planting succulents in a bowl

[BambooWhoosh]

I've got a ceramic bowl and I would like to plant up with succulents for indoors. It doesn't have any drainage though. Should I put a layer of stones at the bottom and then sandy soil mix on top? Alternatively I thought I could almost fill the bowl with gravel and bury small individual draining plant pots in it. I could then lift out the individual pots to water & drain them before sitting them back in the gravel.

Please could you advise?

I've been looking at plants and thought maybe miniature aeonium, sempervivium and echeveria although suggestions would be very welcome.

It really isn't a good idea to plant mixed succulents together in a bowl (although they look so attractive when done this way!) As they often have quite different needs re:watering.And DEFINITELY not in a bowl with no drainage holes in the bottom, even with a layer of gravel - this simply makes a sump for water which will go sour and rot the roots.
Your second idea of burying the pots would be a better alternative, but would still need careful watering.
Sempervivums don't do well indoors - they are really alpine plants that are totally hardy, and are best grown outdoors, as they etiolate (stretch) badly without full light outside.

I would agree with NanTheWiser about not being good idea to plant in a bowl. However, I bought some succculents already in a bowl and only water them a little once every 3 or 4 weeks and they have been fine. They are currently in my conservatory but I have had them in the house also.

Ah ok. The bowl was originally a gift with an ivy and kalanchoe planted directly into it. The kalanchoe survives but is on its way out which supports your advice. Are there any plants which would be okay in there? Perhaps I could get a shallow plastic bulb pot to fit inside?

A shallow bulb bowl might do the trick, as long as it has drainage holes, you would still have to check it doesn't sit in standing water though.

Thank you both! I'll see if I can find an 'inner' the correct size.

What attracts you to succulents? Is it their slow growth or their appearance? I wonder whetehr there's another group of plants which could provide most of what you're after.

Alternatively, have you got somewhere else you can grow succulents? If so, you could grow about 20 assorted plants, sink three in their pots in the bowl, and every month or couple of months, remove them for a rest and sink a different three in.

Slow growth and appearance really. I had been looking at this kind of thing on Etsy. I know why the succulent/non succulent combo was unsuccessful, but I didn't realise that the whole succulent idea was a bit flawed!

I want to plant up this bowl, but not really grow succulents elsewhere and swap them in.

Can you suggest another plant / group of plants? I was going to do bulbs but I wanted something longer lasting. Any kind of colour or drama would be a bonus.

Air plants? They don't do much on growth, but every so often they throw up an exotically coloured flower spike. I'm thinking you could fill the bowl with gravel and water for the moist atmosphere, then stand rocks in it and put the plants on those - look up cultivation directions and see if you think it would work.

Alternatively, stick to one type of succulent. Lithops are nice - spend all their life looking like weathered pebbles, then each year they throw up big white or yellow daisy flowers about 3cm across. Don't know how much light they need for flowering - mine are in the greenhouse.

I'm afraid I would disagree with you MereDint on the Lithops suggestion. Because of their very high light requirements, they aren't very suitable for a windowsill indoors. They grow very leggy, and probably wouldn't flower, plus they need quite a strict watering regime, being dormant until early summer.
In a greenhouse in full sun, they grow well, provided the watering regime is respected, colour up well, and stay compact - I have over 100 grown in full sun. (They come from very arid regions of S. Africa, often found in Quartz fields).

I'm afraid I would disagree with you MereDint on the Lithops suggestion I did put the caveat that I didn't know about their light requirement! . The concept of a leggy Lithops is quite alarming.