Colourful succulents feast

→ Can be planted as a hedge and clipped as a screen, windbreak.

- Alice Spenser-Higgs

The bright cold days are bringing out the bright red, yellow and orange colours of succulents. It is surprising that plants which we associate with hot and dry summers show off at their best in winter.

Euphorbia "Firesticks" turns into a fiery bush, with glowing red and yellow tips.

It can be clipped as a hedge, used as a feature plant in a container, or left to grow taller against a hot wall, planted as a screen or as a windbreak.

In smaller gardens it can be trimmed into a medium-high shrub. Plants grow easily, but slowly from cuttings planted in well composted soil that drains well. Feed with a liquid fertiliser.

It is well worth the wait as this plant is drought-tolerant and needs virtually no care.

It is one of the few plants that thrives in beds that receive hot afternoon sun. Water once every two weeks in summer, letting the soil dry out before watering.

To encourage growth of young plants, plant in composted soil and feed with a liquid fertiliser.