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Up Your Holiday Gatherings with a Few Succulents
By Melinda Myers
[November 08, 2025]
Add a bit of
life to your holiday gatherings with the help of succulents. You and
your guests will enjoy the easy-care beauty of succulents. Their
subtle colors and dramatic form make them great gifts and
decorations now and throughout the year.
Small-scale succulents provide a multitude of opportunities for
incorporating them into your holiday celebrations. Just select
containers that complement, but don’t overpower their charm.
Create a succulent garden to use as a centerpiece for the table. A
shallow container filled with a variety of succulents with different
shapes and colors is sure to capture everyone’s attention. Set the
container on a saucer to protect the table and add a complementary
table runner for even greater impact. |
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Consider using succulents as party favors for
guests to take home and enjoy for years to come. But first, use them
to decorate the table by making them into place cards for your
guests. Simply add a name to the decorative pot.
Or display them all together in a tray, terra cotta saucer or other
shallow container to use as a centerpiece throughout the evening.
When the party is over, each guest can pick their own plant to take
home.
Add a unique flair to the table by placing cocktail glasses filled
with succulents next to each guest’s place setting. This makes a
unique table decoration and party favor for guests to take home as a
reminder of your fun gathering. Use a few planted cocktail glasses
to decorate the beverage table or bar.
Grow these plants in a cacti and succulent potting mix. These
fast-draining mixes help reduce the risk of overwatering. Further
reduce this risk by using containers with drainage holes that are
only slightly larger than the succulents' root system. Growing them
in too large of a container for the plant size will retain moisture
longer that can lead to root rot, decline, and even the death of
your plants.
After the party continue to provide proper care so your centerpiece
will be ready for your next event. Move the succulent planter to a
cool, draft-free location near an unobstructed south-, west- or
east-facing window. If light is limited, consider adding artificial
lights.
Water thoroughly but only when the top few inches of soil are dry
and just often enough to keep the plants from shriveling. These
winter-growing conditions often encourage a spring display of
colorful and unique flowers.
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Share these directions with your guest and if
possible, the name of the succulent. This helps your guest keep the
plants alive to enjoy for years to come.
With a trip to your favorite garden center and your imagination you
can create fun holiday décor and party favors. You and your guests
will enjoy their beauty throughout the holidays and beyond.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books,
including the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small
Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything”
instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s
Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and
contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned
by Summit for her expertise to write this article. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com]
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