succulents
For the last year and a bit I’ve been playing with the idea of plants in bottles. A twist on the conventional terrarium, like building a ship in a bottle, planting a garden in a jar can be just as interesting. Once this terrarium is set up properly, they require little care and provide an interesting conversation piece. Echeveria/Crassula cuttings work particularly good for this project as they require low amounts of moisture and thrive on the added heat/humidity of the bottle. To start find an interesting bottle at a local thrift store/garage sale and get to work. I start with a small layer of gravel on the bottom then top with fresh potting soil. With a fork or a twisted coat hanger I lower in the cutting, add a small amount of water, and seal the jar. In a month or so the cutting should be rooted and you should see some progress. I’ve kept mine sealed up to 4 months without opening, if things look to dry I add a little extra water. A good gift for a friend who can’t keep plants alive.
Tip in point form for for an added effect
- Clean the bottle really well before you start.
- Lower the dirt in CAREFULLY.
- If you accidentally made a mess use a straw and water to clean the inner walls.
- When watering for the first time be extremely careful not to put in too much water and flood the chamber.
- Adding a little layer of charcoal below your gravel with help prevent rot, and other odor issues.
- Have fun! Be Creative!
So a couple weeks back we had a pretty intense freeze, snow out of nowhere and record breaking lows. I think we were seeing -10 weather which in contrast with last winter is pretty unbelievable. I suppose I was being optimistic when I decided my house could hold no more and I left my aeoniums and a number of other succulents to risk their life in my unheated greenhouse. Mr weather called my bluff and ZAP, there goes a summer of propagating echeverias and aeoniums. I suppose having never had the audacity to see what these succulents could really withstand, I had to see it for my own eyes. Low and behold, my aeoniums were rock solid in the midst of the storm, a week later when everything thawed out, they were mere bags of water, slumped and melting.
When I made the call to store them in that questionably safe environment I left them on the dry side since late september, yet this was not enough.
Jades that I couldn’t find homes for, poor little guys didn’t even see it coming.
A little snow with your aeonium?
A well rooted aeonium from a friend, was looking great last week…. hum..
A silly mistake on this one, my mother plant, grown in the spring, totally frozen solid.
(Hopefully it’s roots are still alive and it sends up a baby when things melt…
On the bright side?
Both of my agaves, contrary to the cold and being frozen solid, seem to have survived. As well as many of the thicker leaved echeverias/succulents. The thinner the leaf the more damaged they appeared to be.
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
After the freeze had finished having it’s way with my garden ( damn you winter, you win this round) I naturally got my head out of rear and brought in some of the succulents that still showed signs of life. From there I put them on a heating pad, took off the death and dusted them with fungicide. So far nothing much has changed, but one can hope.
The rule of the day, don’t take chances with tender plants during cold winters, DUH! There’s always room for a couple more, somewhere, right? At the very least, give them away, instead of leaving them for the firing squad.
One last Sad tale from the frost.
My leonotis, which is new to my collection as of mid august, was also willingly left to chance fate to see if it could handle our winter. I Don’t think mr leonotis appreciated the weather all too much, as it got hit pretty bad by the cold. A litle tug still shows some hope via the roots but only time will tell.
Photo taken nov 20th
Photo taken sept 09 *sigh*
