in the Chesapeake Bay region because they can be brought inside into a sunny spot during the colder months for continuous enjoyment.
Succulent plants are known for storing water in their fleshy stems and leaves and are adapted to handle dry conditions. We carry several varieties including:
- Echevaria
- Haworthia
- Aloe
- Opuntia
- Hoya
- String of Pearls
- Jade
- Scilla Violacea
- ….and more!
Cacti
Storing moisture the way they do is what defines cacti as succulents. Cacti have small, round, cushion-like structures called areoles from which spines, branches, hair, leaves and even flowers grow. While many succulents may look like cacti in every other respect, if they don’t have these circular areoles, they are not in the cactus (Cactaceae) family.
A lot of succulents resemble cacti in every way except they don’t grow spines. This is what makes a succulent a succulent and not a cactus. In all but one genus of cactus, the Pereskia, the plants do not have leaves. The bodies of cacti are usually globular or cylindrical in shape. Opuntias have round, segmented stems. Epiphyllums have stems that look more like strap-shaped leaves. A lot of cacti have prominent spines, barbs or bristles and some have woolly hair. In fact, all cacti have spines even though they might be so small they’re insignificant. It’s not always appreciated that all cacti flower, and flower regularly if they are well-looked after.