Far Out Flora

Gardening in the Outerlands of San Francisco

Tag Archives: succulent

Flashback: Kalanchoe prolifera

December 1, 2011 by Megan | 3 Comments

Kalanchoe prolifera all grown up

Matti recently uploaded some super old, embarrassing pics of yesteryear (2.5-3 years ago) to our flickr account. If you want a good laugh, or inspiration that a pit of a not so great garden can turn in to something not so bad, check out the set. About a year ago we started keeping track of pics in our backyard in an organized fashion on flickr, making it really easy to go back and freak out at what our garden looked like a year ago. I’m a sucker for before & afters, so the Flashback posts might become more regular. Our little baby Kalanchoe prolifera is all grown up and looks like it’s going to shoot out some flowers soonish. It’s even taller than me! I do admit it’s not the classiest of succulents in the looks department. Kind of gangly and awkward, but I still love it.

Oh look! There’s a semi-crappy looking container with succulents in it. I’m currently trying to keep a weirdo Sedum from the isle of Cyprus alive in the right hand (empty looking) spot. So far I’ve only killed one of these cool plants, but it’s not looking so good for this second guy either. I’m hoping if I wait out the “collapse” phase good things will happen. It is a succulent after all.

Kalanchoe prolifera baby last November

So, we picked up this freaky little dude about two years ago in Morro Bay. Light Brown Apple Moth (horrible, horrible creature from Australia who thankfully seems to have taken a little nap recently) took a liking to it this summer, along with quite a few of our succulents including the Sedum I mentioned above. I hate to kill the spawn of butterflies and moths, but I busted out the BT on a pretty regular basis this summer in an effort to battle it. Dang LBAM went nuts on a bunch of non-succulents, too. It had no problem flying around the apartment taunting us when the windows were open at night either, which is how I made a positive identification as it clung to the side of the laptop monitor.

Senecio cristobalensis Down

October 25, 2011 by Matti | 2 Comments

Senecio cristobalensis catastrophe

Senecio cristobalensis - Red Leaved Velvet Senecio

The winter rains just starting here in SF.  About two weeks ago we came home to find our Senecio cristobalensis toppled over…probably due to the weight of the wet leaves in tandem with a little wind.

Off topic for a second…can you believe this is a Senecio?  It has giant velvet like leaves…green on top and purple on the underside.  It gets big, 6-10 feet tall and wide, easily pruned and one of the most bizarre Senecios I’ve seen in awhile.

qFixing the plant.

Fixing the Senecio cristobalensis

After assessing the damage, there didn’t appear to be an breakage in the stem.  We hammered in a four foot stake halfway into the soil and tied it up at the base.  Not too tight…it can swagger freely.  Should be good to go now.

– Far Out Flora

Ruth Bancroft Garden Rocks

June 22, 2011 by Megan | 15 Comments

Scopelogena verruculata I love you!

This past Sunday afternoon we decided to get some heat, and headed over to The Ruth Bancroft Garden. It was 92 degrees. A little shocking when an hour earlier it was 60 degrees and foggy at the house. I blame the heat on our laziness about taking pictures of ID tags. I got Scopelogena verruculata only because I really want it.  Apparently it has fragrant yellow flowers in Spring. We went nuts and took tons of pictures. They’re all here on flickr, but these are a few faves from the bunch.

Echinocactus grusonii "Barrel Cactus"

Echinocactus grusonii "Barrel Cactus"

Matti and the giant Agave

Aeonium fun

DIY Succulent Pallet Table

June 4, 2011 by Matti | 222 Comments

Max with the new Succulent Table.

Max with the new Succulent Table.

Can you believe that our latest DIY project was once just a couple of junky pallets and some scrappy table legs?  Crazy…if I didn’t have photos, I wouldn’t believe it myself.  Not too long ago, we whipped out a coffee table sized succulent table out of an old shipping crate.  Now we scaled it up.

The pallets.

The pallets.

First bit of advice, deconstructing pallets are a big pain unless you have the right tools…and our hammer and wall scrapper wasn’t quite doing the trick.  Boards were cracking and splitting left and right.  Good news.  We had three pallets to figure out how to do it, and by the second one…we were getting usable boards.

Couple good planks.

Couple good planks.

Love the scares of time left on these chunks of pallet wood.

Attaching the legs.

Attaching the legs.

After pulling apart two pallets, we used the 2 x 4 sized boards to make a rectangular frame to attached the appropriated table legs.  Debate went back and forth whether or not to strip the paint off the legs…we’re not huge fans of washed out creamy yellow.  We ended up just leaving them dinged up how we found them.  In the end, it worked in our favor.

Dry run for fittings.

Dry run for fittings.

Like TV magic (and 2 days later), the table was more or less put together.  We got so into the project that we forgot to take some pics during the building of the succulent hole, oops.  Basically, the top is made up in three sections.  Two flat boards make the right side, three boards make the left.  The center three boards were built as a separate planting box…again all using parts of the pallet.  We made it this way because we knew the succulent table was going to journey about 45 minutes south to Sunset Test Garden.  The plan was to make the succulent section removable so that it could ride inside the car while the rest of the table may need to be strapped to the roof of the Subaru.

Megan with some semps.

Megan with some semps.

After a weekend of slivers and sweat, we finally got to plant this baby.  Megan had the pleasure to do the ceremonial dividing up of the first bunch of semps.

Getting messy.

Getting messy.

3/8 inch holes where drilled in the bottom, and we decided to go with a fast draining cactus mix.  The bulk of the plants are Sempervivum, Sedum, and a hint of Orostachys iwarenge.  We plugged in some pea sized pebbles to stabilize and dress up the top.

Packing them in.

Packing them in.

Yeah, we didn’t hold back on jamming them.  By all means, it would be fine to plant the strip thin and let it grow in.  But when you need it to look full fast…you just hold, tuck and stick until it looks more or less done.

Succulents playing together.

Succulents playing together.

 

Finishing touches.

Finishing touches.

Here you can get a sense of how the center box is separate from the rest of the table…great for traveling.

Ready for action.

Ready for action.

Speaking of journeys, this guy is on view Jun 4-5 at the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend in their Test Garden down in Menlo Park, CA.  While your there, say hi to Johanna Silver, aka Ask a Garden Girl and Sunset Test Guru.  She has rock star garden skills and one of the most engaging personalities you’ll find.

Hey, you can stay up-to-date with us on Facebook or place an ad.  We have super low intro pricing right now.

– Far Out Flora