Suckers!

No, I'm not name-calling. I'm talking about African Violets, and one of the pesky ways they try to make more of themselves.

Horde of violets in a wicking tray

African Violets are gorgeous, easy to care for houseplants that require bright lighting and preferably a wicking water system. They can be propagated with leaf cuttings, via seeds, by separating tubers, or via sucker removal. Suckers are mean little growths that come up on the main stem of the plant that if left alone will form a second "head" so to speak, with its own center of growth and sets of leaves. These deform the parent plant, pushing up on the leaves and vying for light. They're no good, and should be removed.

This is too big!

This size is when you should notice them!

I noticed that my biggest violets were getting a bit reachy (leaves reaching upwards, instead of laying flat) and while they are always not quite as flat as I'd like them to be, the last couple of days they've really gotten out of control. Close inspection on one found a ton of little suckers forming, and on the second plant, one HUGE sucker and a smaller one on the other side. How that one escaped my notice, I have no idea, but it had to go.

I brought both plants into the kitchen and retrieved a sharp utensil (this one being a clean clay working tool). To remove suckers, you can use small blades if you are skilled, or, to help preserve your parent plant, use a sharp pencil. If you don't plan to keep the suckers to make more plants, they are easily poked right off with a pencil or nicked off with a blade. You want to take care to not injure the parent plant at this point, because it's very easy to do so if you are careless. It only took me about three minutes to remove all the suckers from my violets. I found five small ones on one plant, and two on the other. In the first plant there was also a leaf I apparently stuck into the soil at some point that was now growing, so I removed it as well.

Large enough to save.

 The largest sucker and the leaf are now potted in their own little cup. We'll see how they do.

 Here's some of my current blooms. I have a mini-violet called "Rob's Loose Noodle" that I acquired from a nursery, and all the rest come from a single plant a friend had me repot - there were sixteen separate plants in one pot! She kept three, my mother-in-law took one, I gave one to another friend, and I kept the rest. I hope to sell or give away the majority of them because I just don't have the space!

Rob's Loose Noodle

My camera can't capture the vivid purple these really are :(

Two shades of purple, both originated from the same plant.

Plants Everywhere! Run for your Lives!

In an amazing act of kindness (both to myself and the plants), a good friend of mine donated all his succulents to my collection. He had moved and was unable to take them with him, but was returning to water them periodically, hoping the homeowner would water them in his absence. After a few weeks, most of his rather sizable selection had died. What was left came home with me today.

Variegated elephant bush

A type of echeveria?

Baby toes!

My husband calls this "The Alien Tower"

Kalanchoe beharensis "Fang"

He also gave me a terrarium to use as a plant house, for my future tropical collection. My flytrap drools in anticipation.

I made my husband a little succulent art the other day, to take with him to work to brighten up his desk. He particularly likes the big rock.

Hill Country African Violets & Nursery

Picklepants and myself at AVN

I wanted to add that the place that Picklepants (the mystery succulent) came from is called Hill Country African Violets & Nursery, out in Boerne, TX. They specialize in tons of African Violet hybrids, from regular to mini in size, with amazing colours appearing in their blooms. If you are looking for something special in the violets area, I'd hit them up.

Be sure to ask the gentleman behind the counter inside the air-cooled violets room all about violet care! He's really knowledgeable!

Mini violet "Rob's Loose Noodle"

My mini next to one of my regulars

Picking out portulaca at AVN

New Plants and Texas Heat

We have reached the 42nd day of 100°+ temps in this glorious state of Texas. I am not amused, and neither are my plants. I admit that a busy weekend and general forgetfulness has caused some drama in the garden - I forgot to water the plants for two days, and that was a critical error.

All the hanging baskets were severely wilted, the birdhouse gourd I planted by the back fence crisped, and various herbs and large-leafed plants wilted and fell over.  Extensive watering for the next few days has saved everything (although the catnip has some permanently dried leaves, which I suppose I can feed to the cats) except the birdhouse gourd.

This is sad.

Trumpet vine hanging in there!

My biggest concern right now is the red oak we planted earlier in the year. It suffered the most, with all its previously bright green leaves totally yellow and crisp. The branches are still flexible and moist, and we've been watering it like mad, so I think it will be all right. My cedar elm suffered a worse fate years ago (neglected in a pot on the front porch, lost leaves, branches dried out, etc) and while we planted it thinking it was totally dead, it did come back a couple years later (miraculously) and is doing the best out of all the little trees today. I think the oak will do fine, as long as the watering keeps up.

:(

Everything else is fairing well. The plumbago and vinca are blooming again, and the purslane is thick and delicious. I had a branch of it in my salad this morning, and now it's asymmetrical! I will have to eat more to make it match again.

The greenhouse is installed and waiting for cooler weather. It can supposedly reach 120° + in there in this weather, even with the door wide open, so we'll wait for fall to put the shelves and plants into it. It sure will be nice to have that housing the delicate things this winter, instead of cramming them all into the garage like we've done in past years.

I'm excited to see more of the neighbours' plants too - they have this vine growing through the fence that has gorgeous purple blooms. I suspect it's a morning glory. If I'm lucky maybe it will go to seed and I can have some myself!

I installed tomato cages finally, after one of the plants fell over. I picked up the pair at Home Depot this afternoon, and while there I found more broken plants and lost leaves in the succulent section - this means it's time for celebration, for they always let me take the sad bits and pieces for free, since they'd just sweep them up anyway and put them out with the trash. I have a sprig of Elephant Bush, a pair of leaves that look like Jade plant, and a little piece of cactus which currently resembles a caterpillar. I hope they make it. I have the succulents in water to rehydrate and the cactus on very moist soil to encourage roots.

Tomatoes soon, I hope!

Sad plants :(

The caterpillar cactus

In other news, the newest member of the family, Lord Stark of Winterfell, is six months old this week. In celebration, we have purchased him a collar and a name tag. I suppose this means he's staying permanently; I don't know if that's a good thing or not!

Oh, last week - I realize I'm rambling here, but I promise this last bit is the best - I was with my mother-in-law at a nursery getting some portulaca and purslane, and by the register they had this weird cactus-looking thing. Being a total sucker for succulents, I brought it home. I don't know what it is yet, and am actually awaiting a reply from a local expert, but the thing looks like a series of pickles. It's absolutely adorable.

I have named it Picklepants after a misheard lyric from a song my husband likes. It's highly amusing and makes me smile every time I look at it. I can't wait for the current bud to bloom so I can see the full potential of flowers on this thing!

Great, now I'm hungry.

Blooming

After waiting all summer to see what colour my hibiscus would bloom, I was gifted with flower buds last week. I eagerly awaited their opening, and waited, and waited...

And the buds turned brown and fell off!

Disappointed, I went away for the weekend and returned to see new buds! And today, the first bloom of the year opened!

And it was everything I had hoped it would be.

Succulent Container Garden Art

I thought today I'd talk about container art. Specifically, for succulents. It is a new passion of mine and the only thing holding me back is the lack of space in which to keep all these displays!

For a good place to start learning more about succulents and the many ways you can use them to decorate your home and garden, I recommend a book called Succulent Container Gardens: Design Eye-Catching Displays with 350 Easy-Care Plants by Debra Lee Baldwin. It taught me a lot, both about plants themselves and about how to arrange them.

Here I will share with you my current displays:

In this set of barnacles I got from a touristy-shell selling shop by the coast, I have planted sedum (top center), aeonium "Kiwi" (bottom center), and two little graptopetalum Ghost Plants (each end).

In a votive candle holder we have a dark little aeonium "Zwartkop" with bright sedum to help backlight the burgundy leaves of the aeonium. The problem with darker plants such as this is that they create a shadow, a negative space where the eyes are naturally drawn away or gloss over. In order for my aeonium to be the centerpeice, I needed something to highlight it and the sedum does just that.

In a green and orange-ish rectangular dish we have sedum (can you tell yet that I love sedum?) and a little barrel cactus. I think it's been getting too much water as the cactus is starting to grow a bit much. It's hard not to overwater in this Texas weather!

Bear's Paws (I've also heard them called Kitten's Paws) go quite nicely into this rounded brown pot, the shape of which goes with the roundness of the paws, and the colour matches the older stems and the little brown "nails" at the end of each paw. The claws are not quite visible yet, but as this plant gets healthier (new addition to the nursery) it should grow closer to ideal and look marvelous.

In simple bright terracotta we have my split rock. I like the green and red of this one. It needs a topdressing still but I haven't found one I like yet.

The bright greens of the Opuntias here go well with the bright blue and orange of the glazed terracotta I picked for them. The prickly pear is a cutting from my city of birth, and the cholla I gathered from my mother's backyard in the country. I have a lot of emotion viewing this piece.

More cholla in a tall glass vase. The leggy cactus should grow taller and spindly, and I look forward to see what it shall become. I expect this will become top heavy in the future, but in the meanwhile I'm enjoying it ;)

Even plastic pots do well for display, depending on what you pair with them. This old tan pot looks nice and plain which doesn't detract from the Haworthia within.

Another plastic pot, this time bright red, does a gentle Christmas theme with the green and white speckled Gasteria spilling over the edges. My husband called this one the Tongue Depressor plant before I could correct him, and the name has stuck. I tend to call all Gasteria tongue depressors now.

And no one ever said that the container must be a pot! I found this resin turtle at a Marshall's and it had "gardening" written all over it. I have planted (clockwise, top to bottom) two types of kalanchoes, sedum burrito, aptenia, graptopetalum, portulacaria afra, and sedum in the center. The turtle itself is only about a foot long, so this is small yet but I expect the plant inside to fill it in nicely.

There will surely be more art on my porch in the future, and when there is, it will be here. In the meanwhile, I'm going to kickback and enjoy a glass of sweet iced tea in my green heaven amidst this terrible Texas wasteland.