I shifted my focus to succulents this week. Succulents can generally take the hot, dry conditions of late summer in stride without going into transplant shock so I don't feel guilty buying them. With temperatures running high this week, I concentrated on containers rather than taking on any large-scale projects.
I couldn't walk past the large blue pot outside our back door without cringing so that was my first project.
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| This was the pot as it looked after it was last renovated in July 2018. The Aeonium 'Sunburst' rosettes were holdovers from a prior planting. I have no photos of its original incarnation. |
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| This was the pot earlier this week. To be frank, once it started looking sad earlier this year, I mostly stopped watering it so it's mildly surprising anything was still alive. |
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| This is the pot after it was replanted this week. I used Aeonium 'Sunburst' once again, despite the fact that every one of the rosettes my local garden center had in stock looked bedraggled. |
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| Overhead view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Aeonium 'Sunburst', noID Crassula (possibly C. capitella), Curio (Senecio) peregrinus 'String of Dolphins', Echeveria compressicaulis, and Echeveria 'Miranda' |
As I went a little overboard on my succulent purchases on my last trip to the local garden center, I pulled out one of the empty pots stored behind our garage and planted that up too.
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| I used bluish succulents with reddish highlights in this pot, which sits on a stump facing the street |
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| Overhead view |
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| From left to right: Echeveria 'Afterglow', Kalanchoe marmorata 'Partridge', and Othonna capensis 'Ruby Bead' |
The Echeveria 'Afterglow' in the above photo is very blue now but with more sun exposure it may turn pink like this one:
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| This one has been stressed by sun exposure and low water |
I used some of the succulent cuttings I'd saved from the blue pot before I dismantled it to fill in around a tiny agave I received by mail order a few weeks ago.
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| Agave 'Blue Emperor' can eventually grow 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide so this pot is just a temporary home until it bulks up a little. The succulents surrounding it with echoes of the same blue color are cuttings of Graptopetalum paraguayense. |
Creating succulent combinations in containers is a satisfying small project but I'm anxious to get onto bigger projects when we get cooler temperatures. Next up I may tackle a section of my south side succulent bed using some of the Aloe divisions I recently received as gifts. I've tentatively identified the Curio ficoides 'Mount Everest' I received along with my last succulent shipment for inclusion in the same area.
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| The 'Mount Everest' specimens I found at a local garden center were very pricey so I purchased 5 very small specimens by mail order and potted them up. I like the deeper blue color and upright habit of this Senecio (now reclassified as part of the genus Curio) much better than the more common blue chalksticks. |
That's it for me this week. Best wishes for a pleasant weekend free of any climate-related drama or emergencies.
All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
