First of all, I'm not sure that all cacti like to be crowded in their pots, but be that as it may, it's quite common to see cactus species grouped together in small, shallow containers. There's all sorts of instructions and advice in books and online about how to do make a "mini garden." Main thing, I'd say is that you want to make sure the pot drains, since a lot of cute ceramic containers don't. Of course, use a proper soil mix. Decide in advance on how you want to arrange the plants to create your mini-desert landscape, because the less you handle them, the less you get stuck. Most people put decorative gravel on top of the soil, and maybe plant a rock or two to look like a boulder. As far as the design aspects, about all I know is the advice about "pillars, spillers and fillers." In my own experience, the squat globular plants should be mixed with the more vertical-growing species to get some contrast. If you have any of those tiny bonsai shovels and rakes, they'll come in handy for this job. Disposable chopsticks and plastic "sporks" are useful as well. Matter of fact, I don't think sporks are good for anything else.

Laura, All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti. I can't really comment on whether it is an easier plant to grow or not, that really is a personal thing. I can't grow certain plants that others seem to have no problem with. Be careful when handling this plant, though, especially if you have sensitive skin or something like eczema. Euphorbias have a milky sap that can irritate the skin, so if you have the above mentioned problems, wear some kind of gloves when handling the plant; definitely when trimming it or handling a broken piece. Nancy

Babies would probably get away from any outside spot in your area during windy/rainy conditions. The reason I have so many is because winter didn't show up last time and there were thousands of babies all over my flower beds still alive. A normal winter would have killed them here. Saturated is a good word! When I realize how much direct sun these kinds of plants appreciate, I've given them as much as possible and last winters' blooms were like those in the pic below, regarding color. The blooms in the above pic were faded from lower light. K. houghtonii is a hybrid, the love child of K. delagoensis & daigremontiana. These plants are the mother lode and were about finished with very few petals left when I appropriated the top of a baby from a nearby crack in the parking lot and started what is now a collection with it, but this pic may help show that they were a much deeper, more saturated color. These things seem to like to grow in cracks. I saw this one in St. Augustine FL in May. Same hybrid.

That is not cold...They will be fine in temps lower than that; I usually bring them inside when overnight temps stay constantly below 10*C (hopefully not before November :) Couple of nights ago temps here dropped to 9*C, daytimes are in mostly in mid- to high- twenties. Shade/lack of light would be bigger problem. But if you get 4-6 hrs of sunlight, it would be great. Your Sempervivum (#11-14) would grow much better outdoors. They are Alpine plants, and very hardy. You could keep them in containers or in ground. They will be better off if they spend winter outside. If you keep them in pots, pls. add more soil - right now, they are very deep inside of pots.