Succulents pots

Happy weekend. 

Today I am sharing a couple of photos of my potted plants and one on my sempervivum.

A few kalanchoe flapjacks in the middle surrounded by crassula with yellow flowers, echeveria with buds on the right and Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana with red blooms.

 

A mixture of aeoniums and sempevivum in a shallow pot

 

And finally, zooming in to the sempervivum.

Have a nice weekend.

Sempervivum

 

Happy Cactus Monday!

I’m about to fly north, so catch you all later. Have a nice week.

Visit Teri’s Painted Daisies for more Cactus Monday post.

After the rain…

Not much is happening on the balcony, since I’m trying not to meddle with the plants too much, and just let them grow for a while.

Here are a few photos taken after this morning’s rain.

Mixed Lobelia around Dusty Miller (Centaurea Gymnocarpa).

Sempervivum

Chilli fruit hiding underneath the leaves. It won’t be on the tree for long :)…

Wet white-green leaves of geranium

 

Have a happy weekend.

Visit Fertilizer Friday for more photos.

Succulent photos

Happy Cactus Monday.

Only the last 2 i.e. the agave and yucca shown below are mine.

Beautiful orange blooms of Cotyledon Orbiculata (I’m quite sure, but please feel free to correct me)

 

I love the soft blue-green of the plump leaves

Lovely rosettes

 

Peeking out

Agave – a small one

Yucca – a short one (see my sketch below). I am determined to keep this small, and will chop it when it grows tall…

And finally, a glimpse of my balcony via a page in my sketchbook. My yucca and agave in the above photos are shown below.

 
Pen on paper, February 2010

Visit Teri’s Painted Daisies for more Cactus Monday links.

My Christmas present and other succulents…

Happy Cactus Monday.

My first photo is of my Christmas present, which is the above Crassula ovata “Blue Bird”. It is similar to the jade plant, but while the jade plant has shiny green leaves, its leaves are bluish and matt.

Aeoniums which were originally one plant. It grew too tall, so I cut the stalk and separated the rosettes.

This succulent variety is quite commonly used as ground cover. My friend has these in her garden, and I see them along the coast a lot…

Finally, something creative…

I like this unique installation in a cafe in Melbourne - maidenhair ferns growing out of plastic bags.

A close-up of the installation – comprising wire, strings, bulldog clips, plastic bags, soil and ferns.

 

Thanks for visiting and have a nice week.

Please visit Teri’s Painted Daisies for more Cactus Monday links.

Best Wishes for 2010

Sensational Succulents has had a great year – thanks to you, my friends in Blogger Land. All the best for the new year, happy gardening and blogging!

Here are a few black and white images of my succulents… Hope you enjoy looking at them, as much as I had creating them :).

 

 

Happy New Year.

Around my balcony in recent times…

I have had these succulents as space fillers in bigger pots. But because they are small, I seldom see them. A few days ago, I decided that they need their own space, so I re-potted them. Now that they are not overshadowed by bigger plants, I enjoy seeing them every time I go onto the balcony.

I was sad when I had to deadhead my Kalanchoe blossfeldiana plants a few months ago. But now all of them are starting to bloom again. This Kalanchoe plant (above) has the most little red flowers.

I got a wine box from the local bottle shop, and it has been a successful herb planter (above). I love having herbs in the garden, mainly because they smell so good.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Fertilizer Friday comes early for me this week!

Please click on the link for more Fertilizer Friday posts (from Friday and onwards).

My first succulent topiary – Part 2: adding succulent plants

Related post: Part 1: topiary form

Having completed my topiary form (which I wrote about in the previous post), it is now time to put it to the test and complete my succulent topiary.

I gathered the succulents that I will use. Using the stick end of a paint brush, I made holes in the moss, then insert the succulents. The completed topiary is shown below…

I will have to leave it in a horizontal position for a couple of weeks to allow the roots to grow in the moss.

Some pictures of my work-in-progress:

Making my topiary (work-in-progress): top 2 photos: gathering plants from my garden and leaving the cuttings to dry out for a couple of days before planting;
bottom left: the back of my topiary form – showing the picture frame, wire mesh and sphagnum moss; and bottom right: making a mess planting the succulents!

Fertiliser

Because the moss that the succulents are planted in does not provide the nutrients required, I asked a team member at Bunnings (a garden centre) for advice. He called a horticulturist friend, who recommended using Powerfeed concentrate by Seasol, diluted to 50% strength. Hope this works to keep them healthy.

Tutorial

Here is a great tutorial I found that also includes photos: Classic SoCal Succulent Wreath