California Gardeners' Succulents #2

I am potting them together Kell, like your pot above. Did you get that one ready made? I was so fired up about those packed bowls at the show!

I see that yours was from the show, they were so fabulous!

oh wow all those beautiful bowls!!!

I have a confession, when my DH and I moved into our first house (old Craftsman, built 1909) there were hens and chicks covering each side of the concrete stairs. I went out there and scraped them all off - I hated them. I was quite satisfied when I was done. Now I think that was probably the only decent thing that was planted there, besides a very old beautiful camelia. Oh well ... that is when I first had an interest in gardening, many mistakes were made !

It's so funny how tastes can change over the course of ones gardening lifetime.
I used to love only pink, lavender and all cool colored blooms. No reds or yellow unless it was a soft pastel yellow and I hated anything orange. My Mom was heavily into daylilies and only collected the warm colors and I started collecting them with her in 1997 when I joined the daylily club she had been going to after touring a local garden with her. I had been so surprised that they came in other colors besides yellow and orange that I jumped right in collecting the pinks, purple and lavender ones. Then I started touring more and more gardens, both here and at National Daylily conventions in other states, even visiting all the major hybridizers in Florida and I noticed how I became drawn to the hot colors, they just popped in the garden. I came full circle. Now I barely have anything pink in my garden except for a couple of daylilies that a famous hybridizer named after my daughter and granddaugher. Now my favorite bloom color is ORANGE! Mixed with the lavender, purples and blues, they look fabulous! And I started focusing more on foliage, mixing chartreuse and bronze with cool silver and the various greens for more interest beyond blooms. That's where the succulents came in, color, texture and form all can be found with adding succulents.

Sue, I know what you mean----I looked out over my "meadow garden" one day and realized it was full of colors I didn't think I liked!

Yes Sue, you were there when I bought it. LOL. The next day they were marked $10 cheaper so Don gave me $10 more of plants.

Look closely at all the goodies in the pot. I am adding more to my huge one.

These really were a deal when you think of all the little plants you would have to buy at $2 a pop. Or $3 for his.

I am in flower.

Oh shoot, $10 cheaper!! Whahhhh, I would have gotten one!

I liked the way the sun caught the edges on this one.
WIB,
SW

Macro of the center. Who'd of thought it would have touches of pink?
WIB,
SW

Oh how I love this site ! I'm relatively new at succulents and I'm becoming addicted.
Kell, how long before you would have to redo the bowls you have pictured just packed full? How often do you water and are they in full sun? Appreciate the experience of all of you on this thread. By the way, I'm in Los Gatos.

I have a fave pot that's just gotten terribly overgrown. It was a mess after having grown out so far in a couple of years...just chock full of ugly, brown, dried leaves stuck to the stems. I finally sat down and just cleaned it out completely. Not sure of how I feel about the look, but it's way better than what it was!

I think it's charming with all the rosettes scattered about!
You can repot it though perhaps in the Fall by snapping each rosette off, and repoting each one or planting some in the ground and they'll each make a new plant. Right now they aren't being allowed to grow to their full potential in their tight quarters but they are cute. I have a couple strawberry pot like that stuffed with things that will need to be redone in the Fall too.

I thought about repotting.

Initially this started as just a few in the top and sides that I'd gotten for a couple of dollars from an a man/wife with a perpetual yard sale up the road. It just grew and grew on its own from there.

I found this succulent growing out of a rock yesterday while on a field trip. Don't know what kind it is. Wasn't any bigger than the palm of my dainty (ha!) hand.
WIB!
SW

That's a dudleya of some kind. I have several.

They grow wild? Who'd of thunk!
WIB,
SW

Oh yeah, a couple of years ago I collected a piece from the beach, it's happily growing in a pot and getting ready to bloom now.

Didn't want to collect it. It's on an ancient Indian Village site. On public lands, where it is not prohibited I might have. I did think about it, but you got to respect the place.
Here is a photo of the main area of the village, where they'd prepare the acorns or other nuts and grains for food. Some call the round holes in the rocks cupules, but we call them grinding holes or metates. That's DH's back. All of the flatish rocks in this area had the metates in them. Some were shallow, the deepest was almost to my elbow.
WIB,
SW

I had a friend once who bought land near Coarse Gold that had a TON of "metate" rocks under the oaks. SO cool!

I know of Coarse Gold. On the drive to Bass Lake/Yosemite isn't it?
Did you notice the circles of grass growing in the rock? Every circle is another metate. Dirt collects in them.
That is how I found the ones here on the farm.
So awesome to view and put yourself back in time. A great place to visit sometimes. There are others where it is too sad to visit due to the vandalism. Even in the spot I shared, which you have to hike or ride a bike for miles to reach has been graffittied. First in the 1800's and later in the first part of the 1900's. Then it became part of a ranch. They protected the site for a long time. The graffiti wasn't there last year. I hate spray paint in the hands of vandals. Even my own rocks have been hit. SIGH!
Some people just got no respect!
WIB!
SW

My mother always used to say "fools' names and fools' faces are always seen in public places" whenever she saw graffiti on rocks (which was about the only place we saw it when I was a kid). It's unfortunate when people aren't taught respect for Mama Nature's property, or anyone else's.

Yes, Coarse Gold is on that drive. I'm not destined to make it to Yosemite. We've tried to get there 3 times in the past 25 years, and every time the vehicle we were in crapped out either just inside or just outside the gates. I've decided it's not meant to be...LOL!

My GF worked the railroads in northeastern Colorado when he was a young man, and had friends among the Plains Tribes. He had a big collection of artifacts he had been given, and arrowheads he had found. Among them were different styles of portable manos and metates in all 4 corners of his den. It was cool to see them worn into the rocks under the oaks when I came to CA! Is there one under the Grandmother Oak?

We went into some caves up by Shasta last weekend, off the beaten path. Called Pluto Caves, a giant lava tube formed by an eruption a lava which originated from a vent. The lava cooled leaving behind the solid rocky tube that remains today. Sadly, lots of graffiti marred the walls. From the trail flyer:
"The first record of it's discovery was by Nelson Cash in 1863 while he was gathering stray cattle. It was named Pluto's Cave after the Roman god of the underworld. However local Native Americans used the cave long before, and John Muir visited it and wrote about it in "Steep Tails" in 1888."

This was one interesting bit of graffiti though, dated 1917, left by an expedition by the fraternal organization 'International Order of the Red Men' (IORM)

I just had to look!
Impd. O.R.M. = Improved Order of Red Men http://www.redmen.org/redmen/rm_info.htm
Curiousity is a terrible curse!!!!

Google is awesome isn't it?!!

Made up this bowl last week. Anxious to see it filled in.

ima, love your Mom's saying. I'm sorry you've never made it all the way to Yosemite. It's a beautiful place. Over loved, but still beautiful. Go in the winter, when there are less travelers. I understand that they are planning on making you park and ride a bus in the summer time due to all the traffic. Great Indian Ceremonial site there. Still in use.
We have several metate stones on the farm. Some in the boulders, most are cleverly disguised as rocks around my house because they can be carried away. Most we found here on the farm. DH and I bought the rest about 10 years ago at a local pioneer families auction. I was so upset even to see them for sale. DH just bought the whole pallet full. The pioneer family had been farming here for about 100 years and found them all over the valley. I am not saying where because I don't know. Did you know that the Spanish Missionaries used to break the rocks so the enslaved local Indians wouldn't try to run away home? One of the Elders from a local tribe told me that. Broken metates should be buried, because of the "spirits of those that made them are in them and they deserve respect". At least that is what the Elder told me.
Sounds like some great memories of your GF. I'm sure he had some stories to tell.
Love what you did with your babies Calif_Sue. Glad to see you found a great pot for them. Looks like it is full of treasure!
WIB,
SW

Another newly planted bowl where I had added found beach items.

This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 12:39 PM

NICE!!

That is ADORABLE!

What an inspiration!
WIB!
SW

Here's one I did last year with beach glass we found, some of the echeverias are looking ratty from the winter but the silvery dudleyas are taking off. I was trying to go for a pond garden look, need to redo it now with plants that would look more like water lilies.

Pretty color combo with the beach glass.

I dunno, I like it just the way it is.
WIB,
SW

Sue, your bowls are so pretty. I am redoing my pot container corner garden at this time and will be doing all succulents in them. This area isn't on the water system, so it doesn't get watered much. I just bought a whole bunch of new assorted succ's and will be working on them next week.
Could you please share with me/us your potting medium recipe? I don't trust the cactus soil mixture very much and want something well draining.

I'll post some pics when it's finished.

Donna

One of my favorite succulents.

DH's Medusa head. I am not weeding it. He gets to. LOL!

Are these Hens and chicks? They sure are pretty when they bloom.
WIB,
SW

I'm pleased with the way this pot is looking:

ima, that is really pretty, the colors and textures look so good together.

ima, Red is right, very nice color and texture combo. Goes well with the color of the planter too.
Wanted to give you an update on my little succulent fountain. Never did get the string of pearls in there, but here is an update for you all. ^_^
This first is as seen from slightly above. (That black stick holds a solar LED butterfly that changes colors all night long).
Wait there is some strange color in there!