Succulents and More™

After a month of below-average temperatures and record precipitation, we’ve now swung to the other end of the extreme: Today’s daytime high was above 80°F. Since the soil is still saturated from all the rain, many bamboos are now going into catch-up mode. Here are some of our bamboos that are producing shoots right now. Our Chinese walking stick bamboo ( Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda ) has two new shoots New shoot on Sasa veitchii . Clearly the nursery container is getting too small… Temple bamboo ( Semiarundinaria fastuosa ), two new shoots (at the very edge of the pot) Dwarf greenstripe bamboo (Pleioblastus viridistriatus). This is probably the most vibrant bamboo there is. I cut the old growth down to the ground a while ago, but in a few weeks the whole container will be a riot of chartreuse. Fargesia robusta , producing taller culms than last year but still in its juvenile phase. This has not been a fast grower for me. Yushania boliana in a half-...

Here in the Sacramento Valley, March was dominated by wave after wave of rain. In fact, our rainfall total to date is 22", 126% of normal. This has been a boon for many of our plants, including the bamboos, but plants native to drier parts of the world—like many succulents—aren’t all that fond of so much moisture, especially in conjunction with the colder-than-average temperatures we’ve been having. For this reason, I had covered our succulent display table and the succulent bed next to our front door at the beginning of March to keep most of the rain away from the plants. Today is the first sunny day we’ve had in a long time, and the forecast calls for more of the same all week. In fact, temperatures are supposed to climb into the high 70s by Thursday. This is perfect weather for sun-loving succulents, so I decided to uncover them today. I didn’t have much time to spend outside but it felt great folding up the tarps. With any luck, I won’t need them again until November. The su...

About three weeks ago I blogged about finding trimmings from a Queen of the Night cactus ( Cereus hildmannianus susp. hildmannianus ) in a neighbor’s yard waste. I placed the cactus segments in a dry spot on our front porch so any wounds could heal and callus over. Three of the rescued Queen of the Night segments Today I took advantage of a break in the rain and put the segments in 5-gallon plastic nursery pots. Since I knew the segments wouldn’t stay upright on their own, I cut two 5 ft. lengths of ¼" PVC pipe for each pot and attached them to the pots using two small screws on each side. This will prevent the pipe sections from tilting. Originally I was going to use wooden stakes but ¼" PVC pipe ended up being much cheaper than wooden stakes—crazy! Screws holding the PVC pipe sections upright I filled each pot about ⅓ of the way with dry soil mix (½ pumice, ¼ coir, ¼ regular potting soil), inserted the cactus segment, and tied it to the PVC pipe with stretch ...

A couple of months ago I bought a ghost plant ( Graptopetalum paraguayense ) on sale. Also known as “mother-of-pearl plant,” this succulent from Mexico is a vigorous grower with woody trailing stems topped with fleshy rosettes that range in color from pale gray to pink. Its leaves break off very easily, which is why it’s best to put this plant in a permanent location and refrain from moving it around. Graptopetalum paraguayense Although supposedly hardy to zone 7b (5°F), mine has developed some brown spots from the cold, damp weather, and yet at the same time it produced flower stalks that are about to open up. Since I haven’t decided yet where I will ultimately put it, I have had to move mine around a fair amount, and even though I tried to be careful, I still knocked off a few leaves. Knowing that many succulents can be propagated from leaf cuttings, I decided to put a few of the leaves in a dry place to see what happens. I expected to see roots developing at the end that wa...

Today at lunchtime I headed over to a fellow gardener’s house to pick up some cuttings. I love seeing other gardeners’ yards, and hers was just beautiful: meandering mounded beds full of succulents and other drought-tolerant plants, and even a relaxing water feature. Very inspiring. I wish more people would eliminate at least some of their lawns in favor of more interesting and water-saving landscaping. The best we can do is to lead by example. I’m very happy with what S. gave me, especially since some of these plants are completely new to me. Rock purslane ( Calandrinia grandiflora ). This Chilean native forms 1x3 ft. mounds and sends up 2-3 ft. stems with vibrant purple flowers . This plant is new to me, and I will put it outside the fence in the front of the house where it will get plenty of sun all year long. Hardy to 15”F or so. Another new-to-me succulent: Oscularia deltoides , a South African member of the ice plant family. Forms dense mats that in the spring are co...

In early January I blogged about three kinds of aeoniums we have growing. Since then, they have changed quite a bit. Considering that aeoniums are winter growers and go dormant in the heat of the summer, this isn’t entirely surprising. Many Internet sources advise their readers to keep aeoniums dry in the winter. In my experience, that is incorrect. Since their main growing season is winter and spring, they do need water then. This is no different from aloes that hail from winter-rainfall areas, such as Aloe ferox , Aloe marlothii , Aloe maculata , Aloe arborescens , etc. Aeoniums come from the Canary Islands where most of the precipitation occurs in the fall and winter so our weather patterns are quite comparable, even though on average the Canary Islands receive only 13" (325 mm) of rain a year compared to our 18" (or 20+ this year). Two of our aeoniums are in pots on our covered front porch. I have been watering these once every two weeks—a generous dousing until water...

Today we had torrential downpours alternating with periods of sunshine, and I took advantage of the latter to look for a few signs of spring. I needed confirmation that this is actually late March, not late November as the weather would have you believe. Spring is indeed all around us, even though most plants are at least two to three weeks behind schedule because of the unseasonably cool weather. Our daytime temperatures are as much as 15° below average! According to the weather experts, we have at least two more storm fronts to look forward to before we get a more extended break from the rain. Yeah, I can’t contain my excitement. But in the meantime, I’m enjoying the bits and pieces of sunshine that Mother Nature is sending our way, and I hope you will, too. New leaves and flower buds forming on our Washington Navel orange Black Lace elderberry leaving out ( Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’) Black Lace elderberry leaving out ( Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’) Blue Sk...

In spring, one of the things I look forward to most during the week is working in the yard on the weekend. There are so many things that need attention, and I’m eager to get cracking on them, but the rain made yard work impossible this past weekend. This is what it was like on Sunday afternoon. Looking out from our upstairs window At least the Bradford pear looks pretty. Our neighbors across the street have some mighty tall redwoods (on the right). I covered the succulent bed next to our front door to keep at least some of the rain off the agaves and aloes Cactus display table , covered again as well. Note the leaves and other debris on the ground, knocked off the trees by the high winds we had on Saturday. My simple tarp setup held up beautifully in the wind. Tropical bed in the front yard, flooded. The bucket catches the overflow from a partially clogged gutter which we haven’t had the chance to clean out yet. Squirrels messed with one of gutter guards...