State of the Succulents - and Beware the Aloe Plant!

 

I've now been growing (or trying to grow) succulents for over a year. In general, they're fairly easy to keep alive, but that does not mean that you can forget to water them (or forget you have them entirely) for months at a time. Oops!

  So that sad episode warranted a trip back to Home Depot for a few replacements. This new one looks similar to a jade plant but with finer leaves. I also bought a smaller one for my craft room and vow not to forget about it this time!

 

 I also repotted this planter and added another plant at the left. I still need to fill in that awkward hole at the side. If you'll recall, this is the planter I set outside on the patio last year and COOKED, so these are all newer plants.

But the big discovery this time was that aloe plants (and jade plants, too!) are poisonous to cats. I keep a mental list of no-no plants but somehow the aloe escaped me. And here's the scary thing: I've had two aloe plants in our laundry room for a year now, very accessible to both kitties. Shame on me! 

Scarily (is that a word?), I discovered this aloe fact by accident. My aloe had done so well that it needed to be repotted, so I picked up this lovely new pot at Home Depot to match our family room. I put the aloe in its new location and Lily (who NEVER has any interest in plants) promptly started playing with the tips, even putting one in her mouth. Luckily, I spotted her and looked it up. Of course, when I read that aloe plants are very dangerous for cats, I nearly fainted. I moved both of my aloe plants immediately.

As an aside, my astute daughter has an aloe plant but knew they are dangerous to kitties, so she keeps hers outdoors on her covered balcony where it gets just the right amount of sun and is not accessible to Rory, who has a keen interest in gardening! :)

There are very few places in our house that the kitties can't reach. One is the top of the dining room hutch, so that's where the aloe plants will live. I hadn't planned on keeping them there, but that's where they'll stay..safe from the little mouths of my furbabies!