Some Succulent Success

Succulents are SUPPOSED to be easy to grow. But for whatever reason, I've struggled with mine. They shrivel up or get all squishy. Or the leaves fall off. Once someone told me to set them outside in the sun and THIS HAPPENED.

I am truly sorry for all of the succulents who have met their demise under my well-meaning but obviously somewhat incompetent care!

But now I think there's reason to have hope: I've found Laura at Garden Answer.

If you're looking for a wonderful, knowledgeable resource for all things green and growing, Laura is it. Visit her extensive YouTube channel for playlists about landscape gardening, containers, succulents, fairy gardens, and much more. Laura is incredibly talented and I've learned so much watching her!

 Laura's succulent containers are spectacular...way beyond my pitiful attempts, but I've definitely picked up some tips. First, I need to pack my succulent dish much fuller. So I recently replanted it and with the tighter arrangement, everything seems to be doing better. The plants are holding each other up and filling in the space pretty nicely. In fact, I have room for a couple more small ones in this dish.

I also learned to water them with a turkey baster. It lets me squirt water right around the base of each plant, allowing me to be much more precise than just watering under the faucet or with a pitcher. 

I've kept a closer eye on the intervals between watering and have extended it out from two to three weeks. The leaves on some were feeling squishy and that can mean too much water. I think three weeks between watering is good for now but we'll see how things go through the winter.

I'm really hopeful, for the sake of these sweet little succulents, that I'm doing the right things to keep them alive this time. FINGERS CROSSED!

jp

Succulents and Violets

It's been a very long time since I posted about the state of my succulents and violets! I've recently re-potted both so I thought I'd share a little about my experience.

In short, I've had mixed results with my succulents. Succulents supposedly require very little care, but I've found that they're harder to grow than you'd think. It's very easy to over-water them, and they're sensitive to the amount of light they get each day -- although I haven't figured out what the "right" amount of light is! My succulents seem to be doing pretty well in the laundry room, so that's where they'll stay.

I recently added some new plants to the oval pot in the photo below. One plant had grown very leggy, so I removed it and put it in the small square pot to hopefully start afresh. It's already tipped over several times so I'd say the long-term chance of survival is slim! :)

I added the three plants at the left, back, and right of this pot to fill it up. After watching a few videos, it dawned on me that succulents do not grow quickly so they don't need a lot of extra space. Fuller planters look better to me. In fact, I probably could have squeezed a few more into this planter!

 Since I've moved the succulents to the laundry room, they seem to be doing better. I have a reminder set to water them every two weeks which seems to be just about right. We'll see how the new plants survive!

I've had better success with my violets...although I may have just ruined everything!

Recently I attempted to split two of my violets which had developed multiple crowns (new baby plants). I have only attempted this once (with Bailey) so this was the first time trying it on my own. I watched a couple of videos to learn the proper method and decided to give it a try. 

Here you can see how large this plant was! There were three or four plants in one.

I pulled it out of the pot and shook off the dirt. In retrospect, I should have done this when the plants were very dry.

I gently pulled apart the plants, trying to leave roots on each one. (This is probably where I failed...we'll see!)

 

 I placed the newly separated plants into small containers with violet potting mix. I use plastic containers with holes in the bottom, as violets are watered from the bottom.

 After splitting the violets, I had seven pots. I trimmed off some of the outside leaves to make them a little more balanced, watered them, and put them back in the dining room where they live for the time being.

 One week later, they're all still alive, but the leaves are not as "stiff" as I'd like them to be. When violets are thriving, their leaves stand out rather than flop down. I'm hoping they're just suffering from transplant shock and that this will improve over time. We'll see!

 

I really hope they live, but if these violets die, I'll be buying a few new ones at the grocery store. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

jp

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!

 

Update: State of the Succulents

 It's been awhile since I've done a State of the Succulents update, so I thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on what's going well...and what is not.

First, the violets. Violets are obviously not succulents, but I'm shamelessly including them here to pad my resume. :) Both violets are doing very well, including the purple one at left that started as a small SNIP from one of Bailey's Texas violets!

 During the holiday season, I had a Christmas tree sitting in this particular window so had to move the violets to the kitchen for a few weeks. It's true what they say about violets needing a window on a certain side of the house (this one is sort of a northeast exposure) in order to bloom. The blooms withered and never came back while they were in the kitchen. Shortly after I moved them back to this window, buds formed and now I have these beautiful flowers! I water them about once a week by placing the pot in a small bowl. I feed them whenever I think of it. I'm hoping that Bailey will give me another snip the next time we drive to Texas!

 

Now for the succulents. First, the good news: 

The Christmas cactus and aloe vera plant are doing very well. The cactus bloomed during the holiday season and again recently. The aloe vera will need to be re-potted one of these days as it's getting a bit top-heavy for that container.

 The rosemary plant #notasucculent #yesiamtryingtodistractyou  is also doing great after spending the winter inside. Don't believe all those naysayers who would tell you that rosemary can't be grown indoors. I'm doing it, and we know I have very little skill in this department! 

 My little container of mixed succulents is also doing well...at least from what I can tell. I haven't seen a lot of growth, but nothing has dried up and fallen over. That's a good sign for succulents...and people, I think.

These two dudes are also doing well. Look at the guy on the left!

He's 12" tall! I had to move him to my craft room because, let's face it, he's a bit weird-looking. Then I felt guilty about ostracizing him, so I also moved his more normal-looking cousin so he'd have company. One of these days I do think he needs to have a trim. Or an amputation of some sort.

The jade plant is still doing well, but like I said in a previous post, it might actually be plastic. :)

Here's a new succulent which has a lovely purple color. It's very low-maintenance...because it's fake!

And so is this one! I'm thinking eventually I might have to get more of these fake succulents. You definitely cannot kill them!

And now for the bad news:

I'm not quite sure what happened here. These two dudes got the same level of care as my other succulents but they recently broke off at the dirt level. Were they too dry? Or too wet? I'm not at all sure. But these pots will soon be ready to fill with new victims. Here's hoping they fare a bit better than their predecessors!

So after a few months with succulents, my feedback is this: They are not foolproof, by any means. People will tell you they require very little care, but that's not exactly true. Too much -- or not enough -- water will kill them. Too much sun (ahem) will also kill them, as will too little. For me, it's been a bit of a guessing game, but the optimistic "gardener" in me will forge ahead and keep trying! :)

jp

State of the Succulents

When I bought my first succulents in March, I thought they'd be easy to care for and impossible to kill. While they are practically maintenance-free, I've proven (repeatedly) that they can indeed be killed, in the ugliest sort of way.

I've lost track of how many "do overs" I've now had. Last week I stopped by Earl May to replace the two succulents I most recently killed. Look how cute (and alive!) these guys are!

 

I added them to my pitiful succulent dish and in the process, one of the healthy looking plants broke off at the base, leaving me with an awkward space in the middle. Apparently no succulent is safe around me!

 So I moved another plant from a separate pot into the Succulent Dish of Death. Looks good...for now.

 Truthfully, I'm not a complete failure when it comes to succulents. All of these guys are in various states of alive-ness. Not so sure about the one in the tiny pot.

 I especially like these fuzzy guys (mostly because they are living, but also because they're fluffy in a succulent sort of way). When I purchased new succulents, I decided to buy another one like this. Just to build on my success, you know. :)

My jade plant also continues to thrive. I'm starting to think it might actually be plastic.

 

My Christmas cactus (which I've had for years) and my new aloe vera plant are also still green and thriving.

But what's the deal with this guy (banana for scale)? This is not an attractive plant. But my criteria does not include "attractive" at this point.

 

He seems to like the light in my craft room. I'm pretty much the only one who sees him there which is probably a good thing. 

For the record, my violet (on the left) is also doing well, although it hasn't bloomed for quite some time. Bailey, on the other hand, is having great success with her violets. While we were in Texas, she divided one of her lovely blooming plants and gave me a cutting.

 I also noticed that her succulents have adjusted to the Texas heat and are OUTSIDE on the balcony, doing quite well! They get a bit of morning sun and are shaded the rest of the day.

Maybe that's the answer. I'll pack up my succulents and head to the Lone Star State. :)

jp

Succulents: The Carnage Continues

 Well, it's time for my regular succulent "check-in" post. I've now decided that in fact you CAN kill succulents without even knowing how you did it.

In my last post, I had planted two new succulents to replace those that died after I accidentally baked them in the sun -- the large one at left and the taller spiky one in the middle. From the moment I planted them, it didn't look good. The large one lost several leaves (I swear, they just fell off!) and the spiky one barely had any roots. Still, ever the optimist when it comes to gardening, I clung to hope.

Here's how the dish looks today, folks. 

Can you feel my frustration? This time, it only took a few days for the new succulents to die. Still, it was a pitiful, sad sight.

Interestingly, the succulents I purchased at Earl May a few months ago are still living, but two of the three from Home Depot have died. So in order to optimize my chances, I think I'll replace those two dead ones at Earl May. 

To illustrate my point, the jade plant and this other little guy are still doing great.

Look at this goofy guy! I wish he looked less like a giraffe, but at least he is still alive! This plant has grown a good three inches since I purchased it. I've read that you can actually cut off leggy succulents and propagate new plants from the leaves, but that seems like an ambitious undertaking for someone like me. I don't want to kill a plant that is actually thriving, and I'm pretty sure that is entirely possible.

These two furry plants are also doing well.

The aloe plant is the only Home Depot succulent which is thriving under my watchful eye. It even has new growth!

So my succulent experience so far has been a mixed bag. You grow some, you kill some. But I love the neat and tidy look of succulents and I'm not giving up yet!

jp

Succulents: Do-Over

In case anyone thinks that you can't kill succulents, I recently offered proof that in fact, you can. I've let my dish of sunburned succulents rest inside for a couple of weeks, feeling terrible and hoping for a miracle, but recently I decided it was time to let them go. This sight was just too sad to see every day:

  So I stopped by Home Depot on my way home from running errands. Look at all of these beautiful succulents -- full of life!

 

I'll admit I have become slightly obsessed with their tidy, compact shapes!

I picked out three small succulents to replace those I baked and brought them home to plant. Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic about this do-over because one of the plants (the spiky one at right) completely fell apart when I took it out of the Home Depot container. The roots are very shallow!

I packed it tightly into the new soil, trying to prop it up a bit, and in short order it looked pretty good. But in the process of rescuing Mr. Spiky, a couple of the leaves popped off the big, squatty succulent at the left. Good grief! Aren't these plants supposed to be HARDY?

As I disposed of the sunburned succulents, I found two that seemed to be clinging to life, so I thought I'd give them a second (third?) chance. I put them each in a small pot because they deserve their own space at this point!

  I also bought an aloe plant because I have grown them successfully in the past and let's face it: I need a Positive Succulent Outcome! Plus, they're handy to have around in case of a burn, which could happen at any time with me in the kitchen.

I gave them each a gentle watering...

 ...and will now leave them alone for the next three weeks until the next time I need to water them. No trips to the outdoors for these guys! 

Cross your fingers and watch for my next State of the Succulents report!

jp