Succulents are #trending - and for good reason! These hardy desert plants are easy to care for and provide beautiful decor in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Succulent gardening is ideal for students, young professionals, and even families. You can grow a single succulent or create a mix of textures and colors that makes your desk or countertop something beautiful.

They’re not just pretty to look at, either. Succulents, like other indoor plants, can help improve your health and happiness. Check out our list of benefits to learn more about how succulents can make your life better.

 Benefits of Succulents

1. Healthier Air Quality: Many indoor house plants are known for their air purifying qualities, and succulents are no different. What’s special about succulents is that they continue to produce oxygen throughout the night, when many other plants reduce their oxygen output.

2. Easy Care: Succulents are available in many sizes, with mini pots for small apartments or desk arrangements, medium pots for larger spaces, and even large garden arrangements or terrariums. They are easy to keep watered and prefer to dry out completely between watering, so they’re great if you aren’t the type that checks your soil on a daily basis (they can go about a week or more). However, succulents do need some sunlight, so they aren’t ideal for an indoor office with no outside light. For most people, though, the easy care of a succulent is an enticing benefit.

3. Healing Properties: Some succulent plants, like aloe vera, can be used to treat minor skin wounds and sunburns. Since these hardy plants are easy to propagate into new growths, you could keep a healing aloe plant around for years with proper care!

4. Brain Boost: As we discussed in our foliage blog post, having plants in your space helps improve your mental health and focus. Plants help reduce anxiety and depression, and they generally make people happier.

Easy Succulent Care Tips

We all know plants need water and sunshine, but succulents are natives to the desert and their needs are different from your average house plant or flower. Here’s what we recommend for the best health of your succulent:

Sunlight: Succulents are no stranger to sunshine and need exposure to the sun each day. Place them in a sunny room or windowsill with light from outside, but watch for signs of sunburn (brown or black spots on the leaves). If sunburned, move to a more indirect source of light. If you need to move them into an area of more or less light, do so gradually if possible.

If you notice your succulent stretching upward and leaving large spaces between leaves, it needs more sunlight.

Water: Succulents like to dry completely between waterings, and it’s important to make sure that your pot can drain excess water so the roots don’t stay saturated and susceptible to rot.

Under-watered plants will curl and become crispy, with dry or crusty soil. Over-watered plants will wilt and rot at the roots. When watering, the soil should be damp, not fully saturated and soaking.

Temperature: Keep your succulent at room temperature, avoiding extreme heat and cold. An ideal temperature range is between 65℉-85℉.

Grooming: Regularly remove any dead leaves from your plant to promote full and uniform growth. You can easily propagate new succulents by removing leaves or a stretched stem - stay tuned for a tutorial on how to do just that!

Other Considerations

If you have pets or small kids in your home, take care to keep your succulents in a safe place where they won’t get tipped over or chewed on. When you browse our website, look for the paw print icon 🐾 to indicate pet-friendly plants that aren’t toxic to animals. (See our full list here).

The Echeveria succulent is a pet-safe choice, but we do not recommend Aloe or Crassula for homes with pets, as these plants are toxic to pets.

Browse the Desert Retreat habitat now to see what succulents we have to offer, and stay tuned as we grow our selection!