9 Succulent Container Garden Combos

With succulent containers, you’re going for foliage, not flowers, so zero in on the leaves and mix a variety of shapes, textures and colors. This container recipe mixes and matches hens-and-chicks and sedum varieties hardy to 20 degrees below zero, so it can survive outside on your patio in deepest winter, under a blanket of snow. RECIPE: ‘Cebenese’ Hens-and-Chicks (Sempervivum arachnoideum ‘Cebenese’, Zones 5-8); ‘Black Pearl’ Sedum (Sedum album ‘Black Pearl’, Zones 5-8); ‘Old Copper’ Hens-and-Chicks (Sempervivum ‘Old Copper’, Zones 5-8); ‘Oktoberfest’ Sedum (Sempervivum ‘Oktoberfest’, Zones 5-8); Job’s Beard (Sempervivum heuffelii ‘Irene’, Zones 4-8); ‘Ruby Mantle’ Stonecrop (Phedimus spurius ‘Ruby Mantle’, Zones 4-8)

Pack a tall container full of cold-hardy succulents that will give you foliage ranging from chartreuse to ruby red to black during the winter and blooms that open in the fall and last through the winter. Use fast-draining soil and place in full sun. RECIPE: ‘Wildfire’ Sedum (Sedum SunSparkler ‘Wildfire’, Zones 4-8), 2 plants; Job’s Beard (Sempervivum heuffelii ‘Jade’, Zones 4-8); ‘Boromir’ Hens-and-Chicks (Sempervivum ‘Boromir’, Zones 4-8), 3 plants; ‘Elsie’s Gold’ Sedum (Sedum spectabile 'Elsie's Gold', Zones 3-8), 2 plants; ‘Dream Dazzler’ Sedum (Sedum SunSparkler ‘Dream Dazzler’, Zones 3-9); ‘Touchdown Teak’ Sedum (Terra Nova TOUCHDOWN Series Sedum ‘Touchdown Teak’, Zones 4-9)

This simple mix pairs sedum with hens-and-chicks for a container of plants that can stay outside all winter in most places. There’s a mix and match of foliage texture and color, with the glossy chartreuse leaves of one plant contrasting with the spikey ruby red ones of the other. Use a wide dish to accommodate the spreading habit of each plant. RECIPE: Golden Japanese Stonecrop (Sedum makinoi 'Ogon', Zones 6-9), 3 plants; ‘Pacific Shadows’ Hens-and-Chicks (Sempervivum ‘Pacific Shadows’, Zones 5-8), 4 plants

Heat-tolerant thrillers, fillers and spillers pack this container of silvery-green succulents, with echeveria adding a pop of warm color on their red-tinged leaf edges. If you can’t get your hands on Blue Pickle Vine, substitute any succulent with a trailing habit. Use fast-draining soil and place the plants in full sun for a fabulous container that can take summer’s heat head-on. RECIPE: ‘Caribbean’ (Echeveria 'Caribbean', Zones 9-11); Blue Pickle Vine (Senecio radicans glauca, Zones 10-11), 3 plants; Peacock Echeveria (Echeveria peacockii, Zones 9-11); Little Jewel (Pachyphytum compactum, Zones 9-11), 2 plants; Mini Blue Chalksticks (Senecio serpens, Zones 9-11), 3 plants; Echeveria pollux (Zones 9-11); ‘Blue Ruffles’ (Echeveria ‘Blue Ruffles’, Zones 9-10); ‘Afterglow’ (Echeveria ‘Afterglow’, Zones 9-10); Pachyveria 'Noel' (Zones 9-11), 3 plants