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Echeveria: Colorful And Creative

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Yesterday, I talked about Crassula. They remind me of braids. Echeveria are rosettes – and WorldofSucculents.com has 19 pages of different varieties. There is no way I want to take a stab at the ID, unless they came labeled. It’s like daylilies, there are so many similar hybrids that it’s impossible.

These kids love summer in my desert yard. Summer growers. I’m honestly surprised that I don’t have more because they are so readily available. But, maybe that’s exactly why I don’t have more.

Maybe I’ll start with what I think I know.

Echeveria Blue Rose?

This one is one of my oldest, having joined us on a road trip through Tucson a few years ago. I’m pretty sure she is a Blue Rose. She was 3 rosettes when I got her. She lost a bunch of leaves in a downpour late last summer and by the time I went to clean them up, they had sprouted new plants. Her babies are now in at least 3 additional pots.

Echeveria Licorice.

This one was labeled Licorice Echeveria and is a new addition.

Pearl von Nurnberg Echeveria.

As is Pearl Von Nurnberg. She is in mom’s old button box.

Topsy Turvy Echeveria from above.

A different Topsy Turvy that appears to be a greener hue.

These two I believe are both Topsy Turvies.

Painted Echeveria.

Oh, and my Painted Echeveria.

Echeveria Silver Star.

This one is called Silver Star, I believe.

Large blue tinged Echeveria.

This is my largest one bought on discount a couple days ago due to dog-eared leaves. It’s going to quickly outgrow this pot!

Below are several other varieties. The first one grows under hydroponic lights on the ceiling of my basement closet. it looks like a catepillar inching along.

Echeveria under hydroponic lights – year 3.

Round leaf Echeveria.

Pink tipped Echeveria.

Older Echeveria stays small in a small pot.

Ruffled leaf Echeveria.

Common Echeveria adds color to the pot.

Small blue Echeveria in kokomo.

Fuzzy leaf Echeveria in kokomo.

Enjoying the plant light in a large succulent arrangement.

Echeveria are fun to find and collect. the cool part is that i can put them outside to grow next summer while i focus on my daylilies. These guys are nearly as colorful, too. And, they even come in blue!

The Trouble With Winter-Growing Succulents

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The trouble with succulents is that you can buy them anywhere and they are usually very affordable. So, I’m always dragging new ones home. I need to give some orchids away if I bring many more home.

So, yesterday I got a Crassula Campfire while shopping for T-Day. The most common Crassula is the common jade plant. I love them because their active growth season is winter! But, that only makes them more addictive.

I got looking around at all my Crassula and I have a lot of them!

It took some time to try to classify some of them today. But, that’s what breaks are for, right? Good thing for a snowy, cold Colorado day in my PJs. https://worldofsucculents.com is my favorite site to ID these guys. Disclaimer – I am not a plant scientist so many of these are guesses!

I’ve had some of these guys a long time – like Hobbit.

I’ve had this one on the kitchen windowsill for years.

I also have several living in kokodemas since last year – hung on my pencil cactus.

(Some of them have weird names.)

My year-round ornaments.

I got one labeled “Pagoda” last year, but I think it’s a different Crassula. I couldn’t find it in the listings.

I got little planters that resemble my dogs last year in Moab . . . Two of them have Crassula.

I have some of the cute small stacked ones that I added this Fall.

They are a great addition to container plant groups. the trailing ones are cool.

Some other newer additions are my Propeller or Airplane Crassula.

The Silver Dollar Crassula lives up to it’s name.

And, the curly leafed jade lives up to it’s name, as well.

Honestly, I think I have a couple other Crassulas tucked away on a shelf somewhere.

I will say that I’m glad daylilies are generally name labeled pretty well. My daylilies are all tucked up for the single digit temps this week – under mulch or in the back porch. The trouble with both succulents and daylilies is that they are like Lay’s Potatoe Chips.

Curious World

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Air plants are strange little things. I’ve had a few, but never really got into them until this year. Maybe putting them out for the summer and seeing a lot of growth helped.

Air plant in amber glass container.

I read a book on them called Air Plants: The Curious World of Tillandias. The book showed them in arrangements with succulent, and that fascinated me.

Air plants dance in hanging baskets.

I also like the airy appearance that they give to my winter plant menagerie.

Larger air plant with nice red color.

They come in large sizes, which makes them look more like a real plant.

Small air plants in Native American pots.

Or small sizes, where they look like mineature desert plants.

Air plants perched on holders add character to this large pot succulent arrangement.

They come in lots of colors and add to the variety of the succulents, while mimicking the shape of agave and yucca. And, the blooms are cool!

Reddish color highlights this air plant in hanging glass container.

I’m about at my limit, though, because it isn’t humid here so they need a spritz a couple times a week. I have enough on my plate with work, yard, house, and pet menagerie.

Air plant in a specially designed stone holder.

I have killed a few, but have lots more pups. Cautiously optimistic that I won’t burn out caring for these beauties. I even have one serving as the star on mt pencil cactus with kokomo succulent ornaments.

Air plant perches above my pathos.

They do create a curious world and I’m a curious girl.

Air plant in macrame hanger.

This week, I move my evergreen daylilies into the porch for 3 months. And, then, it begins to turn into spring!

Air plant in pumpkin glass container.

The Strangest Flower Ever!

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Lifesavers. You know the little addictive, brightly colored circle candy? Well, when I saw this odd flower with the name Lifesaver cactus, I just had to get one. I ordered online in August and put it in a south window. It’s near my purple LED boost light, too.

I can’t decide if it’s pretty or weird. It reminds me of Saguaro cactus blooms- the weird wax look.

Then, I got to thinking about some of my other cactus blooms this summer. I was so busy chasing daylilies that I likely didn’t post many of these.

Yucca bloom after a wet spring in my yard.

Pincushion Cactus flower.

White Desert Rose bloom.

Easter Lily Cactus bloom.

Rebloom on my Easter Cactus.

Thanksgiving Cactus bloom.

Orchid Cactus bloom.

Cactus flowers are stunning things. There reproductive parts look like a universe in and of themselves. Or, a chorus of ballet dancers. They don’t ever last long. Maybe longer than a daylily. Or, not. But, I have to admit, I’ve never seen anything quite like this Lifesaver bloom.

Lifesaver Cactus

I’m hopeful that I’ll see more cactus and succulent flowers this winter while the daylilies reat.

Poinsettias in the Bloom Closet!

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Poinsettias are a sign that the holidays are just around the corner. I started collecting them a few years ago when I was a starving sixty-something doctoral student. I bought a pretty orange one and babied it because it was a luxury to buy a plant back then.

That plant bloomed all winter and flourished all summer. However, my first experiment in making a bloom closet that fall didn’t work out so well. The poinsettia bloomed, sort of, but was horribly leggy and didn’t survive winter #2.

I’ve gotten better with them. Trial and error. I have two that I’ve had going on four winters. I got a couple more the next year and, again, last year. Well, actually I got more than that, but lost a few along the way. I lost both of my orange ones from last winter to the cold spring.

I have 4 in bloom and one that’s still in the bloom closet. I have two still recovering from the cold spring that I’ll bloom in a couple of months.

How do I rebloom mine? Well, forget all the advice about putting it in a closet by night and a sunny window by day. I’m way too forgetful. But, I have a plant closet in my basement family room that has plant LED lights on a timer and a blackout curtain closed all the time, except when I water.

It’s year #3 for the closet and my poinsettias thrive down there. Once they bloom, they come upstairs for several weeks u til they start dropping leaves. Generally, they go back into the closet until May, when they sit in my front yard and get sprinkler system rain every day.

It’s hot and dry, but the poinsettias do fine. This is the first year that they have struggled a little. They are euphorbia, after all- just like my 6 ft pencil cactus.

I bring them in and put them in the bloom closet just before freeze. I have blooms by late October or early November. Have you ever rebloomed a poinsettia? Meanwhile the drought has returned and I need to winter water the daylilies during Thanksgiving break.

SAD: Succulent Addictive Disorder

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The days are about to get colder and darker. We are back in severe drought in my corner of Colorado. The wet spring was nice, but gone once our monsoon season was mediocre. I did put leaf mulch on my daylilies and started winter watering last weekend.

My echeveria after the sprinkler hit it last month.

I have thyroid disease and so time changes/dark days are difficult for me. Full spectrum light can help. I believe my mix of full spectrum, flourscent and purple plant lights help. I also think living in an indoor forest boosts positive energy. Something is always coming into bloom. Right now, it’s my vanda orchid, azalea, poinsettias and begonia. The Thanksgiving cactus aren’t for off. January/February will bring the orchids.

One of my poinsettias coming into bloom.

Speaking of orchids – I have over 40. They fill two rooms. They were what got my through some tough times, working at home fulltime (isolation) and separation from family. Now, I work long weeks away from home. Orchids are hard to keep up with . . . There are too many. And, my environment is nothing like their natural habitat.

One of my new orchid pots.

I’ve spent a horrific amount of money the last two months. I converted the orchids back to wood chips (from water), because that doesn’t require as much work. But, I needed several new orchid pots.

Red bromeliad – a mail order neo from Florida.

Then came the shift to air plants, succulents, and bromeliads. I gave away plants that didn’t fit the new theme. I bought new plants to create my new reality. The house feels a little different, more fun. More creative. My bank account . . . Hmmm.

My new succulent pot with crassela, aloe, miniature sansevieria, and others.

Yesterday, I played with succulent containers. It was my Saturday escape. I got 3 kinds of crassela, a reddish sempervivum, an aloe, a miniature sansevieria, a turquoise one with teardrop leaves – need ID. I used an outdoor pot whose plant had died.

Fountain converted into home for succulents and an air plant. I want to paint the frog green.

I added a couple of new succulents to the two converted fountains that I started using for succulents.

My Toki Dokie bird fountain converted to a succulent garden.

I felt pretty awful yesterday. Mostly tired, I just wanted to sleep. But, despite wondering what I was doing shopping for succulents when I felt so poorly, it turned my energy around.

Air plants hang from baskets in my kitchen window.

Creativity is a strength. It’s my top one. I have an appreciation of nature/beauty strength and curiosity in my top 5 strengths. Bringing those out really helped.

My new red desert rose plant.

I’m way over budget and out of light for more plants. I need to find other outlets for these strengths. I’ve thought of painting succulents. I love painting daylilies. Still, my art cove feels a little isolated. I’ll figure something out between winter watering my daylilies. In the mean time, I’ll live with my SAD: succulent addictive disorder.

PS, I’m considering at Etsy sales page once I have enough cuttings.

My Orchid Cactus, My Night Lily

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Last night was the night . . . the night of my Queen of the Night AKA orchid cactus AKA epiphyllum.  I noticed a small bud weeks ago, when she was still outside.  When I moved her inside, it was with utmost care.  I worried the lights in my kitchen would interrupt her bloom cycle.  Or, cats . . . being cats.

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But, the bud continued to swell and swell.  Last night during dinner, I noticed a slight change in shape.  I watched my favorite TV show, Call the Midwife, and sort of forgot about it.  Then, poof, there she was – a huge bloom staring me in the face.

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My orchid cactus came from Amazon two falls ago for $4.  A small cutting in a small pot through the winter.  Then, she grew into a bigger pot and moved to the porch, where she spends summer on a drip system.  She is pretty happy. I am hoping for more than one bud next summer.

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The blooms only last a few hours.  Like a daylily, but at night.  It is busy at work this week, so I didn’t stay up all night.  But, I did stay up late enough to enjoy her with my bedtime dessert.

Sexy Succulents

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I’m changing my inside plant scheme to largely succulents and air plants. Succulents are cool because they come in all shapes, colors and sizes. And, they require little care.

So, I found a few books on designing with succulents. I need to do more with group arrangements and pots that have a theme. I tend to grab whatever pot is empty.

I usually come home from my spring Southwest road trip with Senora desert dwellers. So, I’ve had succulents in my collection for a long time. Just now, with a crazy work schedule, they make more sense that orchids. Especially water culture orchids.

My orchids are now all moved to bark. They have cool pots. I just have so many! Maybe I will give some away as gifts at some point.

Air plants, succulents, and bromeliads is my new focus. I read one design book on mixing air plants in succulent displays. I like the effect a lot.

Freeze is upon us for a couple of weeks. Leaves are falling. I haven’t watered daylilies much this month, and we are headed back to drought weather. Leaves are falling, soon to be daylily mulch for the winter.

Come spring, I have plans to turn my old fountain into a succulent garden. I bet I could mix in a few daylilies – minis. I need to think about this idea!

Kokedama Succulents for Christmas

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Last Christmas, I shared my project on making succulent kokedama to decorate my 6 foot pencil cactus. It’s getting down to 19 degrees tonight, and my houseplants take over my thoughts.

Kokedama succulent ornaments

My kokedama tree spent the summer outside on the porch. Most of the original succulents had to be replaced once or twice before spring. I would call it trial and error growing them into kokedama during the winter.

Kokedama succulent ornaments

Spring came, and they thrived (despite me being too busy with daylilies to keep up with their watering).

Kokedama succulent ornaments

I think I have around 18 now. Most came from Home Depot. I’m thinking I’ll get ribbons or bows for them for Christmas.

Kokedama succulent ornaments

The challenge is that the pencil tree sits along a wall with no plugs. I do boost light from a few feet away, but can’t really hang lights on the tree.

Kokedama succulent ornaments

I love succulents because of their wide array of leaf colors/ shapes and ease of care. The kokedama only need to take a swim every 2-4 weeks.

Kokedama succulent ornaments

I’ll try to post an update after I decorate them. In the meantime, stay warm.

Kokedama succulent ornaments

Air Plant Blooms

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It’s funny. My outdoor garden started as miscellaneous Walmart plants. Now, it’s mostly daylilies.

My indoor garden is shifting from orchids and miscellaneous to air plants/bromeliads, orchids, succulents – begonias, amaryllis and succulents.

My first blooming air plant

Sadly, I have to look up the name of this air plant from the order slip. I’m new to these guys. But, it’s good to have bloom success.

I’ll try to post my winter blooms. For today, freeze warning means I gotta move some plants today.