Monty Don: Gardening expert urges gardeners to be ‘careful’ of common household succulent

Monty Don reveals how to take care of succulents

Gardening expert Monty Don is known for often sharing his top tips and advice with viewers who are looking to spruce up their indoor or outdoor space. In a video for BritBox on YouTube, Monty Don gave his top tips on how to take care of succulents and how to pot them. While advising viewers on how to look after their succulents, Monty also warned Britons to be careful of one particular succulent.

Monty showed viewers a selection of succulents which come from “all over the world”.

However, he said the most extraordinary one is a calando bronze sculpture.

He then began planting the succulents in a wide, shallow pot.

He added: “That is my centrepiece and like all succulents its leaves are designed to be fleshy and to store water

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“That’s how they’ve evolved to cope with drought.”

Monty then showed viewers an aeonium tabuliforme which he said “grows like a dinner plate”.

Also known as the flat-topped aeonium, the succulent grows outwards rather than upwards.

He then showed viewers an echeveria which comes from the Americas.

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The gardening expert said “they’re relatively easy to grow”.

“They can be outside in summer quite happily. They can take even a little bit of shade.”

The next succulent Monty showed users was a euphorbia.

However, he warned viewers to be “careful” of the plant as it can irritate your eyes.

He said: “Like all euphorbias, it is filled with a milky sap.

“So if you damage it that will be an irritant, particularly to your eyes.

“Just be careful about that.”

The particular euphorbia he showed viewers was a euphorbia ibisa which produces flowers from it’s “pumpkin-like body”.

Monty’s favourite succulent is the aloe plant which can be found in a many homes across the UK.

The particular variety he showed viewers was an aloe polyphylla or a spiral aloe.

He said: “As the leaves evolve and grow, they corkscrew out.”

For those looking to plant an aloe in a pot, Monty recommended planting it at a “slight angle”.

He added: “And that means that any water that gets into the middle of the plant will drain out because it’s the centre of the plant that is most likely to rot.”

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