Don Steele, 91, has only lived on Vashon five months, and he has already grown a small but successful business.

The former nurse manager and ceramic artist’s small succulent gardens — buckets, dishes, baskets and even old Jell-O molds filled with sedums and sempervivums — are now sold at both Thriftway and Blooms & Things, and they are catching customers’ attention.

Steele, a Vashon Com-munity Care resident, said he has long been an artist and an entrepreneur. For 35 years, he sold ceramic pottery, jewelry, succulent gardens and Japanese Ikebana flower arrangements at florists and gift shops around the Puget Sound area.

Steele took a break from his hobbies at age 89. However, when he moved to Vashon, where his daughter Karen Steele lives with her family, he was inspired to begin making the succulent gardens again. “I don’t like not creating,” he said.

Now, Steele, aging but enthusiastic, passes afternoons on the back patio of the care center, carefully planting succulents he special ordered from California, using treasures he finds at Granny’s Attic Thrift Shop as his one-of-a-kind pots.

Carol Ahlfors, owner of Blooms & Things, said the succulent gardens have been a hit since her shop began selling them in June. “We sold them all summer long, to tourists and Islanders. Everybody loves them,” she said.

Steele believes people like the planters because they are attractive, can live inside or outside and are easy to maintain. “They need very little care and very little water,” he said. “They’re practically self-sustaining.”

At Blooms & Things, Ahlfors said, the planters seem to be most popular among those in their 30s. “They love the story that goes with it,” she added.

Ahlfors said Steele himself is a delight to do business with. “He stacks them up on his walker and the Access van drops him off at the corner, and he sells them to Thirftway and me. … He’s very funny. He has lots of good stories,” she said.

And though succulent gardens are not uncommon crafts, Ahlfors said there is something special about Steele’s. “He does a nice job of balancing color and texture. They are interesting to look at,” she said. “He’s not just throwing a bunch of succulents together. He has an eye.”

Steele, who takes home about half the proceeds of his creations, isn’t keeping the money for himself. “I’m going to try to contribute something to both my grandchildren’s college savings,” he said.