The Plant Killer

I think the concept of vertical gardening is awesome.  And I have a vertical planter.  Only problem is, my vertical planter kills plants.  Very reliably.  

No matter what I try -- drought-resistant plants, watering every day, plastic baggy "invention," plant nannies and water globes -- I turn my back for a second, and we're looking at this:

or worse, this

Why?  Because the combination of heat with felt bags just dries everything right out.

My husband has started asking me regularly to throw it away.  But I think the concept of vertical gardening is so awesome and I have a vertical planter, so I refuse.  He has started getting creative and suggesting neat alternatives (like a wire lattice with air plants... Ooo, hey...).  And they are tempting.  But vertical gardening!!

Nevertheless, even I am starting to see the futility, so this year, as you know, I am trying something different...  Succulents.

I am very fond of my succulents, and these succulents are ones that I have nurtured for some time now, whether from propagated cuttings or in other pots that they have simply overgrown.

What better to overcome The Plant Killer than the (almost) unkillable succulents?  Good luck, little guys.

I should add that you may notice that the Dipladenia that I blogged about last year as a superhero plant and that is also present in the picture above of the completely dead vertical garden... save for the Dipladenia... is still alive.  Deathless Dipladenia, aka Superhero Plant, I am in awe.  Way to go.

So here's some samples of what I've put in the vertical planter:

A jade propagated newbie which started as this almost exactly one year ago--

Tiny roots

Repotted into a tiny pot

And has now turned into this, with a well-developed root system--

Has a few more leaves too!

Impressive!

I replanted the Echeveria which was nearly murdered by the rack in our kitchen window and in that process sparked this whole discovery of succulent propagation. 

That is all one plant except for the Kalanchoe propagation at far left

 In the process of unpotting and replanting it, a side branch fell off.  Oops.  But it already had a root system developing, so I planted that in another pocket as well.

Mama plant behind

The Crassula perforata branch that I had cut off and tossed into the Baby Succulent Farm, wondering if it would grow roots...  It grew roots!

And here it is, replanted with another repropagated "Kalanchoe Aurora Borealis" as well as a fuzzy succulent friend, "Kalanchoe Chocolate Soldier."

I will be quite sad if The Plant Killer kills them all, but I am taking a few measure against that:

First, instead of the usual very well-draining cactus mix, I added some potting soil (which does not drain as quickly).  The pocket on top is all potting soil and the ones on the bottom are mostly cactus mix, to account for the bottom pockets generally retaining more moisture (effect of gravity while watering).  

I have said before that the best way to kill a succulent is to over-water.  So it will be a delicate balance -- usually I water once a week rather lightly.  With these, I started with a heavy watering yesterday as you should with any plant that you have just planted, and intend to do a light watering 2-3x per week until established... and then we'll see.  And no watering with a hose to avoid excessive moisture.  That's the game plan!

I have had such success with propagating succulents that I have relegated another pot to a second Baby Succulent Farm.  Soon I will have to start giving succulents away!  There are so many!

Look at that teensy tiny baby succulent at the end of the leaf in the middle... Can you see it??

Meanwhile my other cuttings continue to grow (taken last week)

I love it.  Well, as you read this, I am in Las Vegas with the siblings, so I leave you with this fascinating aside (ever wonder what people would be like if born during a different generation?  Like would an Elvis born in 1983 be famous now?) ......Anyway: Elvis "Viva Las Vegas!"

It begins!

Ah, the power of goals and public opinion (in this case my New Yorker siblings'... they arrive tomorrow!).  It was just the kick in the booty I needed to get a move on with my garden.  I realized after I started that the main reason I had been delaying was that I hate cleaning, of any sort (dishes, house, unpacking... you name it).  And a big part of getting the garden back in shape was uprooting, trimming, sweeping, trashing dead things.  It was not pleasant, and I almost got attacked by two large shady-looking black spiders, but it set me up for the fun part -- planning this season's perfect garden, choosing flowers with promise, that fresh smell of new damp potting soil and little wet leaves, and that optimistic feeling you get when everything is planted and looking so great!

I literally spent the whole day gardening yesterday (thus the blog post delay to today!) and now in addition to a good sore feeling in my muscles, I have a garden again.  Here's where we're at:

Dug up the tulip bulbs which are now safely stowed away in my fridge for next year

And then began planting.

Of course, there's the tomato.  

This time, not heirloom.  Armstrong's had this handy sign up, so I chose accordingly:

I went with the Roma tomato, both for its alleged ease of growth in pots as well as its versatility in cooking.

A few of the tomato plants at the nursery already had tomatoes on them.  You never want to buy a plant that's too mature (like a tomato plant with tomatoes already on it), but mine has a few flowers already.  I am feeling good about my tomato prospects this year.

In the wine crate, I went with a flat of Alyssum.

If you pay attention, you'll see these everywhere, especially used as borders because they have a spreading tendency.  I have an inexplicable love for this little plant.  I think the tiny flowers are cute (you'll see right now, I have Alyssum flowers as my background) and they smell really nice.  My hope is that they will spread into a big box of white flowers.  I think perhaps last year, I chose plants that were too tall (like basil or lavender) with the result that the shallow box could not support the roots.  Little box, little flowers... perfect.

Next up, in place of the tulips, I've got Geraniums.

I was never a geranium fan until I went to Italy and they were literally everywhere... little window boxes, restaurant patios, fancy gardens in giant terracotta containers, rooftops, everywhere!  There, they seem to love red geraniums.  I've chosen dark burgundy because I liked the color, but I like to think it's my little Italian influenced corner.

They are supposed to be very hardy and I've chosen an ivy-type variety, so with any luck they will trail down a bit down the ledge I've got them on.

On our tabletop, we've got a new addition, the Euphoriba millii. 

Baby succulent farm at left, new Euphorbia milii at right

It is in fact in the same family as the poinsettia, you may remember, with little red bracts at the top.

I've cleaned up our kitchen window with a few new Succulent additions.

And last but not least, what I am most tentatively excited about, is the Vertical Succulent Garden.

All succulents except top left, Dipladenia aka superhero plant

I did not buy a single one of these succulents, but actually used what was formerly the kitchen window disaster area as well as propagated succulents to mix and match into pockets!  (More on this next week...)

Lots of gardening!  I realized yesterday at the end of the day that I hadn't looked at my phone once, I had gotten so into the flow.  That's happiness for me :)

This week will be a big test for my new plants with their first heat wave.  It will also be a big week for me as it is my birthday this week and as I mentioned before, both of my siblings will be in town which is GREAT -- I can't even remember the last time the three of us were in LA together.  Celebrate!

An aside, before there was Pharrell...  Destiny's Child "Happy Face"

Blooming Succulents! (Part 2)

I would say that I post this at the risk of seeming succulent obsessed, but....  let's be honest, I AM succulent obsessed!  Maybe you remember my last post about blooming succulents (here it is, if you would like to refresh your memory).  We had a few succulents that held promise of blooms, what they would look like, heaven only knew:

Our Aeonium with the "hat":

Our gift Echeveria with a tiny bloom stalk:

Well, this has certainly been the season of yellow for my garden.  Starting with the Aeonium, it has turned into quite the long-lasting pretty yellow "hat".  I had wondered if the Aeonium was truly "monocarpic," meaning a plant that flowers, makes seeds, and then dies, rather than re-flowering.

As you can tell, it is -- pretty much all that is left of the plant below the flower is dead leaves.  But the lovely little blooms are a nice gift.  As you can see, the other stalk has grown a side stalk too, so we will see what happens from there.

As for the Echeveria, it too has made some progress.  

This picture shows three bloom stalks, but on my visit to this little plant in my garden, it now has even one more stalk.  Blooming like crazy!

They too are long-lasting yellow flowers, little bells.  They have been blooming slowly, in the pattern of so many stalks of flowers where the most proximal flowers blooms first and then die while buds at the tip have yet to be opened.

The last focal point of interest is gross but fascinating.  If you know me in the context of my garden, you know that I absolutely hate aphids.  (Aphids and green worms... don't even get me started...)  But this is interesting -- look closely:

They're yellow!  What??  I had to investigate.  So it turns out that pea aphids come in several different colors (red, green, pink, yellow...).  Their color comes from carotenoids (like the beta-carotene in carrots that makes them orange).  Interestingly enough, generally animals don't make carotenoids but pea aphids are an exception -- they have the genes to make carotenoids and therefore different colors, the first known to do so, in fact.  An even more interestingly, they appear to have gained that ability by "stealing" the gene from fungi that they eat, via lateral gene transfer.  Color is important to pea aphids because it affects which predators eat them (ladybugs eat red aphids, wasps attack green ones).  The red and green colors originate from these genes, and yellow appears to be a mutation.  If you're interested, here is a story on NPR and another more in depth story on Science Daily.

Who knew my little enemies could be so interesting.  If you listen to the NPR article, the lady studying them actually describes them as "cute"... that's a stretch.

I hope you are staying dry in our LA monsoon.  This week, I have been feeling good, and I leave you with this song that I am currently loving which will leave you feeling good too:  Pharrell "Happy".  May you have a week full of happiness!

New Baby Succulents!

If you read last week's post, you probably have an idea of where I am going this week...  Succulents!  As I mentioned before, these lovely little plants are easy to grow and by extension, for me at least, the habit of buying and planting these is a bit addictive.  Discovering the ability to propagate succulents on my own just adds another dimension of interest.  

So allow me to show you this week's awesome -- new baby succulents!

At The Jungle, I bought a couple newbies:

Crassula marnieriana

A purple Echeveria

And a mystery succulent  (there were no tags on this plant and in my excitement, I forgot to ask)

You may also remember that makeshift baby succulent nursery I had going on with the products of my science experiment:

The goal for the week was to replant some of these propagated succulents and also fill a few pots that had become available -- one from an orchid that died and another pot-set that I got from my in-laws, originally for the purpose of growing herb seeds.  Here is a sample pot from the pot-set:

Sometimes these indoor pots are tricky -- if they have drainage holes on the bottom, then you need to put them on something so you don't make a puddle inside your house.  If they don't (as this pot-set doesn't), then it can be hard to know how much to water them.  As you can see, these pots have a little... I am not sure what to call it... shelf thing inside that you can either put rocks underneath or nothing (though some soil will fall through) with the idea that extra water collects there.  Regardless, whenever in need of something that will not be finicky with water... choose succulents!

The propagated succulents actually had a pretty extensive root system for how small the plants are.  I was surprised:

And I used a few small clay pots as well as recycled plastic pots to replant these little babies:

The largest of the propagated baby Echeveria I planted as a third plant in the pot-set, along with the purple Echeveria, and the mystery succulent:

And lastly, my new Crassula got a special place in a white textured pot which I think complements its colors and unique look perfectly:

Before you go, here's some UB40, because it's that kind of week.  xoxo!

Welcome to The Jungle!

Happy Valentine's/President's Day Weekend!  I hope you all had a lovely time, whether you actually had the day off or not.  I had the great fortune of going up to Mammoth with our church small group and had a fun time playing in snow and hanging out with friends.  The fresh fluffy snow was a blessing because this season has been unusually dry.  So dry in fact, that a lot of winter sports industries/resorts have suffered... including dog sledding which we were as a result unable to do this weekend.  (I was crushed not to be able to play with a herd of dogs, naturally.  Evan was relieved that he escaped having to do another of my "romantic" ventures.)  But truly though, there has been quite a drought in California.

So what to do in the garden when there's no water?  Go to The Jungle! 

Before you continue, here's some background music...

I made this discovery a few weeks ago.  Someone had suggested this as the place to go for air plants (I will be writing a whole separate post about these wonderful and increasingly popular plants later), but I hadn't actually made the trek until I needed a few succulents for a planter recently.  And oh my, do they have some succulents:

I was quite impressed.  As a regular at Armstrong Garden Center, I am used to a relatively small selection of succulents.  The Jungle, on the other hand, has innumerable species of tropical plants and specifically succulents in a variety of different sizes.  

For the uninitiated, succulents are amazing plants

1) They do not need much water (what drought?)

2) As a result, they are rather hard to kill -- if you forget to water them for a few weeks even, they will forgive you.

3) Thus, they are great for beginners or anyone else who wants to feel like a great gardener.

4) And as a bonus, they are beautiful plants.

As a result of all of these facts, if you have been keeping up with my blog, you know that I have come to love succulents more and more.  They are weird and wonderful and my garden is slowly filling up with them.

I should mention, this place did not disappoint in the air plant department either.  They had tillandsia in several varieties and sizes as well.  The prices were more than I expected -- $10 for a large tillandsia and $3 for a tiny one -- but hey, I haven't found these air plants anywhere else and they cost more than that online.  (I bought 3 little ones... how could I not?)

So I will definitely be coming back to The Jungle, which in addition to the great selection has a great laid-back vibe, down to the reggae music playing by the cash register.  

Here was my loot for the day:

$22 of happiness

Not bad, huh?  The Jungle is located at 1900 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025.  Here is there website which has a long list of plants they carry, many with descriptions and some with pictures.  Also in the neighborhood are a couple other plant nurseries which have more flowers and what you typically expect to find at a garden center, as well as all of Little Tokyo West where you can eat a great bowl of ramen after your plant shopping.

To all my LA readers, go visit and see what your fancy leads you to!  For all my non-LA readers..... stay warm!!!