Succulents in California, and a personal update

Here are a few more succulent photos taken in California.

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These first two were taken in San Diego, outside a beautiful home. Besides the lovely succulents, I also love the colourful tiles in the first photo.

The next 3 photos were taken in Oakland.

On a personal note, my succulent garden in Australia has been put on hold, since I have recently moved to California. I would love a garden in California, but we are not quite settled yet. Soon I hope :). I will continue to take photos of succulents, flowers and plants that I come across, and share them with you on this site.

Botanical Garden. San Francisco (Part 1)

Sorry that I have not posted for a while. The truth is I hadn’t taken many photos of plants or flowers for a while. In my other blog, I upload photos of my travels and art frequently, so please visit me there too!

I visited the San Francisco Botanical Garden recently, and I hope that you will enjoy these photos.

I brought my sketchbook to draw.

But it was such a pretty place that I spent most of my time walking around and taking photos.

I wouldn’t mess with this guy…

I found the succulent garden

Another photo from the succulent garden

A couple of roses

And some yellow flowers which I think were in the fragrant garden.

Thanks for dropping by.  More photos in Part 2.

Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney (2)

Continuing from Part 1

I took these photos in the Succulent section of the gardens.

 

 

Happy Cactus Monday, and Merry Christmas everyone!

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

Melbourne Botanical Gardens – Part 2

Continuing from Melbourne Botanical Gardens – Part 1

I hope you are having a nice weekend. In this post,  I’m sharing photos of flowering succulents from the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. I had so much fun last weekend, that I went there again a few days later!

Gorgeous white blooms. They belong to the plant in the next photo.

 

I am guessing those flowering are yuccas and the white grew ones on the right are Cotyledon Orbiculata (please feel free to correct me)

 

Euphorbia spreading out

A close up of the Euphorbia - those thorns are scary!

 

Gorgeous pink bloom from this spiky variety – agave or aloe?

 

This one looks like it has passed its used by date. It belongs to the plant below.

Sorry, I missed the middle portion of the stalk, which is actually very long… If agave dies after flowering, is this plant going to die soon? It sure looks strong and healthy to me.

That’s it, hope you enjoyed the photos.

Today’s Flowers : click on the link for more photos on lovely flowers.

Cactus and Succulent Basket/Topiary

Happy Cactus Monday!

One single cactus

This cactus photo was taken when I visited the Melbourne Botanical Garden on Saturday. I went a bit crazy taking photographs at the cacti/succulent sections. There were so many varieties that I have not seen before. I have yet to sort out all the photos so for now, I only have this to share…

I am enjoying taking Cactus photos in black and white.

Topiary

I put this together a few months ago. It is an easy and cheap project. Here are the few easy steps:

• Buy a shallow basket (this one was $1 from a charity shop)
• Line with plastic, then make a few drainage holes
• Place the basket horizontally, fill with soil.
• Line the top with sphagnum moss
• Secure the moss to the basket tightly using wire. Ensure that nothing falls out when it’s vertical or upside down…
• Add a hook at the back (*)
• Plant succulents : make holes using a chopstick and insert succulents.
• Leave the basket in a horizontal position until the succulents have taken root

I have not hung this basket until recently, because I have been contemplating replacing/rearranging the succulents. But it has been growing well, which is why I have left it alone for a while.

(*Note:  Add 2 or more hooks, if you are intending to turn the basket around to encourage even growth)

Lesson learnt

This works better than my last topiary (shown on the left), when I had used only sphagnum moss and no soil at all. The topiary dried up too quickly with the moss alone on my balcony, and I had to water it daily. It may also be due to the shape of the topiary that had a lot of exposed surface area.

On the other hand, the topiary in the basket above, with soil and sphagnum moss only requires watering once a week. I am much happier with this one.

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

Succulents – a new purchase and a new challenge

A new purchase

I could not help myself when I saw these at the garden centre, so I bought a few :). This Crassula coccinea will grow up to 60 cm/24 inches high, and their colour will change depending on seasonal conditions and stress.

Crassula coccinea “Mystique”

My toothpick test

I’m not thrilled with this arrangement, but I  have got some new aloe pups – yay! – but these little guys seemed a bit lost on the balcony. So I planted them in my new studio table pot, The succulents are aloe in the middle, sedum gold mound (top), and I am not sure what the succulent is at the bottom (It’s one of my first, given by a friend years ago).

A challenge for me… The pot has no drainage holes. I have never had one with no drainage holes, so I am going into new territories… What really helps is that this pot (which is actually a ceramic box I made) is porous.

To find out if it’s time to water, I insert a toothpick into the soil. If it comes out with some soil stuck to it, wait a few days  before watering. (If you know of another method, I’d love to hear about it…)

Succulent garden with 3 varieties  

 

Happy Cactus Monday.

Teri’s Painted Daisies: click on the link 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.

Succulent garden in a colander

Here’s a succulent garden in a colander I put together a few weeks ago.

When I saw this colander at the shop, I thought it would be great for a succulent garden in my kitchen. Because of the holes around its sides, the soil stays reasonably dry. It’s been a few weeks, and these plants seem to be growing happily.