Aloe there, friends,
What up succas? Going out on a limb today and talking about plants! Succulents, to be exact. What can I say? I’m a succa for puns. Ha!! I’m also a succa for succulents lately. So much so, that you may remember I even added an activity on my 2018 summer bucket list devoted to planting them. Well, now that I have them planted, they seem to be thriving. For the most part, anyway. But I’ve just begun to wonder what to do to keep them alive through the winter and beyond.
Overwintering Succulents
About the time I started pondering what to do with my precious plants, I received an email from Kara offering to share with me the infographic below. How did she know I was growing succulents and wondering how to keep them alive indoors when the weather turns cold? I don’t believe in coincidences so it must be serendipity. Or synchronicity. One of those multi-syllabic ‘S’ words.
Stephanie identifies three types of succulents: cactus, (okay, cacti – sounds so silly), hardy succulents and tender succulents. She discusses ways to care for each type during the cold months. Had forgotten about my cacti so need to include them in my efforts once the temps start dropping.
Clean Up
So, I was talking to my daughter Brennyn about how she cares for her succulents. And she explained the transplanting process for those amputated ‘pups’ or offshoots of existing succulents. It is amazing. Brennyn sent me photos of how she has encouraged her ‘pups’ to grow roots and become their own little plants. Have a look at her video.
Basically, Brennyn just lays the leaves onto a dish of succulent soil and waters them only when the soil is dry. Using a glass dish helps her to determine if the deeper soil is dry.
I feel like a proud Mimi looking at all of those teensy baby succulents my daughter has encouraged from fallen leaves. She’s making babies all over the place. Apparently the official term for this process is ‘propagating’ not making babies. Check out my new grands.
Do you think they look like me?
I followed her good lead and have been making babies over here! Say aloe to my little friends.
Apparently, we’re just not as fertile at my house. Kindly disregard those dried up specimens. Not sure how that riff-raff got in the picture. How ’bout those darling baby succulents growing from that one healthy leaf? As winter grows closer, I will be cleaning up my older succulents and planting my new littles.
Transplant
Stephanie Rose also suggests moving the established succulents from their summer pots into smaller containers filled with specially mixed soil like that available on Amazon, here. Because they go dormant during the winter months, the plants require less sunshine and attention. Moving them inside near a north facing window in a cooler area of the house works well.
While my PC was working out of town, I visited several of our local farmers’ markets on my lonesome weekends. The Potted Cactus had a booth with darling succulents for sale at the downtown market on Saturday and the Upper Valley Artist & Farmer’s Market on Sunday. Already had a package of succulent soil in my Amazon cart online but they had it for sale so bought a $4 quart bag. Sprinkled the soil around the plants in each of my planters. Look at the clever items they use for planters. Cups might make great containers for winter transplanting. Check out their tips for succulent care, here.
Watering
I tend to over-love my plants with too much water. Even with our arid desert heat, overwatering can be trouble for succulents. The general real of thumb is err on the side of too little water rather than too much. I found this video on how and when to water helpful.
Going to start paying more attention to the leaves of my succulents and less attention to the dryness of the soil around them. Isn’t it amazing how these plants can tell us when to love them and when to leave them alone? If I would just ‘listen’! I wet my plants too much. Just call me Incontinentia.
Your Turn
Have you tried growing succulents or cactus? If so, can you share any success tips with those of us who might be green-thumb challenged? If growing your own succulents isn’t exactly your cup of tea, you might like the artificial versions from Commercial Silk I shared in an earlier post, here.
Allow me just one last proud parent photo. Check out the difference in my propagating efforts over the past few days. Compare the photo above to this one below.
Isn’t that crazy? Look at those babies grow.
Thank you for spending a little of your day with me. Have plans for several posts this week so hope you will stop back by. Life would succ without your visits. Have a peaceful, successful week, girlsies.
Hugs and kisses,
Deborah Keyworth
How strange that this should be your post today as we are thinking about planting some succulents in the gravel at the front of our house – I think the weather conditions here in Hertfordshire, England will be verrrry different to yours! We have a cactus we brought back from Lanzarote about 15 years ago which we keep in our conservatory, it is so happy there, I think she believes she is still in the Canary Islands when the sun shines. We already have had to re pot her a few times and every year or so we divide the little baby ones that are growing into their own pot. Keep us informed how your little ‘grand-plants’ are growing!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I need a photo of your cactus!! Will you email me one? How fun that she has produced lots of babies you have been able to repot. Wish I could have one of them. That would be fun to exchange succulents!! My grand-plants are taking off. Hope I can continue to keep them alive. I have no idea it was this easy!!
Debs
Coincidentally we have just discussed planting some succulents in our front garden in amongst the gravel area – our climate is verrrrry different to yours though so not sure how successful it would be! Your grand-plants look great, keep showing us their progress. We have a flowering cactus in our conservatory that we brought back from Lanzarote about 15 years ago, it loves it in there and we keep having to divide off the little babies from the side. Who knew cacti could be so pretty when they flower?
Leslie Roberts Clingan
A long time ago, as in 4 years, I was in a collaborative blog and we all shared the flowers in our gardens. I really don’t have a lot of flowers because they just don’t grow so I walked around the foothills of the Franklin Mountains and took photos of the flowering cactus and wildflowers. Cacti are so lovely in bloom. Hope if you plant some, your succulents will take off. I bet they would like your climate…maybe not too much rain, though.
Laura Bambrick
I’ve been trying my hand at succulents and have had some success. I am learning and thankfully succulents are fairly forgiving to my overwatering tendencies! I need to try propagating my leaves! Thanks for the tip!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Laura, if you try propagating your leaves, please send me a pic. I would love to see. Where do you have your succulents – outside? in a pot in a window? I hope mine will survive the winter if I bring them inside. Our overwatering is just a sign that we love them…maybe they understand that. I hope so!
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom
I love to plant succulents in my bird bath planter (which is also a fairy garden). Ohh, love all of these tips. I usually just water them, I don’t try to transplant them or anything fancy like that. I need to pin this for later!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I remember your darling fairy garden you did with Autumn. A bird bath would be a great planter for succulents. Try propagating your own succulents. I am so excited with how well my new babies are growing. I hope I can keep them alive and soon have more plants.
Lysha
I love succulents. I haven’t tried propagating yet, but would like to. I love this post and inspires me to get more succulents (since all my other died *oops*) 🙁
Leslie Roberts Clingan
This is a great time of year to pick up some inexpensive succulents. Our Walmart had a whole variety for $2-$3.00. You can get a couple of varieties and then propagate them and have a full garden by spring!! If you do plant some, please share a pic with me. I would love to see.