More damage was done to the flat than this picture suggests. I had to remove all the plants and give them new homes. Ah, well.
While I was in the greenhouse this afternoon, I heard some rocks falling on the deck. I went outside to see what the commotion was, and found this scene awaiting me: I was laughing too hard to be annoyed. My girlfriend claims she taught the dog to do this so that I would stop putting plants on the deck furniture. Sneaky, but all too plausible.
More damage was done to the flat than this picture suggests. I had to remove all the plants and give them new homes. Ah, well. I was watering my largest succulent planter on Friday and it occurred to me that I've never shown it to you guys, have I? Driving home from a friend's house once, I happened by a nursery that was closing(!). The owner was retiring, and they were getting rid of a bunch of random bits and pieces around the nursery, including this five-or-six-foot-long hollowed out bamboo planter. All that was in it at the time was a bunch of geraniums on their last legs. I took it home for $10, removed the geraniums, and planted a huge bunch of succs in it. My girlfriend then hung it from a picnic table where we keep lots of pots of succulents. Here it is from one side: And here it is from the other side: If you want to do something like this, a few pieces of advice. One, use larger plants to shade smaller or more finicky plants that will need time to get used to the new placement. Two, assuming you're mixing lots of different kinds of plants, like I am here, they probably won't all survive. Most will, but there are bound to be a few casualties. Third, give your plants time to adjust. I planted this two or three months ago, and even though it took a little while for some of the plants to take hold, I think it looks better than ever now! On to the next project. For quite some time, I've had a shadow box that I picked up somewhere for $5 or so. It's not particularly sturdy, and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Yesterday, I decided to paint it with some exterior paint that's been lying around the garage. I let it dry, drilled some holes, and tilted it to about a 90º angle against a step. Then I planted it with succulents. Keeping it at 90º while I planted meant that I'd be able to display it right away when I finished, which is what I'm doing here: Cool, huh? I had fun coordinating the colors. My girlfriend pointed out that the coloring is sure to change with the sun, and while this is true enough, I can always switch these out for new plants if I want to keep being militant about the rows of color. And finally, just for fun, here's a picture of the table outside of our house. Not a great shot of the plantings on the table, sure, but a nice photo of the faithful Succulent Patrol Canine, looking typically wistful. First of all, I wanted to thank all the new readers who are following Gardening Succs! I really appreciate it. This blog has gone from zilch, zip, nada to about 200 visitors each day (with a high of 800!), and the Gardening Succs Facebook page has over 1000 "likes." Thank you! Next, a confession: I suffer from propag-addiction, one of the most common succulent ailments around (more info on specific ailments soon--I feel another infographic coming on...). Sooo, following the growers at Lone Pine, I decided to start using flats for the plants I both (1) already have several of and (2) would like to grow more of. But since I don't have enough of any one type to fill a flat, I used two different kinds to fill a flat: In the next flat I made, I used four different kinds. (So far, I've only made these two flats.) What am I going to do with the new plants? Sell them? Give them away? Propagate more plants and see if I can get on "Hoarders?" I have no idea. Most likely, I'll try to trade them with other succulent aficionados for plants I don't have yet. For many of my plants, though, I only have one or two specimens. Or three. Or four. (Whatever--don't judge me.) Here's a shot of the inside of part of my greenhouse. And lastly, just for fun, two random pictures I took in my backyard the other day. Thanks again for being awesome, and for sticking around to watch this blog grow. I promise you, it'll only get better!
I several agaves, three of which are the gorgeous hybrid known as "blue flame." Two of my three blue flames, though, have recently become plagued with a few little brown spots on their lower leaves. Any idea what's going on with this? There's nothing on the back of the leaves--no bugs or anything. And so far it's just the lower leaves. It's also only my younger blue flames (maybe 8-10" across) that are affected. My big one seems to be doing fine... |
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