If you’re looking for a low-maintenance, easy to grow, and unique houseplant, a succulent is the perfect solution. Learning how to grow cacti and succulents is so simple, it’s no surprise they’re the darlings of the houseplant world. With very little effort, they will reward you with a display of unusual shapes, colors,and textures. These houseplants are so popular that you can find them all over – at big-box stores, garden centers, and even grocery stores.

Succulents also go a long way to brighten your home during the winter months. It’s freezing in Chicago, but the rainbow hedgehog cactus, jade plants, and aloes on my windowsill remind me that spring is coming.

While many indoor plants require high humidity and frequent watering, cacti and succulents can endure drought and thrive indoors. Since they store water in their leaves,you don’t need to water them as often as other houseplants. Give them good light exposure – like a south-facing window or one that gets at least four hours of sun a day – and they’ll put on a show.

Cactus or Succulent?

All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are considered cacti. In fact, succulents refer to many plants, including the popular cacti, aloe, crassula, kalanchoe, haworthia, sansevieria, sedum, and echeveria. One thing that sets cacti apart from other succulents is the presence of areoles: small, specialized spots from which hairs, spines, branches, or flowers grow. The spines may be thorny or barbed, so I always recommend using a pair of tongs to hold the cactus when repotting one.

Kalanchoe succulent photo by Nina Koziol

Many cacti and succulents alike have strange yet memorable names, such as the rat tail cactus, lady finger cactus, living rock cactus, zebra cactus, baby’s toes, pillow plant, and hens and chicks. Succulent leaves also have intriguing shapes, colors, and textures. They can be smooth, hairy, wooly, chunky, rubbery, spiky, or slender. Succulents offer a wide range of colors even if they don’t always flower. Cacti flowers last one to three days before they wither and fall, while Christmas cactus flowers last for many days and the plant continues to provide blooms over a period of weeks.

Native Growing Conditions

Many succulents are native to desert and semi-desert environments. They survive and thrive in conditions that are exceptionally hot and dry during the day and very cold at night. Rainfall in these areas is typically sporadic – some places only get a few inches of rain per year! As a result, the plants have adapted to these harsh conditions by retaining water in their leaves, stems, and roots.

Other succulents, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and orchid cacti, come from sub-tropical climates. Some gardeners refer to them as “jungle cacti.” In its native habitat, theChristmas cactus grows on tree branches, rocks, and moss. In the mountains of South America, there are succulents that only get moisture from the humidity in the air. These plants may have thick, “juicy,” or waxy leaves that also hold water.

Potting Succulents

Potting succulents is easy, as any container that provides excellent drainage will do. It should have holes in the bottom and have a tray or saucer underneath to catch excess water. When it’s time to repot your plants, choose a potting mix intended specifically for cacti or succulents. Cactus potting mix tends to be soil-less and contains perlite or vermiculite, sand, and shredded peat moss. Some soil-less potting mixes include slow-release fertilizer that lasts for six months or more. Once that fertilizer is spent (in six to eight months), I use a water-soluble, all-purpose fertilizer once a month during spring and summer.

I repot plants and refresh the potting mix when my succulents grow within a half-inch or so from the pot’s edge. After repotting, I top off the soil surface with small, attractive stones, gravel, or sand. Succulents that require similar growing conditions (water, light, and potting mix), such as cacti and haworthia, can be planted together. I recommend using a broad, shallow container with potting mix that contains some sharp sand and cactus mix. (Pro tip: an upright cactus needs a deeper pot, so it won’t tip over.) I occasionally make my own potting mix with one part sand or perlite and two parts indoor potting mix. Stay away from any type of heavy garden soil for succulents.

Repotting succulents can also help them take on a new life. My very large jade plant is 25 years old, and I’ve repotted it about six times. Many smaller jade plants have even come from that one plant! I simply break off a new, small stem with a few leaves and push the stem into some moist potting mix. Within a week or so, it puts down roots and is soon ready to be a gift for a friend.

Dragon Fruit Cacti Hylocereus photo by Nina Koziol

Light and Water

Succulents make great houseplants because they are generally accommodating, resilient, and can grow in typical home conditions (higher temperatures and low humidity). If you have a southern window that gets direct light and gets fairly warm, you might consider a succulent for that spot.

Bright light from a south- or west-facing window is enough to grow cacti and succulents. The closer you place them to a window, the more sunlight they will receive. If they sit on a table a foot away from the window, the light exposure will decrease dramatically.

During the winter months, when there is less direct sunlight and the indoor air is typically drier, houseplants do not grow as fast as they do in the summer. Watering too often or too much, combined with fewer hours of daylight, can invite fungal diseases and root rot.

During the summer, your succulents can vacation outdoors! Acclimate them by placing them in a bright spot out of indirect sunlight for a few weeks. Then, gradually move them into an area with partial sunlight. If you place the plants directly into the sun after having spent most of the year on a windowsill, they will suffer from sunburn.

Close-up of Succulents rotated photo by Nina Koziol

To see if your plant needs water, carefully poke an index finger into the soil. When the top inch of soil feels dry, water the plant thoroughly, letting the water drain from the pot. I water plants once a week in spring and summer, and twice a month in fall and winter when they are slow growing and dormant.

Tropical cacti like the Christmas cactus should be kept evenly moist throughout the year, especially during the flowering period in the late fall or early spring. When flowering has stopped, allow the top of the soil to dry out before watering it again.

Indoor Temperature

During the winter, most succulents prefer a cooler place – a minimally heated room with evening temperatures in the low 60’s. Plants tend to go dormant and grow more slowly in the winter. However, as the daylight grows longer from December 21^st onward, plants will sense the lengthening days and slowly begin active growth.

Growing cacti and succulents is easy, so I encourage you to pick up a few today! They’ll reward you with a fabulous, carefree display. If you get hooked on them, here are a few plant societies you can join to learn more and meet other enthusiasts:

Cactus and Succulent Society of America

Henry Shaw Cactus and Succulent Society

The Succulent Plant Page

The Cacti Guide

Here are also a few good books if you’d like to learn more:

Essential Succulents: The Beginner’s Guide by Ken Shelf (2018)

The Gardener’s Guide to Succulents: A Handbook of Over 125 Exquisite Varieties of Succulents and Cacti by Misa Matsuyama (2020)

A Beginner’s Guide to Succulent Gardening: A Step-by-Step Guide to Growing Beautiful & Long-Lasting Succulents by Taku Furuya (2019)

Designing with Succulents by Debra Lee Baldwin (2017)