Category Archives: succulents

Christmas wreaths, grapevine wreaths, succulents

Succulents for the Holidays

Grapevine wreaths are easy to assemble

It may be a bit early but as I stroll through different stores I?m always thinking if something would make a good gift for someone on my Christmas list. Often I?m looking for easy-to-make gifts that I can put together at home and on a recent visit to Succulent Gardens near Elkhorn Slough I came up with lots of ideas.

Succulents planted in an old VW at Succulent Gardens.

To be sure Succulent Gardens is jam packed with finished succulent wreaths, wood frames in all shapes filled with colorful succulents plus all the makings and starts to put together your own creation. They offer classes, too. But if you have succulents growing in your own garden and a grapevine wreath or any type of container that would make a great succulent garden you might want to try making one at home.

Grapevine wreaths come in all sizes. Using floral wire it?s easy to attach succulent cuttings, dried flowers or fresh, any type of greenery. moss or tillandsia. You don?t need to cover the whole wreath either making this type easy to create. After the holidays you can plant the succulent starts back in the garden.

If you?ve been thinking of including more succulents in your own landscape here are some tips for growing them in our area. The smaller varieties would make great wreath or planter specimens.

In choosing the best succulents for your garden think about if your area gets frost during the winter. Does it have protection from a building or evergreen tree or do you live in a banana belt that rarely freezes? Are you planting in sun, shade or a combination?

In addition to the hardy succulents like sedum and sempervivum many showy succulents need only a bit of protection during our winters. Aeonium decorum ?Sunburst? is one of the showiest species with spectacular variegated 10 inch rosettes. Sunburst is hardy to 28 degrees and looks terrific planted with black Voodoo aeonium which will take a light frost. Aeoniums do well in our climate as they come from Arabia, East Africa and the Canary Islands where winter rainfall is the norm.

Echeveria ‘Afterglow’

Echeveria grow naturally in higher elevations of central Mexico to northwestern South America and so also do well in our our cool wet winters. ?Afterglow? is frost tolerant and hardy to 27 degrees. It looks to be painted with florescent paint. There are spectacular hybrids being developed every year. These are not as hardy as the traditional hens and chicks but well worth the effort to find a place where they can survive a freeze. Frilly ?Mauna Loa? sports turquoise and burgundy foliage while Blue Curls echeveria looks like an anemone in a tide pool.

To ensure success when growing succulents, make sure your soil is fast draining. Our winter rains can rot even the toughest plants when their feet sit in soggy soil. Add sand, gravel or pumice to your soil or plant on mounds to increase drainage.

When potting succulents in containers, be sure to use a quality potting mix as good drainage is essential. There are special succulent mixes available but succulents are forgiving as long as the soil drains freely. Don’t add gravel or clay shards at the bottom if planting in a container as this impedes drainage. It work best to fill the entire pot with soil, top to bottom.

Because succulents use little water they are easy to care for. If you hate the idea of having to water after you get home from work, create the garden of your dreams with succulents.

fungal diseases, succulents

Aloe & other Succulents in the late Winter Garden

Usually succulents are bullet-proof in the garden. Easy care, low water and dramatic they are great additions to the landscape. If you are having problems with fungal spots on yours after so much rain and cold you?re not alone. Still aloe, yucca and agave are worth growing as well as other succulents. Here is some useful information.

Cape Aloe

Succulents have demonstrated a wide tolerance to the fungi that cause leaf and some spots. Although they can disfigure plants they do very little damage despite their appearance.

There are other more serious fungal infections like anthracnose. It often appears as a moist tan colored rot with red, orange or pink pustules on the surface. Spots start small, but expand rapidly on both leaves and crowns. Once a succulents is infected the only treatment is removal of affected leaves. The application of copper fungicide may help to destroy fungal bodies. Root and crown rot don?t respond well to treatment and if you have planted your succulents in well draining soil there might not be much you can do about the excessive rain they?ve gotten recently.

Our Mediterranean climate is usually perfectly suited for the exotic looking family of Aloes. Some hail from the Arabian Peninsula and Madagascar but mostly they are native to South Africa. The spikes of their showy flowers supply much needed nectar for hummingbirds now when not much else is blooming.

There?s a variety for any space, large or small, container or tree-like. Here are a few of the types I?m seeing blooming right now in our area.

Aloe ferox

Aloe ferox or Cape Aloe grows best in full sun but tolerates a wide variety of growing conditions. They can thrive in very dry conditions or grow in an area that receives regular irrigation- a good trait given our recent wet winter. The foliage is hardy to at least 20 degrees and the winter flowers down to 24 degrees. Cape aloe grow to 6 feet tall and 3-5 feet wide so plan accordingly if you plant one of these spectacular reddish-orange to orange succulents. Cape Aloe occupies many habitats in its native Cape Region of South Africa and is listed on the endangered plant list.

Torch aloe

Torch Aloe or Aloe arborescens blooms also in fall and winter. The bright yellow or red flower spikes cover this large clumping variety. This species has recently been studied for possible medical uses similar to the well known aloe vera plant. It?s the only other member of the Aloe family that is claimed to be as effective. It can survive much lower winter low temperatures than aloe vera.

Aloe vera has been grown for thousands of years in tropical climates. It is one of the most widely used medicinal plants on the planet. As a houseplant make sure the pot has plenty of drainage holes as they cannot tolerate standing water. Let them go completely dry between waterings and grow them in the very bright light of a south or west facing window.

The Soap Aloe or Aloe maculata is so tough that it can survive just about anywhere. My soap aloe aren?t blooming right now but others in better growing conditions are sporting showy flowers atop tall, multi branched stalks in colors ranging from red to gold. Once established this succulent needs only occasional water to look good. They grow in partial to full sun. The foliage gets 18 to 24 inches tall with the bloom spikes reaching 35 inches tall.

Every garden should have a variety of aloe to feed the hummingbirds in winter.

holiday plants, succulents, tillandsia, wildlife gardening

Holiday Gifts from the Garden

I?m getting excited about the holidays. Time to dust off the Christmas list. I admit I look forward to what might be under the tree for me but half the fun of the holidays is coming up with an inexpensive gift that is just right for each person. With so many gardeners on my list, there are a lot choices.

I know some of the best gifts are the ones from nature or something that I made myself. With that in mind I have a few ideas up my sleeve.

Coreopsis ‘Mango Punch’

Plants provide needed food year round for wildlife in the garden and especially during the winter. Why not give a friend a plant or offset of one of your plants that birds, bees or butterflies would appreciate? Some easy-to-divide favorites that attract birds include foxglove, coral bells, red-hot poker, California fuchsia, mahonia and purple coneflower.

Or you might have one of the following butterfly favorites that you could divide and pot up for a friend. Yarrow, aster, veronica, agapanthus, astilbe, coreopsis and gaura are just a few that butterflies favor. Ceanothus and columbine are two plants that self sow in my garden and would be easy to pot up for a gift.

Another simple, inexpensive gift for the gardeners on your list is the tillandsia. Sometimes called air plants, these relatives of Spanish moss and pineapple have tiny scales on their leaves called trichomes which serve as very efficient absorption systems to gather water. They are very tolerant of drought conditions and will grow with just an occasional spritzing of water although I like to run mine under lukewarm water to mimic the showers they might get where they normally grow in tropical tree limbs.

Tillandsia mounted on drift wood

Tillandsia prefer the light from a bright window but not direct sunlight and are among the easiest of indoor plants to grow and maintain. Wire one on a branch or piece of driftwood or place in a shell and they will live happily for years growing pups at the base that replace the mother plant.

echeveria ‘Lace’

Succulents are also easy to grow. They are very forgiving plants when it comes to watering and light conditions. Seems I?m always coming across someone who has a story about how long they have had a particular specimen and where it came from. ?You see that hens and chicks over there??, they say. ?Well my aunt gave me a little slip way back when? and it blooms every year.? If you have succulents in your own garden, break off a couple, allow the bottom to callus and pot in a small recycled cup or container to give as a gift.

It?s not too late to start a couple of hyacinth bulbs in the refrigerator to give as gifts. Part of the fun is watching the bulbs put out roots well before the fragrant blooms. Choose a hyacinth jar or other narrow necked jar that will support the bulb just above the water and keep in the frig until roots start to fill the jar. Take the bulb out of the dark and give it a bit more light each day for a week until acclimated to bright light. The house will fill with the sweet scent of spring even though it may only be January.

The holidays are a time to bring a smile to someone you care about. Your gift doesn?t need to cost very much to show your love.