What I Did With Those Succulents

The smallish box arrived several days ago. It was full of tiny brown bags of succulents.Everything arrived in tip top shape. Plants for bunching, plants for trailing. The small one's roots were contained in a peat like mixture...where you plant the whole thing...The company did this to save our landfills from all the plastic pots that people throw away. There were only 4 tiny plastic pots in this bag of 20 or more plants. I had a plan for where they were going to be planted.

 A hanging basket is just outside our front door. It always looks wonderful when I plant it full of annuals at first. Then later on things happen to it. Last year the Japanese Beetles attacked it and spoiled it before fall. The year before....earwigs were found munching on the roots. Other years it failed because of excessive heat. There is a brick wall just behind the basket that gathers so much heat during the hot summer...that only cactus could survive. So, with that it mind, I decided to order some succulents to fill the basket and see if they will work better.

 I put in new soil...adding some sandy mixture and vermiculite. A packet of time release fertilizer was then added. Then the fun began.

 I have seen them plant these by poking holes in the fibrous liner and planting succulents all around...making kind of a ball of succulents, but I like to take these into the garage in the winter and it would be hard to store that way. I decided to just plant on top of this basket. I put the trailing ones around the edge...a tall one in the middle and filled in with hens and chicks. I saved a few plants out for my strawberry jar that has some holes missing plants.

 I think that this might be the answer to my problem. It won't be as showy from the street as a basket of petunias for instance, but it will be so enjoyable to watch it grow, for us....on the porch.

Today promises to be a beautiful but chilly day. I'm going to be outside again....removing some of the cover over the mums that grow across the front of the porch.I'm still a little weakish, but am pushing myself to start gardening. Yesterday, it felt so good to get a few things done. I slept well last night after all the fresh air.So, when it warms up...you'll find me out doing one thing at a time....after all I'm retired and can do as much or as little as I like. ahhhh!  The beauty of retirement.

Balisha