Artisan's Blog

In this blog post, I aim to tackle the age-old question of "What is the best soil for succulents?" As an avid succulent grower for nearly 30 years, I have learned a lot through trial and error. However, I want to emphasize that the advice I provide is based solely on my personal experience and may differ from what others suggest. Nonetheless, I hope that the insights I share will be useful to those looking to optimize their succulent-growing practices. Soil is an essential part of a plant’s reality. Soil is a crucial component of a plant's existence. While animals...

Succulents are popular houseplants, but not all of them thrive indoors. On social media, one often sees sad, etiolated cacti, stretched into unnatural shapes due to lack of light. While some succulents, like Aeonium, grow like weeds outdoors here in California, I find they languish indoors. Beginners may opt for common big-box store succulents, such as Aloe vera, Kalanchoe Mother of Millions, and jade plants, but there is a deep and captivating world of more interesting succulents that make great houseplants. One such plant is Euphorbia francoisii, a succulent native to Madagascar. Here are a few reasons why it makes...

Madagascar is known for its rich biodiversity and is home to a variety of unique succulent plants, including several species of Euphorbia. Many succulent euphorbs in Madagascar are threatened by habitat loss, overgrazing, and collection for the horticultural trade. Madagascar Euphorbs are part of the Euphorbia family, which is one of the largest and most diverse plant families in the world. The Euphorbia most people are familiar with is poinsettia, a popular ornamental plant that is native to Mexico and used as decoration during the holidays. I recently had lunch with an old friend who asked "What's up with the genus Euphorbia anyway?...

In this article I will discuss my observations of leaf traits in Haworthia splendens and progress on H. splendens hybrids from my breeding program.