Everyone enjoyed Friday's succulent post so much, we thougtht we'd keep the party going! Here are some more from Tim, Melissa and Susan!
"Jeff Calton certainly inspires everyone that follows GPOD, and his succulent submission inspired me to submit some more photos. I love succulents and desert plants, and although I am envious of those who can grow them in the ground year round, I really don't think I could be happy gardening in the desert. (Maybe I wouldn't mind zone 8.) Containers offer a great compromise. There are some cool plants from desert-type climates that can tolerate Ohio if sited properly, though. I've included two new additions to my gravel garden, as well as some tropical containers." ~Tim Vojt
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Comments
i'm certainly glad i am not the ONLY one! they are all beautiful and now i'm on the lookout for a Manfreda Chocolate Chip. Tim, not being able to plant in ground year round is all that saves me from bankruptcy
Fingers crossed that Chocolate Chip survives the winter. Most hardiness data says zone 7 or 8, but my source (Arrowhead Alpines in Michigan) says zone 6 and I've found them to be reliable. Manfreda 'Spot' is much more consistently described as very hardy, but I couldn't find it available anywhere. Pretty similar.
Did Manfreda 'Spot' used to be sold as Agave 'Spot'? I had that one, such a darling, but it fizzled, decreasing over about three years until it finally expired with what I imagined to be a minute little "pop!" at the end.
Hi Tia. I just read today that it was sometimes sold as Agave 'Spot'. Truth be told, a good/bad friend saw my posts here, tracked it down at Sequim Rare Plants and I just ordered it.......
How did you have it sited: light, soil, etc?
I hate it when they go with a 'pop!" :)
cheers!
Spot was planted in regular garden soil with added rocks for warmth. He got about 5 hours of sun on a summer day. This pic is of Spot in decline, even losing his spots one chilly year.
Oh. So sad. See spot go. ? If I didn't know better, I'd say it looked pretty good!
Goodness gracious, Tim, Melissa and Jim, my heart just skipped a beat! These are outstanding containers (and specimens). Do you all have a greenhouse to overwinter your precious babies? Hope so. Tim, where do you source your succulents? I can imagine Jeff already frantically looking for Manfreda Chocolate Chip.
Thanks for posting more and more photos for us Susan. We surely appreciate it.
Have a great week everyone and please stay safe this summer.
Hi Cherry. I wind up lugging containers to the basement or our unheated third-floor walk-up with a big south-facing window. One of these days that will have to stop or I'm going to need some hired hands (and backs and knees!). I get succulents (and plants in general) from wherever I can. There are some pretty good sources locally. The Manfreda is from Arrowhead Alpines and the Bukiniczia is from Sunscapes in Colorado.
You must have a large basement - lucky you! I thought that the space would be more of a problem than the lugging around since as you said, you can always hire help for transport.
The sources of succulents are amazing in the US - wish it was the same here. I consider myself lucky if the nursery has an actual plant tag detailing the genus and species . Usually, it has a preprinted tag that says "succulent."
I found that,too, when purchasing a basketful at Lowe's and I so wanted to know the individual names!
Glad I'm not the only one in this pickle. Misery loves company...even in gardening? But we bounce back right away with gardening therapy anyway.
Exactly
Thank you for the references, Tim. I checked out Arrowhead and it's plants are drool worthy! So many temptations. I'll look in on Sunscapes next. Always enjoy having another good source.
Who knew! What a varied and beautiful collection of succulents... think I need to look for that "Chocolate Chip".... and a few others. Very cool specimens and a great education of what can be found out there. Thanks for sharing, all!
The manfreda is so interesting. I commented to Jeff below that there is a similar, probably hardier cultivar that I couldn't find: Spot. The manfredas are deciduous agave relatives.
Thanks for the info, Tim! Also, the Bukiniczia cabulica is a beauty too, another one I have not seen before now.
OK, confession time... I'm guessing that I'm more inclined to get a drool response looking at a collection of interesting succulents than being shown a display case at Tiffany's. I find them to be the gems of the plant world with their intriguing patterns and architectural whorls and spikes. Some are positively hypnotic and free up the imagination. I'm enchanted with Melissa's cross ( great gift from hubby and daughter) and Susan, your bowl shows you have the knack for putting together a lovely visual display...this should be the first of many for you.
And, then, there is you, Tim, a real succulent connoisseur...seeking out the less common varieties to showcase ... along with the more easily found one. Equally impressive is that you know the names of so many. Thanks for keeping the succulent train rolling on!
I've finally learned to take a photo of plants and plant tags that I buy and keep them on my computer. Now, how to organize them?! Are you like me at all, that sometimes the name of a plant rolls off the tip of your tongue when someone asks, and at other times it is like seeing someone you know, out of context, and you just know you know the name but it just won't come?
Tim, I've learned that is is worth the extra time to change the filename of each photo to the name of the plant. So, I take photos of the plant and both sides of the tag and rename them all. That way I can do a search on the plant name and easily find both the tag and the plant. My memory is so unreliable that it was the only way! Of course if you have no clue as to the name, you need to remember approximately when yo got it and search by date.
Great tip! I'm using iPhoto at the moment and I do take photos of the plant, the location and the tag. I need to investigate how to do that. Right now it's sorted by date, which helps....but not much! I realize on a quick visual scan to recognize the plant in the thumbnail image. Technology may be a pain at times, but I love my iPhone camera!!!!
You can sort the info into separate albums on an iPad but am not sure if the iPhone has that capability. I was late in starting to keep records and my own memory lets me down when trying to recall names after being so lazy about it all. You wouldn't believe how proud of myself I am when the right name pops up! Maybe I should practice more!
You would only head a category for the pictures and tags but then maybe cross reference to an Excel or similar chart for detailed information.
Thanks, Eddi. I've got my photos sorted into albums on my computer, so that helps a lot, but at this point I only have one album for all of the ID photos. I think I have renamed photos before. It would be nice to have a searchable database like Excel.
Now, what was it that John taught us? Squeeze your right hand if you want to remember something? Or was it the left hand? Problem is you have to remember *something*!! :)
One of my friends uses Excel all the time to keep track of her life. Me - I am more the Post It note type. Excel is expensive if it isn't part of your computer package. Apple has a different program of their own. Of course Apple fans swear by it.
You know the phenomenon of someone being a "savant" with incredible knowledge and recall? Well, that's NOT me when it comes to plant names. In spite of taking it for all 4 years of high school, Latin is still a foreign language for me and the scientific names of plants just don't stick. The only one that really stays with me is Muhlenbergia capillaries...my beloved pink muhly grass.
I should adopt more discipline when first purchasing a plant and do what you and May do...take more advantage of today's technology. I still write things down in a battered blue copybook in a very disorganized way.
One of the comical things is how I make copious notes on my daylilies while they are in bloom to remember what I want to move where in the fall or following spring...so colors work better together. I never achieve my daylily nirvana but I keep tweaking things.
You are talking to the wrong audience if you characterize your copious daylily notes as 'comical'. I've taken to making list after list on my phone, since it is always with me: plants I want, potential spots for new plants, garden work to be done, projects to do, plants to be moved and divided in the fall, plants whose names I have a hard time remembering. It's the process that is fun, isn't it?
You are so right, Tim...it is as much the process as the finished product. And, since gardens are never finished, it is a darned good thing that the process is as enjoyable as it is. I consider the mental challenge of keeping track of things (even with written or digital notes) as my own form of sudoku to keep my brain exercised. My husband will work the morning newspaper puzzle and I'll just think about my day's upcoming gardening activities and call us even in the brain strengthening department.
Happens to me constantly. It's what I call "Sometimer's Disease" - sometimes I remember, sometimes I don't!
I'm totally going to use that. If I can remember......
:)
I enjoyed every single photo. I think my favorite succulent is the bukiniczia. I love Melissa's cross and all of the containers are beautiful. Echeveria is always my go to succulent. There are beautiful examples on Pinterest of different designs created with succulents. Tim, I'm in love with the big shell! I agree with Diane, the Manfreda is scary looking. But, it evokes emotion and that's what our art forms do!!!
I'm so excited to have the Bukiniczia this year. It's small but gorgeous. They're biennial and I bought three, in the hope that they not only survive, but produce lots and lots of seedlings for years to come. The shell isn't all that big, but I saw the idea somewhere in a magazine and happened to have some shells. The sempervivum don't need much dirt and freeze solid and live, no problem! It's fun to see how people perceive different plants. I love, love, love spiky agaves and their symmetrical pattern: my wife thinks they are very unappealing. I can see how the Manfreda evokes different emotions
Good morning Rhonda. Hope you are enjoying your summer garden immensely. Thought I'd drop a line and say hi and share this awesome link: http://www.gardenygoodness.com.... Please come by and say hello to the blogger. She will be so glad you stopped to say hello. Take care. -C
Wonderful structural marvels of nature. I was late seeing your post yesterday, Jeff, so a belated thank you for getting so many GPODers (including me) salivating for succulents (thank you for the image, Michaele!). Tim, Melissa and Susan, you have the succulent bug and have have embraced it beautifully. Ahhhh, I learn so much from you all.
Melissa, I love your cross-planter. It's chock full of cool plants. Do you have a sunny place to hang it? Can it stay out year-long where you live or do you have place to bring it in? Send in more picks as it grows in for an update.
Susan, it is obvious that you've brought your 50 years of gardening experience to your succulent game. That dish is awesome and so luminescent.
Diane, now that you say that, the Manfreda is a little ominous, like looking into the mouth of a squid or something. I find it fascinating. I've told some other friends that it is really camouflaged in the gravel garden. From a distance it just blends in. I've tried to grow the Bukiniczia from seed in the past with no luck. I'm hoping the plants I bought this year go to town. They're very hardy, but I'll have to see how they cope with moisture. They're biennial and should flower and die next season, hopefully making many offspring!
Lucky Melissa! That succulent cross is lovely. I would love to know what you need to do with it to keep it growing. Susan you have done an enviable job with your first succulent dish. Congratulations!
Succulents are a very timely subject for us on the west coast, as endless drought seems to be the way of our future. Tim, whether filled with succulents or not, your containers are gorgeous! Love the Bukiniczia and the dangerous-looking Manfreda! Hmmmm, if they are hardy in Ohio, I should be able to grow them outside too.
I'm sure you can grow those guys outdoors. There are several different Manfredas out there and they are very interesting. I bet you could grow them all. My fantasy is to be able to grow a giant Agave ovatifolia in a bed of peonies outdoors. The ultimate zone and plant requirement denial!
Sounds perfect to me!
Wonderful collection. Thanks for sharing so many different varieties. I love your collection of interesting containers Tim.
Somehow I keep adding containers, despite my best intentions!!
I am absolutely green with envy. Your plants are just too gorgeous for words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm ready to add Melissa's and Susan's succulents to my own collection!
Whoa! You guys are amazing! Gorgeous plants, pots, and arrangements and several plants I have never seen before. Tim, you are really a connessour (sp?). You make me feel like a rank amateur but I have fun. I just love everything too much to specialize. Enjoy and keep on amazing us.
i prefer the term 'addict'! :)
Susan... you have definitely been bitten by the succulent bug, and your first attempt at a dish garden is lovely!
Melissa... you have trained your husband and daughter well ;) The succulent cross/garden is wonderful, what a thoughtful gift!
Tim, I'm in love with your Bukiniczia cabuliea and Shira Ito Ohi, they are gorgeous, and now added to my ever-growing list of succulent/cacti must haves! I also adore the color palette of your front porch containers, the yellow pops everything in such a subtle way and you've got a seriously cool texture thing going on!
Seriously! Aren't Susan's and Melissa's containers full of great plants! That silly container on the front steps with the Ficus and Duranta are so unbelievably pot-bound that I don't think there is any soil left. I've been cutting those babies back hard in the fall and bringing them inside for several years: the golden Duranta has to have been in there for a decade!
Well, you succulent people have put on quite a show.
Susan's bowl is beautifully planted and Melissa's present of the cross is a lovely idea. And Tim - how you manage to find space for all the things you love AND keep it organized, is truly amazing. Oh! And let's not forget the Latin names for them all! Amazing. Thank you all.
Hard Core Eye Candy FROM ALL OF YOU !!!!!! Loved this post !!!!!
Thanks for the link Cherry!
Thanks Cherry, for the link!
I like these plants, I think you can read more about them also in the blog https://www.sidegardening.com/ I saw about 5 articles about these plants there
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