I’m so happy that succulents are trending at the moment. Beautiful, pretty indestructible, and drought tolerant. They come in the most amazing shapes and sizes and grow inside and outside without much effort. Best of all, they’re super easy to propagate too.

Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti ! #succulents #gardening

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Know your succulents. Easy tips & tricks for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti #ACraftyMix

A succulent is any plant with thick, fleshy leaves, stems or roots that get used to store water. Common examples include Aloe, Cactus, and Crassula. People often use the terms cactus and succulents together but they’re not the same. All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti. More about that a little later in the post. And since I’m from South Africa, which is THE succulent “hot spot” of the world, my little patriotic heart is full of smiles right now because I get to share some pictures of our beautiful indigenous plants with you.

Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti #succulents #gardening

Let me just add, I love succulents, but I’m definitely not an expert. The Latin words confuse the crap out of me, and every time I find a new succulent, I still have to use an app or Google to look up the name. That being said, we do have a huge collection of succulents, and they are all thriving and making lots of babies. So I thought I’d share what I’ve learned these last 30-odd years, and maybe it will make it easier for you to identify, grow, care for, and propagate your succulents.

Identifying the Most Common Succulents

With more than 10,000 succulent species worldwide, there’s just no way I can list all of them in one post. I’ve made an attempt to put together the most common ones and how you can identify them. Warning – big Latin words coming up 😀 And I’m not even going to try to pronounce them since I’m Afrikaans and it would just end up sounding like goobeldy gook with a weird flat accent. If you want to give it a bash you can try the Free Dictionary for some sound clips on how to pronounce the more common botanical names. When trying to identify a succulent, I try to put them into 5 broad, highly scientific categories 😉

  • Fleshy Leaves with Spikes
  • Fleshy Stems with Spikes
  • Milky Saps
  • Flower Carpets
  • All the Others

Fleshy Leaves with Spikes

If your succulent has fleshy leaves with spikes along the edges it could belong to either the Agavoideae (Agave) or Asphodelaceae (Aloe) family. The aloe and agave look very similar, but they’re not even related. While they both normally have leaves that are grouped together like a big fleshy rose on the end of a woody stem; the leaves of the agave are fibrous, which is what makes them so popular for rope making. The leaves of the aloe, on the other hand, contain a jelly-like substance and mostly get used for medicinal purposes. Think Aloe Vera. Some people would argue that Agaves are medicinal too. If you’ve ever had a Margarita then you know what I’m talking about 😉

Aloe petrophila grown from seeds. Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti

Both Agaves and Aloes have tubular flowers, but most Agaves only flower once, just before they die. So sad. They literally flower themselves to death. Aloes flower every year once they’re old enough. The easiest way to tell them apart is to break one of their spikey leaves. If it’s gooey, it’s an aloe; if it’s stringy it’s an agave.

Fleshy Stems with Spikes

If it looks like you’ll need gloves to handle your succulent, it’s probably a Cactacea (Cactus) or a Didiereaceae (Didierea). They have spikes all along a fleshy stem, and either has tiny insignificant leaves or no leaves at all. Unlike the Agaves and Aloes, the Cactus and Didierea are closely related. They both store water in their columnar stems, which are covered with thorny, prickly spikes and make huge, showy flowers.

Pilosocereus Azureus. Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti

The best way to try to tell them apart is that the Didierea will have teeny, tiny leaves in between the spikes. Cacti are a little more evolved. They lost those little leaves a long time ago, which is probably why the Didiereaceae are often called the “Cacti of the Old World”.

The Sap is Milky

If your succulents bleed a white, milky substance, it’s could be either an Apocynaceae or a Euphorbiaceae, more commonly known as a Euphorbia. Not all Apocynaceaes and Euphorbiaceae are succulents though. Only the ones that have thick fleshy leaves or stems fall into that category. I prefer not to use these succulents indoors since the sap is usually poisonous and our fur babies have a habit of attacking plants. We do have a few outside, in tall pots like this beautiful indigenous Pachypodium or “halfmens” (half-person). She’s a member of the Apocynaceae family.

Halfmens or Pachypodium namaquanum. Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti

Lots of Beautiful Flowers

Succulents that grow flat and produce masses of gorgeous flowers are usually part of the Aizoaceae or Portulacaeae (Portulaca) family. These beauties normally have a flat spreading habit, and when they’re in full bloom they resemble a carpet of flowers. I’ve never had much success growing them inside since they require full sun for the flowers to open and put on a display. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is by counting the number of petals. If the flower has between 5 and 12 petals is a Portulaca.

Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti

If your flowers have loads of petals, then it’s probably an Aizoaceae.

Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti

Both the Aizoaceae and Portulaca store water in their fat little leaves. We have a little dassievygie (part of the Aizoaceae) growing in one of our mushroom planters. Her leaves are so fascinating, and I love the color.

This living succulent mushroom planter is much easier to make than you might think. It takes a little time, but once those succulents take root and start spreading it puts on such a gorgeous display. #Succulentplanter #uniqueplanter #ACraftyMix #PlanterIdeas

Her big Latin name is Oscularia deltoides, because of her three-sided fat, succulent leaves.

Not Any Of the Above?

And finally, if your succulent doesn’t fit into any of the categories mentioned above it could be part of the extremely diverse Crassulaceae (Crassula) family. These succulents can look like fleshy trees, shrubs, ground covers, or living stones. If you’ve seen the hen-and-chicks plant (Sempervivum), then you have met one of the 5000-odd members of this family 😉

Sempervivum Arachnoideum - cobweb houseleek. Know your succulents. Easy tips for growing, identifying and propagating succulents and cacti

My favorites are the trailing, indigenous Crassula pellucida that we used in our coconut planters and in our clock fairy garden. It also creates the most beautiful eco prints. Another fav of mine is the upright Crassula lycopodioides shown below. It just seems to make babies everywhere. It’s such a pretty little thing and I use it often in our fairy garden vignettes, and her small size makes her ideal for fairy leaf planters.

These whimsical fairy leaf bowls are so easy to make. They’re perfect for adding that a fun décor element to a fairy garden or dolls house. #FairyBowls #FairyDIYCrafts #ACraftyMix #FairyGardens #FairyCRafts #WhimsicalFairyCrafts #SimpleFairyCrafts

Most Crassulas do extremely well in vertical gardens, and the trailing variety are perfect for mushroom planters.

This living succulent mushroom planter is much easier to make than you might think. It takes a little time, but once those succulents take root and start spreading it puts on such a gorgeous display. #Succulentplanter #uniqueplanter #ACraftyMix #PlanterIdeas

5 Apps To Help You Identify Succulents

If you still struggle to identify your succulent, then one of these apps will help. They all let you take a picture with your phone and upload it.

Google Lens –  android

Google Lens replaced Google Goggles a few years back, and even though it helps to identify other things besides plants, I thought I’d add it here. It’s fun to play around with, and they’re busy rolling out an iPhone version as we speak (December 2018).

PictureThis – android  /  iPhone

Their picture recognition is the best out there and even reminds you when to water your plants.

Plantix  – android

If your succulent or any other plant has funny-looking stuff growing on it, or it’s starting to look really sad then this app will help identify what’s wrong. You’ll also find a whole bunch of tips on how to fix the problem too.

PlantSnap – android  /  iPhone

With over 500 000 images and growing every day, PlantSnap makes it easy to identify any plant. I didn’t find it as accurate as PictureThis but it has been translated into 30 languages.

SmartPlant – android  /  iPhone

SmartPlant is run by a group of horticulturists from around the world. It doesn’t have automated picture recognition (yet), so they do take a little longer to identify your plant. But they’re so accurate, and you can scan the bar code of any plant, and the app will give you tips on how to care for it too.

5 Apps that will help you identify and grow succulents. We also share a whole bunch of tips on how to propagate and care for them #ACraftyMix

Okay so now that you have a basic idea of how to identify them, let’s look at how to care for them. Just click here for all those easy tips.