How do you build a beach-style succulent garden? A wealthy overseas gardener teaches you how to create one

A beautiful coastline, dry sandy beach, and juicy, colorful succulents just like coral - this is the theme of our garden.

Thanks: BRET GUM; DEBRA LEE BALDWIN for contributing

Garden director, translation compiled

Searching for a place where the sea meets the land

In my eyes, succulents are like creatures of the ocean - as beautiful as shells, starfish, coral, and sea anemones.

The garden I built is in Corona del Mar. I searched along the coastline for a long time and chose a beautiful spot where the ocean meets the land to build this garden.

Here there are wild succulents reflected in the waves, and steep cliffs - places suitable for succulents to dwell.

Here I also built tide pools to collect some seawater, creating the effect of succulents reflected on the water's surface.

To create the land-and-sea effect, we planted purple echeverias, Sticks on Fire that look like red stony coral, and cold-blue aloes and other succulents here.

Purple echeverias

Plant name: Sticks on Fire

The pairing of colors and sizes is meant to highlight a sense of layering, blending it with the tides, the sunlight, and the sea.

Like a "giant crab" in the sea - succulent plant Echeveria 'Afterglow'

Succulent plant Echeveria 'Afterglow' - its large deep-red petals are like a giant crab in the ocean. The beautiful inflorescence is like crab claws. The leaves are pink, some also appear light purple, and the leaf edges are a dark fluorescent red, showing a dazzling red under the sunlight. Each Echeveria 'Afterglow' is between 12 and 16 inches.

Starfish-like succulent plant Fire and Ice

Also a Crassulaceae plant, "Fire and Ice" has leaves with red edges, and its dazzling fleshy texture shows rainbow-like gradients under the sunlight, like a starfish in the shallows. There is also a group of ghostly clustered succulents, Graptopetalum paraguayense, surrounding it.

Agave like a sea anemone

This luxurious succulent combination is surrounded by smaller agaves. The long-stemmed flower spikes are like the tentacles of a sea anemone waiting for prey to drift by. The largest agave in the upper left is 2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. They are only suited to living in the hottest places and the strongest light, such as a hot desert-themed garden.

Turf-coral-style succulent Blue Moonlight Senecio vitalis

The Senecio genus succulent Blue Moonlight Senecio vitalis appears blue-green in the sunlight. It has now grown to two feet tall, swaying in the sea breeze.

Succulent plant name: Blue Moonlight Senecio vitalis

Turf coral

TIPS Succulent garden design insights

Have a focal point:Each area should have one especially large, especially brightly colored succulent to become the theme of that area.

Use succulents with thick lines along the leaf edges:When making succulent combinations, you should use succulents with thicker colored lines along the leaf edges and place them in prominent positions. Only then can it visually give people a more lively and layered feeling, like the hybrid Crassulaceae plants in the picture above. Decorating the surroundings with some Crassula 'Jade Necklace' or the like, and using Firesticks or Golden Sedum to accent is also a good choice.

Make succulents stand out:If you want your succulents to stand out, fill the area around them with plump little ones. You can use Crassula 'Jade Necklace', ice-blue blue chalksticks, paired with the currently popular Aeonium 'Sunburst' - all good choices.

Crassula 'Jade Necklace' succulent

Crassula 'Jade Necklace' succulent

Ice-blue blue chalksticks

The currently popular Aeonium 'Sunburst'

The currently popular Aeonium 'Sunburst'