Somos una empresa dedicada a la venta de Cactus y Suculentas, Ofrecemos servicios para eventos, hogar y oficina. Felicidad para tu hogar y evento.
I'm excited you want to learn more about growing succulents! Be sure to check your inbox because I sent you a little welcome note with more details about the Q&A emails. Also, you'll want to make sure you get that intro email because... every once in a while it seems [...]
The post Email Thank You – Weekly Emails appeared first on Succulents and Sunshine. Written by Cassidy Tuttle.
Welcome to the Super Succulent Celebration!
The succulents were superb and vendors sold stunning pots and garden decor, but what made the March 23-24 event at Waterwise Botanicals nursery truly special for me were the people.
Top right: Mom and son model crowns decorated with Sculpey succulents. Center left: The king of succulents, Robin Stockwell. Center: Shirley Kost-Haskell shows her cactus T-shirt to Laura Balaoro, founder of the Succulent Fanatics Facebook group. Center right: A barrel cactus knitted by Susan Morse blooms with crochet flowers. Lower left: Succulent Fanatic Deana Rae McMillion of Carpenteria, CA. Bottom center: Hannah Eubanks of Design for Serenity. Lower right: Potter Susan Aach and me.
Upper left: Emily, the Succulent Bride, brought her BFFs. Upper right: Queen Kay decorates her Succulent Coloring Bag. Center: Jason and Sean drove from Arizona (Jason has a tree growing out of his head…my bad). Center right: Succulent celeb Patrick Anderson brought his mom (no, that’s not her). Center: The speaker’s tent and display gardens. Lower left: Sculpey agave. Bottom middle: Succulent princess. Lower right: Talavera pot with succulents, Susan Morse design.
Upper right: Pat, my Saturday helper from Orange County. Center: Coronation of future succulenteers. Lower left: Dylan and Kaitlyn of CSG Succulents. Bottom center and right: Oh, the cuteness!
I share my past and passions in a fun and candid interview with Tom Jesch, manager and founder of Waterwise Botanicals, during the 2018 Super Succulent Celebration.
Super Succulent Celebration at Waterwise Botanicals (event description) ~ Join me at a super celebration of all things succulent! I’ll be at Waterwise Botanicals nursery both days…[Continue reading]
The Designing with Succulents Resource List ~ These designers and nurseries are in the completely revised and updated second edition of Designing with Succulents...[Continue reading]
San Diego Succulent Sources and Destinations ~ Due to a perfect climate for succulents and a surging demand, San Diego county has a wealth of succulent specialty nurseries…[Continue reading]
The post Super Succulent Celebration Highlights appeared first on Succulents and Succulent Garden Design | Debra Lee Baldwin.
A jay appears interested in the spring succulent bouquet I made for the 2018 Super Succulent Celebration.
I like to display bouquets of succulent rosettes in clear glass containers filled with layers of sand. Practical as well as pretty, the sand lends color and interest, and serves as to anchor the stems so top-heavy rosettes don’t tumble out.
Succulent sand bouquets make quick and original hostess gifts. Moreover, recipients can remove rosettes from their faux stems and plant them, if they like.
The inspiration for my spring 2018 succulent sand bouquet (above) was an unusual blown glass vase I found at a thrift store. But any glass cylinder, bottle or jar will work.
I keep a palette of colored sand in glass jars on an open shelf so I can enjoy looking at them, even when not using them. Colored sand is available at craft stores and online.
This arrangement, which took about 15 minutes to make, is in a repurposed vinegar bottle.
And this one was a holiday gift.
To make your own colored sand, obtain a bag of playground sand from any home improvement store, plus Rit dye in whatever colors you want (sold in supermarkets and online). The sand looks white but is actually pale gray, but that’s OK, because the resulting muted colors look fine with the plants. To color sand, pour the liquid dye into a pan no longer used for food, add sand to the level of the liquid, and bake until the liquid evaporates—300 degrees for an hour or so. Stir occasionally with a metal spatula or clean garden trowel. Let it cool outside, stirring every so often to expose moist sand and to break lumps. When cool, funnel the dry sand into glass jars and store the excess in ziplock bags labeled with whatever color or mix you used.
When making a bouquet, select sand based on the colors of the rosettes (or vice versa).
I usually fill the container halfway with three colors, then turn it on its side and rotate it to make swirls, then add more sand so stems will be concealed. Try pushing a stiff wire or chopstick into the layers, along the inside of the glass, to create drizzly Vs.
The post Use Colored Sand for Succulent Bouquets appeared first on Succulents and Succulent Garden Design | Debra Lee Baldwin.
Echeverias, graptosedums, crassulas and kalanchoes lend themselves beautifully to bouquets because of their colorful leaves and rosette shapes. They’re easy to attach to faux stems, need no water (because they live off moisture in their leaves), look good for a long time, and can later be planted as cuttings.
At a workshop I taught, a student made this lovely bouquet of wired succulent rosettes, ‘Sticks on Fire’ stems, and red eucalyptus. For ballast, she added layers of sunrise-colored sand.
I made this bouquet before I learned the floral technique of wiring succulent rosettes. The reason for the arrangement was to show how the plants resemble flowers. It consists of aeoniums and graptoverias with long stems…always an option, but not easy to find!
These bouquets were for the launch party for my book, Succulents Simplified, which has those same plants on the cover. I used marbles as ballast and filled the vases with water to keep the flowers fresh. The faux stems are reinforced with bamboo skewers.
After the aloe flowers faded in the bouquet show earlier, I pulled them out and arranged the succulent rosettes in a different vase (with no water). They looked good for several more weeks.
I made this bouquet of echeverias, dwarf aloes and silver eucalyptus stems for a garden club at which I was speaking, to raffle off. It took me forever to wire so many rosettes (30 @ 3 min./ea. = 1-1/2 hours). The response made it worthwhile, but please don’t ask me to do it again!
The color of the vase inspired the selection of ‘Coppertone’ stonecrop, which in turn inspired blue echeverias for contrast.
Wired rosettes are top-heavy, so you need something to anchor them. Here I used crushed, tumbled glass. (I made this a few years ago. I wonder, should I have filled the jar with glass? At the time, I thought it was cool to let the wired stems show.) Succulents include jade, aeoniums, sedums, and in the center for texture contrast, a fuzzy kalanchoe. When stems are this short, you needn’t stabilize them with floral picks or bamboo skewers.
The colors of the rosettes inspired the colors of sand. (I keep a palette of colored sand in jars that occupy an entire bookshelf.) Read more about how this arrangement came together.
I agreed to demonstrate how to make a succulent bouquet at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show. Few colorful succulents were available, so I wired red and silver tillandsias onto stems as filler and included dried material. I had brought a bag of split peas for ballast, so imagine my delight when my helper showed up with seeded eucalyptus—an unplanned yet perfect repetition.
The post Ten Succulent Bouquets to Inspire You appeared first on Succulents and Succulent Garden Design | Debra Lee Baldwin.
(An abridged version of this ran in the Wall Street Journal, 3/9/18.)
Is it a given that Northerners can’t grow succulents? Not at all. Granted, most of these moisture-storing, arid-climate plants prefer warm, sunny habitats. Yet in response to demand, major growers are cultivating tough, showy varieties that sail through subzero winters. The two main kinds are stonecrops and hens-and-chicks, but there exist others that may surprise and delight you.
Snow heightens the color of hens-and-chicks. (Sempervivum globiferum ‘Connie’.) Photo: Mountain Crest Gardens
Stonecrops
Golden barrel cactus is cold hardy only to 14 degrees F. The fluffy ‘Angelina’ stonecrop surrounding it will go well below zero.
Tiny-leaved ground covers like ‘Angelina’, commonly known as stonecrops, spread “even in Zone 3,” notes Panayoti Kelaidis, senior curator of the Denver Botanic Gardens. “They’ll root from little pieces. There are hundreds of different kinds, and they’re the backbone of green roofs.”
Kelaidis says that clump-forming succulents once classified as Sedum (now in the genus Hylotelephium) are “probably the most important succulents for perennial gardens” because of their size and year-round beauty. These shrubs, which unlike true sedums form tap roots and have rosy flowers rather than yellow, have similar star-shaped flower clusters. Although the top growth of hylotelephiums dies and turns brown in winter, “don’t cut them back until spring,” Kelaidis advises. “The dry flower stalks look great covered with snow.”
Plant breeder Brent Horvath of Intrinsic Perennial Gardens in Hebron, IL is perhaps best known for upright sedums with serrated chartreuse leaves and flowers that blanket the plants with clouds of pink. Horvath authored “The Plant Lover’s Guide to Sedums” (Timber Press, 2014).
In his book, Horvath says of the best-known perennial sedum, Autumn Joy (Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’), “The flower heads of soft raspberry pink deepen to garnet as fall approaches. What’s more, in all but the harshest climates, this tenacious plant continues to delight through the winter months as its flower heads turn copper, then bronze.” Monrovia nursery notes, “This sturdy perennial is as tough as they come. Clumping foliage displays large, plate-like flower clusters… Succulent foliage will die back to the ground in cold winter regions, but will re-emerge in early spring.”
Hens-and-chicks
Succulent hens-and-chicks, so called because offsets ring the mother rosette, are in the genus Sempervivum, meaning “ever-living.” “They look best after a snowy winter,” says Matts Jopson of Mountain Crest Gardens near Mt. Shasta in Northern CA. “When sun melted 18 inches of snow that hid the plants for six weeks, “the colors were the most spectacular we’d seen.”
One of very few nurseries specializing in hardy succulents, Mountain Crest Gardens’ “rapid growth has continued through 2017, and we’ve been expanding our selections like never before,” Jopson says. “We should have at least 200 different hardy varieties for sale this spring, at least 50 of which we consider to be rare collectibles.”
Nearly all of the succulents found in the nursery’s Hardy Succulent category can be grown outdoors year-round in zone 5 (-20F) areas such as New York, Boston, and Chicago. “We created that category and our own definition of “hardy” exactly for this purpose,” Jopson says, “to let the large northern population of the U.S. (and thus most of the country’s population) know that they can grow a wide selection of beautiful succulents outside through the winter. Even people in colder Minneapolis should be fine keeping many of the Sempervivum heuffelii and hardy Sedum outdoors.”
Several Sempervivum cultivars by Kevin Vaughn
Jopson says Mountain Crest Gardens works with a hybridizer and creator of “many beloved semp cultivars:” Kevin Vaughn of Salem, OR. Vaughn holds a hybridizing clinic each year in April “organized by the avid semp community on the garden.org forums.” Jopson adds that the breeder’s current goal is to hybridize “a ‘football sized’ semp with the dark color tones of an Aeonium ‘Black Rose’.”
Hybridizer Kevin Vaughn’s book. Release date: May, 2018.
Vaughn’s book, Sempervivum: A Gardener’s Perspective of the Not-So-Humble Hens-and-Chicks, is now available from Amazon.
Among professional breeders of cold-hardy succulents mentioned by both Jopson and Kelaidis is Chris Hansen of Michigan-based Garden Solutions (chris@sunsparklersedums.com). Hansen says of one of his cultivars, Sempervivum ‘Gold Nugget’, “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime plant, the world’s first bright yellow semp with red tips.” Depending on location and growing conditions, ‘Gold Nugget’ turns shades of lime green and hot pink in summer, gold and red in spring and fall, and warm red in winter.
Chris Hansen shows Sempervivum ‘Gold Nugget’, part of his registered Chick Charms line of hens-and-chicks.
See more of Hansen’s patented plants, including his SunSparker Sedums, on my Thirty Cold Hardy Succulents for Northern Climates page. His online mail-order plant business (with Mary Walters) is www.GreatGardenPlants.com.
Sempervivums are monocarpic, meaning that after a rosette blooms, it dies. But this seldom compromises a colony’s appearance. Chicks carry on, filling gaps with their own offsets in spring.
Ice plants
Delosperma ‘Fire Spinner’ is a Kelaidis introduction
Naturally Kelaidis mentions ice plants, of which he says tongue-in-cheek, “I invented 35 years ago.” He trekked through Siberia, Mongolia, and similarly remote, high-elevation regions seeking mat-forming succulents with shimmering, daisylike blooms. Kelaidis went on to introduce many—including his own hybrids—to gardens in the Rockies and beyond.
Asked to name an ice plant that’s especially floriferous, Kelaidis praises purple Delosperma cooperi: “It blooms all summer.”
How to Grow Hardies
There’s more to growing hardy succulents than plunking them in the ground. They need to be acclimated to the cold, Jopson advises. “It’s never a good idea to leave them outside in a hard freeze immediately after delivery. Established root systems are required for most hardy succulents to survive the coldest winter temps, and it is recommend to plant in the ground, beds, or large containers for additional insulation for the roots. Snow is actually welcomed by hardy varieties as it can insulate them from frigid air temperatures. Many of our semps and hardy sedum spent over a month buried in 18 inches of snow last year, resulting in tremendously vivid red, pink, purple, and even some orange tones later in the spring. (Most eventually settle into greener tones by the end of summer.) They also survived a record -15 F night without issue.”
“Wetness is the enemy,” cautions Kelaidis. “Plant them in walls, rock gardens and shallow containers.” Give in-ground plants maximum sun exposure and “a microclimate similar to a Russian steppe:” a south-facing slope amended with coarse, gritty soil.
RELATED INFO
On this site:
How to Grow Tender Succulents in Northerly Climates. Nearly any succulent will grow in northern climates as a windowsill or greenhouse plant. Your biggest challenge is giving these sunbathers enough light. Indoors, set them near [Continue reading]
In print:
Designing with Succulents (2nd ed.) See the section on Cold-Climate Succulent Gardens.
All my books show design ideas and give care and cultivation for Sedum and Sempervivum.
Sempervivum: A Gardener’s Perspective of the Not-So-Humble Hens-and-Chicks, by Kevin Vaughn
On my YouTube channel:
— Growing Succulents in Northerly Climates, Sempervivums Gorgeous new cultivars and design ideas from my presentation at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show.
— Growing Succulents in Northerly Climates: Sedums and More More cool succulents for cold climates plus how to select, grow and design using them. From my second presentation at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show.
— Sedum Chicks at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show. Designer/grower Becky Sell of Turner, Oregon explains how to beautifully combine sedums, sempervivums and other cold-hardy succulents.
— Make a Frost-Hardy Succulent Wreath with Hens-and-Chicks. Simple steps to a stunning wreath!
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/hardy-succulents/
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/sempervivum-hens-and-chicks/
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/sempervivum-heuffelii/
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/sedum-stonecrop/
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/waterwise-botanicals-opuntia-cactus/
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/succulent-care/#hardy-vs-soft
https://mountaincrestgardens.com/succulent-care/#planting-care
View my abridged article in The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 9, 2018.
The post Showy Succulents for Snowy Climates (Debra’s WSJ Article) appeared first on Succulents and Succulent Garden Design | Debra Lee Baldwin.
Jeff Moore’s books are the See’s of eye-candy, filled with sumptuous photos that show the very souls of fleshy plants. Moore is a succulent expert, garden designer, photographer, author and 26-year specialty nursery owner. He recently released Soft Succulents, the sequel to Under the Spell of Succulents and Aloes and Agaves in Cultivation. Moore has taken the self-publishing route, which imbues his books with a refreshing persona and makes them an excellent value (none are over $35).
Since 1992 he’s owned Solana Succulents in Solana Beach, north of San Diego, and Moore writes for residents of Southern and coastal CA from the Bay Area south. Consequently, Soft Succulents gives two pages to the genus Sempervivum (which grows great farther north) yet 20 to Dudleya, a genus of California and Baja natives. Aeoniums, difficult to grow elsewhere in the US (don’t bother if you’re in Florida or Hawaii), have 53 pages with 46 varieties. (And to think I grow only 14!) Echeverias, similarly difficult to grow elsewhere, at least outdoors, top out at 52 pages, 63 varieties.
Many of these photos from Solana Succulents’ website appear in Soft Succulents ~
Favorite quotes from Moore’s latest (and arguably loveliest) book:
“You could take a dive into and roll around on any of these juicy creatures, and the only damage would be to the plants and maybe stains on your clothes. These softies will pass the nervous grandma test.”
“Consider blending them with at least a few of their more heavily armored relatives…my kids and animals grew up around the spiky stuff, and they learned some valuable life lessons from daddy’s plants.”
“I would estimate that well over half of the species, cultivars or hybrids that I have at my nursery were either unavailable or yet to be created when I opened in the early nineties.”
“Echeveria ‘Bubble Machine’ is either a true beauty of genetic manipulation, or an example of man’s inhumanity to plant.”
“If you’ve tried and killed a traditional bonsai tree, keep the pot and try a jade, such as Crassula ‘Hobbit’ at left.”
To nit-pick, I would have liked the plants presented alphabetically according to genus. Although most are, it’s strange finding Sempervivum in the front and Cotyledon in the back. There are numerous inconsistencies with horticultural nomenclature (such as several spellings of the same name) and formatting (i.e. what needs single quotes or ought to be italicized). But, as it turns out, the only egregious error I thought I’d found wasn’t one.
I first assumed “Toelken” was a misspelling of “Tolkien” (as in J. R. R.). However, on page 196, re crassulas ‘Hobbit’ and ‘Gollum’ Moore explains: “The fanciful names are attributed to Helmut R. Toelken, who published a thesis on the revision of the crassulaceae in 1977. Although no relation to the J.R.R. Tolkien of Lord of the Rings renown, someone must have been inspired by the similar names to bestow these cultivars with their monikers.”
Moore and I met in 2003, when I was covering gardening for various publications. I wondered why he seemed so normal. I often profiled horticulturists who were cross-eyed over a particular plant—ferns, bromeliads, plumeria, roses, dahlias and more. Generally I’d hang out with one of these endearing geeks until I understood his or her passion. I interviewed many fascinating collector-experts, but (apologies to those still around), most were off-the-charts eccentric.
Not Moore, a regular guy who just happened to have a thing for fleshy plants. The only strange thing was that he evidently made a living at it. I asked this surfer and family man (who’s usually in shorts—very Solana Beachy) which succulent we should feature. He chose Aloe bainesi (Aloe barberae). This is from the article, which appeared in the June, 2004 issue of San Diego Home/Garden magazine:
“People speculate that Seuss drew his multiheaded palms after seeing Aloe bainesii,” Moore says, “But I doubt it. Back in the ’50s and ’60s, there were maybe a couple in all of San Diego. Aloe bainseii just happens to look like a Dr. Seuss tree, not the other way around.”
Inside Moore’s mind is a map with locations of memorable succulents highlighted.
“I notice them when I’m driving around. Each one is a piece of art.” [See the entire article.]
Fourteen years and three books later, Moore has given the horticultural world art galleries-in-print of nearly every genus of succulent. And he’s not done yet. In the works is a book on cacti and spiky euphorbias. I think Moore’s on target. Such plants are gaining popularity, and no other succulents are so much fun to photograph. Those spines, backlit!
The post Jeff Moore’s New Book: Soft Succulents appeared first on Succulents and Succulent Garden Design | Debra Lee Baldwin.
