Cacti and succulents in decorative floriculture have recently been used as often as roses, orchids, and other long-established plants. With cacti and succulents, they make beautiful flower arrangements that are not inferior in the richness of colors and whimsical forms to the best floristic collections. In addition, rare species of cacti and succulent plants are collectibles.
Succulent compositions and decorative cacti (with photo)
Thorough publications are devoted to the serious passion for cacti and other succulents, their collecting and breeding, numerous societies are engaged in it, and the corresponding achievements are demonstrated at exhibitions and discussed at conferences. However, the wide and ubiquitous distribution of succulent plants and cacti in ornamental floriculture is still associated not so much with collecting as with the fact that they simply decorate our life, occupying a prominent place among other ornamental plants.
The easiest and most common way to decoratively use cacti and other succulents is to simply put them together with other indoor flowers. The unusual appearance of the plants traditionally used for this allows you to create beautiful and original-looking compositions with their participation. Indeed, succulents are characterized by forms that are completely unusual for other plants: spherical (such as echinopsis), columnar (cereus, euphorbia), forming flat curtains, hanging (schlumberger, selenicereus, aporocactus, hoyi), monstrous forms. At the same time, all succulents used for design are inexpensive, unpretentious, look good and feel good on the windowsill with other indoor plants.
Of course, forming a mixed group – a composition of succulents and other plants, one should take into account the relatively large dryness and light-loving nature of the former, place them in such a way that they look advantageous from the side of the room, but at the same time receive the maximum amount of natural light and less “warm” from indoor heat sources. It is reasonable to create such a floral arrangement of succulents for the autumn-spring period, when most of the cacti and their succulent counterparts are dormant, and at the end of spring – in the summer, the composition should be disassembled and placed – to restore strength and appearance – in more suitable conditions for them. (balcony, greenhouse outside the window, greenhouse in the country).
Look at a photo of cacti in design – compositions with these plants look very original:
Succulent plants and cacti in the interior of a residential building and office
But, of course, the best place for succulent plants and cacti in the interior of a home or office is a winter garden. Sunlight through the transparent roof, plenty of space and air, and the ability to plant in large containers provide almost natural growth conditions. In such conditions, they can be used to form pseudo-natural and decorative groups in three-dimensional space. The variety of cacti and other succulents allows them to be used in almost any composition – from near-water (around an artificial reservoir) to decorative design of enclosures for butterflies and terrariums (by the way, cacti were recommended as terrarium plants back in the XNUMXth century).
Here are photos of the use of cacti in the interior of an apartment and office:
In direct contrast to the compositions of cacti and other succulents in conservatories – miniature flower collections, which use species where adult plants reach no more than 1 cm in diameter and height, or “young” large plants, from which you can create miniatures in bowls the size only a few tens of square centimeters. The advantages of such succulent compositions are that they are easy to rearrange from place to place, if necessary, decorating certain fragments of the interior with them and periodically exposing them to sunny places favorable for plants. Due to this, they are much more durable (they can be maintained for several years) than compositions from large plants. In such compositions from cacti in the interior of a residential building, in addition to naturally dwarf species (blossfeldia, frailei), you can use plants with artificially delayed growth (from cacti, these can be parodies, round-stemmed prickly pears), grafting of colored forms, succulents of the genera Lithops, sempervivum,
Haworthia. Without requiring a large amount of substrate, compositions of succulent plants and cacti in the interior of a residential building are suitable for placement in monoliths of sandstone or basalt, in mini-grottoes, on snags, etc. with the inclusion of natural-looking or, on the contrary, pretentious stones or shells.
These photos show compositions of succulents in various variations:
Garden of cacti and succulents in the interior decoration of the apartment (with photo)
The possibilities of using succulents in the creation of specialized gardens from succulents in the interior are even more diverse. It can be a piece of desert or steppe vegetation, harmonious groups of hanging or abundantly and brightly flowering plants. Such assemblies can also be purely succulent, composed only of cacti or of cacti and other succulents. Imagine a composition of cacti, selected according to the principle of continuous flowering: phyllocactus blooming well in rooms, aporophyllums (intergeneric hybrids with aporocactus), schlumberger, gatiors (namely, Ripsalidopsis included in this genus) bloom at different times, for a long time, and sometimes and repeatedly their numerous varieties create a rich palette that allows you to achieve not only the effect of continuous flowering, but also to choose a whimsical range of colors, shapes, and an abundance of flowers. A group of continuous flowering can also be made from other succulent plants, for example, from medium-sized aloe or Kalanchoe.
The use of cacti and other succulent plants is possible not only in the window-sill of the interior. Large, free-standing plants fit well into various home decoration options – in floor and table pots, in special flower pots (take a closer look, you will surely find a lot of succulents in colorful advertisements of modern household and office furniture). True, it was already noted above that indoor conditions for cacti and most other “fleshy” plants are unfavorable (suboptimal), and therefore the main task when placing them in housing is not to let them grow as long as possible (any growth will be ugly) and as long as possible maintain decorativeness. If succulents are placed in the back of the room when decorating the interior, then they do not water; but sometimes it is sprayed and wiped with a swab to prevent severe moisture loss and to remove dust from the surface.
Succulents in the interior of the apartment (in addition to the fact that they must fit into this interior) must be large enough, firmly fixed in pots and pots, not have brittle branches, dangerous thorns. Try not to use spreading plants, cacti with white hairs and pubescence (this snow-white beauty very quickly turns into its opposite in dry and often dusty room air), poisonous succulents (especially milkweed).
As shown in the photo, for succulents in the interior, more acceptable conditions are provided in special showcase greenhouses placed against the walls or in the center of the room:
Such greenhouses can play the role of a wall partitioning off a room or an artificial window. Special lighting and more humid air make it possible to maintain plants in a state of growth without losing their decorative qualities, although such a result cannot be achieved as in natural sunlight. Some types of cacti in the interior of an apartment, originating from tropical forests, can bloom in such conditions. Artificial pieces of wildlife in greenhouse display cases, like tropical terrariums or marine aquariums, add a special chic to the interior and always become its bright central spot.
The best compositions of cacti and succulents are presented in the photo:
Cacti and succulents in floristry
Larger cacti and other succulents in floristry, as well as compositions from these plants, are convenient to plant in decorative containers. Firstly, they look good in suitable dishes, and secondly, it is also very practical, since containers, like miniature compositions, can be conveniently and simply rearranged from one place to another. In the warm season, they can stand outdoors – on the porch, balcony, terrace, patio, gazebo, lawn, etc.; and with the onset of cold weather, they can be easily transferred to winter storage in a cool greenhouse, in a cellar or used in interior design. At the same time, in the summer, spacious containers, sufficient lighting and watering provide such good growth conditions that plants without significant damage endure the hardships of wintering in an unfavorable environment.
Look at the photo – decorative cacti for container planting can be planted in ampelous baskets:
They accommodate epiphytic cacti and other succulents (for example, sedums, hoyi, drooping Kalanchoe). The ability of many epiphytes to form aerial roots that cling to any substrate allows their shoots to be fixed not only in the upper part of the ampel container (basket), but also anywhere on its outer surface, creating bizarre bends of lines and complex “living sculptures”. In addition, succulents with small rosettes of leaves (sempervivums, echeveria and other fat women) can easily be rooted on the mesh outer walls of the ampel container.
Pay attention to the photo – compositions of cacti and other succulent plants in the warm season can be hung in the crowns of trees, in gazebos, on terraces, balconies, on the walls of buildings, and in winter they are brought into the heat:
An important condition is the combination of decorative placement of ampelous succulents with their protection from strong sun and wind.
In hanging pots, not only traditionally ampelous succulent crops grow well and look good, but also of a different appearance, even spherical and columnar cacti.
The whimsical forms, low-volume root system, firmness and “long-suffering” of succulents are used by decorators in other, most fantastic versions. Tiny plants and entire expositions are placed in wall decorations, among any kitchen utensils and toiletries in bathrooms, in children’s toys, gifts, and tableware. And how unusual cacti and other succulents look in the interior as decorations for a Christmas tree or on a decorative island swaying in a swimming pool!
When decorating rooms with cacti and other succulent plants, perhaps nothing is impossible: if you want a bouquet of them, please! The flowers of phyllocactus are sometimes cut along with the shoots and placed in a vase. Such a bouquet of cacti in the interior is still an exotic rarity, but it is no less beautiful than a bouquet of lilies or peonies, and at the same time much more unusual. In addition, the fireworks of the varieties bred in recent years create a truly inexhaustible palette for such “bouquet creation”. More traditionally, when drawing up artistic bouquets, shoots of some other succulent plants are used, for example crassula and sedum, voluminous, delicate, unusual in structure and color, they give compositions from cut plants a unique accent.
Sometimes the thorns and dried stems of some cacti and other succulents become successful components of dried flower compositions, since they often have a fantastic appearance.
Here is a selection of photos of compositions from cacti in the interior of an apartment and office:
Collecting cacti and other succulents
There are several directions in floriculture: utilitarian, decorative, selective and collecting. So, it is in cactus growing that collecting is the predominant trend, and among the main groups of ornamental plants, apparently, it is cacti that are the most “collectible”.
The variety of cacti allows you to create collections in almost any conditions (from the northern window sill to the rockery wintering under the snow), of any size (from one located in one bowl to a huge cactus park) and for every taste.
The natural diversity of cacti is practically inexhaustible, and therefore the horizons of their collecting are unattainable. At the same time, there are no two absolutely identical cacti, and even more so there cannot be two identical collections.
There are several ways to collect cacti and other succulent plants. Usually, at the first stage of collecting, a novice collector acquires all available cacti indiscriminately, but gradually one or another group fascinates him more and more, and he begins to specialize in this or several groups. It is clear that it is simply impossible to expand the collection in all directions, so specialization, one way or another, will definitely happen. It would be great if the first stage – unsystematic gathering – took place not in real life, but theoretically: through acquaintance with literature and various collections, through communication with more experienced cactus growers.
What can be the principles of selecting a collection of cacti? You can classify and collect plants according to some formal external principle: there are amateurs who collect, for example, miniature, white-pubescent, large-hatch, red-flowered cacti, etc. There are collections of evading forms – crested, monstrous, chlorophyll-free. It is becoming more and more common to collect decorative varieties, for example:
Varieties of Schlumberger, phyllocactus, aporophyllum, echinopsis.
Interesting collections are compiled according to the regional principle, for example, Mexican or Chilean cacti, Andean plants or North American deserts. Such collections may include not only cacti, but also succulent plants of other families growing together with them. However, the overwhelming majority of specialized collections are based on the principles of botanical taxonomy. These can be collections of forms and varieties of the same species or a group of closely related species; species and forms of any genus or group of genera.
The collectible value of cacti is also not an empty phrase. Usually, in the first stage of collecting cacti – which, in practice, it would be better to avoid – the budding cactus grower becomes the owner of a large number of plants that have practically no collectible value. Let’s try to figure out what determines the collectible value of cacti. For this, it is important to determine what, in fact, we collect. The usual answer “cacti” or “species” is correct, but not accurate. The collection consists of individual specimens, which in most cases represent natural forms and species. Scientists have been arguing about what a biological and taxonomic species is for decades, and it is better not to delve into this scientific matter. It is important for collectors that natural species tend to include several very specific populations. For a specimen from one population, the species was described, and the rest of the populations are combined with it into the same species by external and genetic similarity. But plants of different populations are never exactly the same; if the differences between them are significant, such populations are considered as varieties of the same species. However, noticeable differences may not even reach the level of differences between varieties. Often there are differences between individual specimens of the same population. All this explains the existence of a variety of forms of one kind. But this is natural diversity. In the process of cultivation – and cacti have been cultivated by humans for four centuries – they (like other plants and animals used by humans) lose some of their natural features. And selection is also added, and as a result we have a variety of cultural forms of cacti.
Different specimens in a succulent collection will correspond to a given species or shape to varying degrees. So: it is the genetic proximity to the main carriers of the characteristics of a species or varieties that is the primary characteristic of the collection value of a cactus.
In addition to genetic correspondence, the collection value of a cactus is also determined by its phenotype, that is, a set of external signs. The situation with the phenotypic characteristic is more complicated than with the genetic one. On the one hand, the plant that most fully corresponds to the diagnosis (main distinctive features) of the corresponding taxon will certainly be valuable for collection. But, on the other hand, the collection value is also high for the evading, unusual representatives of this form (provided, of course, that they genetically correspond to it). So, in the population of red-flowered cactus, rare yellow-flowered specimens can come across, and such plants are appreciated by collectors.
The appearance of a cactus is also determined by its condition – age and care for it. A well-grown, healthy, well-formed plant is always more valuable than genetically and phenotypically “correct”, but neglected, with traces of past injuries and growth disorders. For the overwhelming majority of taxa, older plants are collectible.
As in any collecting, an important parameter of the value of an individual object is its rarity – both in nature and in culture.
Look at photos of the best collections of cacti and other succulent plants:
Subjective factors are also very important in determining the collection value of plants (this is the most important difference between amateur and scientific collections). So, naturally, more decorative species and varieties are more valuable; taxa that are fashionable at this time and in this country; advertised cacti in one way or another; plants that find it easier to create more suitable growing conditions. The attention of collectors is always attracted by something distinguishing taxa (for example, a white-flowered species from a genus with predominantly red-flowered species and, conversely, a species with red flowers belonging to a genus in which other species bloom with white flowers). Finally, the value of a plant can also be influenced by non-genetic aspects of its origin (for example, if your plant came to you from the collection of a very famous person, or crossed the equator with you, or visited space, etc.).
It is clear that it is important not only to obtain collectible plants, but also to preserve information confirming their value. First of all, labels serve this. The information that is most necessary for the identification of this particular plant is applied to the labels – it can be encoded with a number or an abbreviation. At the same time, a journal or card index is started to register more complete information. You can create such a filing cabinet in your home computer.
