Three, er, four new pots

I really meant to only make a new Aeonium pot. It turned into another big bowl community PLUS a mostly Aeonium pot. Target had a parcel of awesome mimicry plants. They had Lithops and Argyroderma so I needed to make a pot just for them. I've wanted Lithops for about 9 years, ever since I learned about their existence in undergrad.



This bowl has some more delicate plants and I may have gotten in over my head. I just love all of these colors and textures.

Echeveria Doris Taylor "Woolly Rose", Graptoveria "Moonglow", Fenestraria aurantiaca "Baby Toes", Senecio sp. "mini blue chalk fingers", Aloinopsis luckhoffii, Sedeveria Hybrid "Harry Butterfield", Delosperma nubiqenum, Crassula perforata variegata, Senecio citriformis, Graptopetalum pentandrum superbum

The middle of this pot is waiting for a Crassula argenta monstrosa that I have to break up. I'm going to have one for the community pot and one for a bonsai pot. My boyfriend is taking one to bonsai too.


I did finally get some Aeonium sp. I got an Aeonium arboreum "Tricolor" and a "Blushing Beauty" hybrid. They're planted with Greenovia aurea "Green Rosebuds" and Haworthia retusa acuminata variegata "White Ghost".


There is one more pot that I created today. This one is strictly an Aeonium pot that was inspired by the one little Aeonium sp (I think maybe an Aeonium 'Zwartkop') I found last week and the Aeonium percarneum 'Kiwi' I found last night.

I also found a neat square twisting pot at Goodwill that will become a home for some Echeveria and Sempervivum this weekend. My other neat find last week was this Sedum praeltum cristata. I love the cristata form on this plant. It looks like a little stegosaurus.

Roar!

Cute little Aeonium 'Kiwi'

It starts

One day I saw the cutest little stripey "aloe". It was dark with these great contrasting white stripes. It turned out to be a Haworthia fasciata. While looking for this plant I found many other appealing beauties and decided on a large bowl for a succulent community.

Anacampseros rufescens, Crassula agrentea compacta, Echeveria derengerii , Echeveria subsessillis, Crassula dubia, Graptosedum "California Sunset", Haworthia fasciata, "Living rock" Pleiospilos nelii, Echeveria "Olivia", Sempervivum sp., Echeveria shaviana "Pink Frills", Sedum pachyphyllum

I got a second set of the Pleiospilos and put them in thier own pot because I thought that they would get too much water in the community pot. The top guy of the four in the community pot shriveled and died. Interestingly the guys in the community pot look better than the ones that have their own pot.

After top dressing

I put this pot in a more sunny location for the rest of winter a few days ago.The Haworthia was taken out of the pot today after I started to get worried that it might get too much sun. I replaced it with a Senecio haworthii that I bought last weekend.

Tale of the succulents

When I moved to Yuma I brought my Aloe vera and spider plant with me. I also had a gardenia that was just too big to fit into my car. I was sad to leave it behind. It was 3 years old and doing wonderfully. It bloomed all summer long.

When I got to Yuma I added some miniature roses, peperomia, some celosia, a firecracker plant (Russelia equisetiformis), and one other full sun loving plant. My plants loved Yuma in the winter and spring, but summer massacred them. The front porch is west facing but shaded for most of the morning. I tried to move some of the plants inside, but it was too dark. The only survivors of my first summer were the Aloe vera and the firecracker plant. The Aloe is just indestructible and the firecracker plant was moved into the tiny fully shaded corner near my apartment. The firecracker suffered some burns, but it has been recovering nicely. The Aloe got transplanted into a 14" bowl and looked beautiful. Someone else must have really loved it too, because it was stolen one night leaving me with one half-burned plant.

My Aloe (in the background)

I decided to find some plants that could survive. I took my que from the Aloe and decided to give succulents a shot. I was wandering around in target when I saw the cute 2.5" succulent pots. They also had a lovely terracotta 14" bowl. It was then that I decided I would make a multi-species dish garden.

The bowl right after I finished

I really liked it so I went and made a couple of more pots. I'll go into each of the plants and pots in detail in further posts.

Hello

I've moved to Yuma, AZ from Southern IL about 15 months ago. Before that I lived in Guatemala with the Peace Corps. And before that I lived in Florida. I share my apartment with my dog Maya, a 20 gallon freshwater tank, a 1.5 gallon tank, and several pots of succulents.

My aquariums started with a single male betta fish in a 1.5 gallon tank. I had some java moss in there and added a couple of shrimp. It was so much fun to watch that small tank that I decided to get a 10 gallon tank.

My first betta

The beginning

Within a month I had traded in the 10 gallon for a 20 gallon. The residents are: 6 lambchop rasboras, 2 harlequin rasboras, 3 cory cats (1 green/bronze, 2 albino), 3 dwarf sunset platies, 3 glofish (genetically modified zebra danios), 1 female betta, some ghost shrimp, and 1 mystery snail. It's probably a little overcrowded, but with 25% weekly water changes the tank is very clean and all the inhabitants are very happy. Plantwise the only plant surviving is a java fern that has multiplied. I've tried java moss, corkscrew valia, and moneywort.

The 10 Gallon

The 20 Gallon

I'll detail the inhabitants more later.

Next post: Tale of the succulents