Plants in Los Angeles: orchids and succulents for a long dry season
Downtown Los Angeles gets about 360 millimetres of rain a year, and around 92 per cent of it falls between November and April. That long dry stretch sits behind every choice about plants in Los Angeles. Pick something that flowers for a while, or something built to hold its own water through months with barely a drop.
Flowering pot or water-storing succulent: a gift for LA's dry months
A flowering plant from this section, usually a moth orchid, stays in bloom for two or three months once it settles in, while a rose cut for a vase lasts about a week. The pot carries on long after a bouquet would have gone into the bin, which makes flowering plants the safer gift when the occasion isn't tied to one evening.
For someone who forgets to water, a cactus or a florarium needs less attention. Succulents keep water in their own fleshy leaves rather than depending on the soil, so a missed week does less damage than it would to a cut flower or a thirsty house plant. Cactus plants sit in that same low-maintenance group.
A moth orchid in Los Angeles: bright window, no midday sun
Downtown Los Angeles stays warm for most of the year, and the average day cools only slowly as the months turn:
- August: around 29°C
- September: around 28°C
- January: around 20°C by day, near 9°C at night
A moth orchid sets a new flower spike once the daytime temperature drops below 27°C outdoors. That's a rough cue rather than a promise, since a plant kept indoors answers to the air near its leaves, not to the street outside the glass.
Direct midday sun through a Los Angeles window is strong enough to scorch an orchid's leaves, so a bright spot out of that direct light works better than the sunniest sill in the room. The comfortable range runs from 19°C to 30°C by day and 16°C to 19°C at night. Water the plant about once a week, and never leave the pot standing in water afterwards, since the bark it grows in needs to drain. Once the flowers drop, cut the spike above the second node rather than at the base, and a new one can grow on from there.
Succulents in open glass for a sunny Los Angeles sill
Open glass suits plants built for a dry climate: succulents and cacti go in a bowl with no lid, watered with a light mist from a spray rather than poured on. A closed jar traps humidity instead, which is what moisture-loving plants need but a succulent doesn't.
The Florarium "Icosahedron" with Stone Rose Succulent shows the idea in a single piece: rosette-shaped succulents sit in open geometric glass. Left on a sunny sill, it needs only a light mist from a spray, not the watering a cut arrangement would. That same open-glass format turns up in other shapes among the floralariums, and potted plants by type is the place to compare it against an ordinary pot.
A florist photographs the plant before the courier sets off, most orders go out the day they're placed, and delivery in the centre costs nothing: that's what plant delivery in Los Angeles comes down to, with the fine print on the delivery terms page. For hotel guests, wards and the dates that fill up, check that page instead.
A quick way to start: flowering plants for someone who'll enjoy watching it bloom, floralariums for a sill that gets strong sun and not much attention.