I admit I’ve been a little slow to jump on the cacti and succulent craze. As a gardener, I couldn’t help but notice that just about magazine was showing them. Then they popped up on social media. Then all my friends started to get into them. I decided to give a couple a try (panda plant, which I’ve always been a fan of as a houseplant, and desert rose). From my experience, here are six reasons you might consider growing succulents if you haven’t before:

1. Succulent care is easy.

It’s no secret that succulents don’t need a lot of water and are easy to care for. That’s probably one of the reasons they got to be so popular in the first place. In a lot of areas, you can keep them outside and natural rainfall is enough to keep them happy. 

2. You can bring them inside.

Unlike a annuals, if you have a bright, sunny window, it can be pretty easy to keep a succulent alive over winter. Giving it lots of bright light is the key to success here, as well as being careful not to overwater it too much. 

3. Succulents hold up to heat.

Back when I lived and gardened in the Midwest, even the most stalwart annuals would take a bit of a break during the hottest part of the summer. And now that I garden in Miami, I find that some old-time favorites (like geraniums and dahlias), won’t survive the summer at all. But succulents? Succulent care is no problem in the heat. 

4. Deer and rabbits usually don’t eat them.

Usually. At least that’s what I hear from folks who struggle with deer and rabbits in their yards. While no plant is deer or rabbit proof, it appears they tend to go for other plants before munching on succulents.  

5. They have texture.

It's actually their textures that made me warm up to succulents. From fuzzy panda plant to steely-looking echeverias to flapjacks, there's a wide variety of textures available that look great by themselves, mixed together, or with other non-succulents entirely. 

Written by Justin Hancock