For the Love of Succulents
The longer I garden, the more appreciate hard, working easy care succulents. If you were reading the blog two years ago, you’ll remember that I have a window shelf on the garage window that I line with pots.
Usually I purchase begonias at the local greenhouse and they do well. Since we had a few trees taken down, this area now gets more sun. Begonias weren’t really an option, I need something that can take the heat and won’t need watered twice a day. Naturally, I chose a few succulents. When I was at Buchwalter Greenhouse with my mom, I spotted their collection and picked three of my favorites.
I potted them up in my collection of silver pots and they look AMAZING!
I wanted to remember the names of them, so I used some thin copper strips to label them.
I have a few other succulents in the house that I plan on repotting to complete the window. The window has actually been replaced and has new trim that also needs painted white. I’ll make sure I post a photo when it’s all buttoned up, which should be later this week.
Window boxes have always been something I have loved and I always wanted to have them on my home. This isn’t a proper window box, but it looks just as good.
Is there a garden feature you’ve always wanted to have?
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Distractions
Every now and them I’m doing something and then I get distracted by something interesting. Usually it’s something I want to get a photo of at that exact moment because the light is just perfect. Yesterday I walked by a window and saw the sun lighting up this little spiderweb on the front porch. I dropped whatever it was I was doing, grabbed my camera.
I proceeded to walk around the gardens to get a few more photos since everything is lush and beautiful and I want to document this year in my garden well. When I came back inside I couldn’t remember what it was I was doing, so I moved on to something else on my to-do list. This happens to me all the time, I find myself often stopping in mid track, dropping whatever it is I’m carrying, and either grabbing my camera or just looking closely at something I see or listening keenly to something I hear. I’m definitely easily distracted!
Do you find it easy to stay on task or do you get easily distracted?
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Sprucing up the Fairy Garden
Remember when I put together a Fairy Gardening Kit with my nieces & nephew last fall? A few of the plants didn’t make it through the winter, so we purchased some plants last Monday at the greenhouse. Yesterday, I met them at my mom’s and we spruced up the Fairy Garden for the coming season.
The Fairy Garden had a rough winter and only one of the tiny plants had survived. That’s OK though, the kids were not discouraged and it’s a good lesson to learn. Plants don’t always survive. We pulled everything out, mixed some chicken manure into the soil and set off designing and planting our new fairy garden.
If you’ve got kids and want to help them learn to love gardening fairy gardening is the perfect way. My nieces and nephews are fascinated with the fairy garden and always have to water it and monitor it when they go to my mom’s.
I’m hoping to put in a fairy garden in my outdoor garden someday, what a fun thing to do in a little nook. It’s also a great way to keep those low-growing plants in one place and reduces the risk of them being overshadowed and overtaken by larger plants.
What great things have you learned captivate kids when it comes to gardening? Have you ever seen a fairy garden?
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Radishes – MMM?
I must admit, I’m not really a big fan of radishes. It’s not that I hate them, they’re grown in the gardens of Chiot’s Run every year and we eat all the ones we grow. So why do I grow them? Because they’re quick, you can seed them and be eating them almost a month later, lettuce is barely this quick to reach harvest.
This year I’m growing ‘French Breakfast’ for the first time and I really like it. My other favorite is ‘Pink Beauty’ (we’ll use the work “favorite” loosely here).
What’s one thing you don’t particularly like but still grow in your garden?
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Aloe Hedgehog
I’ve been trying to come up with something unique & interesting to put in pots to flank the front door. Our porch is HUGE and unless there are a few pots of plants it looks like a bowling alley. This year, I was considering purchasing a few boxwoods clipped into spheres for this spot. When I was at Buchwalter Greenhouse on Monday with my mom I spotted these aloe ‘Hedgehog’ and knew they’d be perfect.
Our front porch is hot, hot, hot since it gets the afternoon sun. I’d love to do ferns, but they just can’t take the heat. These lovely aloes should thrive up there in those conditions.
These are certainly unique, I’m guess most of my neighbors are going to have petunias and other plants on their front port. Now I just need to find something unique that can take the heat for my hanging baskets.
What’s your favorite front porch plant? Do you have a tough spot in the garden you have trouble finding the perfect plant for?
