Well I am new here. I live in Western Washington state in zone 8/9 (depends on the weather over the winter) and have a question I hope someone can help me with but I don't know where to post it. Here it is, I want to find out what succulents, non cacti plants stay small and will work for a large 3'x4' to 5'x6' indoor artificially lit garden. I want a variety of plants but I don't want anything to take over like some Crassula and other succulents can do. Also nothing too tall although if it can be trained to stay small it will work. I want the plant to stay in their own little "footprint" of 2"x2" up to 4"x6". I know, I could have asked an easier question but this is the one thing I can not find on my own. Which succulents stay small or can be trained to do so and which ones will grow under proper artificial lighting. I will post a more detailed thread in the proper section once I know where.
You can grow almost any succulent under artificial light; the difficulty in your question lies in the height/size restriction. So, here goes: stay away from Kalanchoes (especially K. daigremontana) as they get both quite tall when it's bloom time, and tend to drop puppies into any available space. The following are suitable succulents, mostly unusual ones since that's what I tend to collect. You'd probably really like Lithops - tiny, non-spreading, and very intriguing. Extremely rewarding when they bloom. Equally, Senecio rowleyana can be coiled back on itself to control spread and is a natural low-grower. It's normally grown as a hanging plant, but this isn't necessary. You should also check out the genus Euphorbia, which is huge and has a number of intriguing little succulents in it. E. alfredii, E. meloformis, E. obesa, and other Euphorbs of the subgenus Rhizantheum are particularly suited to what you're looking for. Stapelia is another low-growing succulent, which produces some of the niftiest flowers I have seen on succulents. Rosette or Birdsnest Sanseveria is a nice addition. So are the creeping Sedums (I personally am quite fond of S. burrito. Again, a hanging plant that can be wrapped back onto itself.) Something that most succulent growers don't normally think of are the Bromeliads. Tillandsia are the smaller examples, but you can also control size by limiting the pot size, so you could concievably have dwarf pineapples (although they probably wouldn't fruit for you). I also like Guzmania, but they're probably too big for your purposes. And if you ask the friendly folks on the Cactus and Succulents Forum here, they'll also be full of good ideas and suggestions.
http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?p=175166#post175166 New post here. Thank you Lorax
