HEY--that "sempervivum" is actually a "Jovibarba heuffelii"!

See these healthy hens and chicks? OH MAN so lovely, nice green color. Then the pestilence hit, the accursed blight of the Mealy Bug. Our verminous foes rooted deep in the little folds of this plant, barely full grown, and formed enemy camps in the tight rosettes. What was once a perfectly clean, dainty and elegant plant was now a plant with "too many damned leaf crevices".



This was gently, then violently treated with the Atom Bomb of non-pesticide bug killers; Rubbing Alcohol (95%) and Ivory Dish Soap. I chose Ivory because it's easy on my skin but Tough On Bugs. When first attempts failed, I upped the ante and spritzed morning and night, for about 10 days, following each dose at the end of the day with a spray of clean water. I was terrified that this would reek havoc on my hens and chicks because they are after all succulents and constant drying of rubbing alcohol followed by being nightly drenched might do them in.

They recovered surprisingly well. The bugs could not survive what was essentially plant chemo, and are nowhere to be seen right now. I think they are just regrouping somewhere. I have in mind a Bug Camp, with a little Cocoon clad bug Napoleon.



The results above are after we lost the tiny guy, a casualty of war, he will be a sorely missed comrade. As his life slipped away his leaves turned brown, dry, crackly. His fellow plants seemed to be doing ok in the following months; one even sprouted some intense new growth while I was gone for a week. See it sticking up?

The weeks (week) went by since the new growth. Suddenly, the others took a dramatic turn for the worse. Their leaves were forming halos around the healthy plants of dying crackling foliage, it looks dehydrated, but was well watered...Confused I ran to the one place I thought an answer may exist! The internet. By the time I got to it, one of the groupings looked like this. Note: If your plant looks like this? It's already dead.



Notice its lack of roots.

It was then that I noticed on a sempervivum website- originally searching how to make my hens and chicks MAKE CHICKS ALREADY, that there are plants that are masquerading as hens and chicks. These plants also form tight rosettes, but don't make any "rollers" also known as chicks. They divide by forming a thick tuberous root and then splicing themselves, which is why hens and chicks grow flat, and these guys grow sideways, back to back. In the first pic at the top, notice that they seem to be growing like dice, with a plant on each face of a cube.

The way to get these apart you ask? NO IDEA. On the nets they say that you have to split them because they will not reach out and make new growth. Perhaps my plants are dying because they are too mounded? I'm not sure. They have adequate light, water, (read: not too much water, an appropriate amount of water)they are in adequate soil, and the chemo is a distant memory. I hacked em up anyway and threw them back in their pot. They are prolly gonna die, but they were anyway, so why not try a last ditch effort. Below is what they look like now. Soon there will most likely be one.



All the others tolerated both the chemo and a transplanting really well and are thriving. not putting out babies, but also not dying- Go ME! I'm not a total failure as a Plant Mommy!

New Addictions

I have found several new addictions to research lately:

One is orchids. While I have always believed they were extremely high maintenance to grow, some research has afforded me the knowledge that several species of orchid are grown easily indoors on coffee tables everywhere, bloom during the year and look nice between times. I am now, though I swore preciously that I never would, considering some orchid plants. Right now it would be a bad idea in my tiny one room apt, but in the future I assume I will have more room to spread out and orchids are on the list.

I also learned that other more finicky species of orchid grow in greenhouses, and thus have been researching good designs for table top or small tiered indoor greenhouses. I went so far as to design a tabletop greenhouse made out of mostly PVC pipes and thick plastic, lighter weight than glass, easy to work with and joint together, and sewable to put in plastic zippers for closures and vents. The tabletop part will become storage cabinets for various plant things, like an indoor garden shed and made from 2x4's, and the top of the PVC pipe holding the A frame up can also be useful for hanging baskets.

Since a greenhouse seemed like such a cool doable idea, I began doing more research on plants I had previously found unattractive, but now find fascinating- Pitcher plants. Between all the different species and various regions they are found in the research is both daunting and exciting. From the notoriously hard to grow Sun Pitcher of the high Andes to the flashy red Nepenthes Ventricosa of the lowland rain forests, to the Marsh Pitchers of the boggy parts of the USA, all are unique and fascinating. With the exception of the Sun Pitcher, these plants for the most part would enjoy the warm humid atmosphere of a casual greenhouse with lots of light.

So to would the many varieties of Venus flytrap-I have been interested in these plants before, but the fact that they require hibernation has always turned me off. It seems all carnivorous plants need hibernation with the exception of a few breeds of each. Getting over this to the fact that there will room in the back of a fridge for them someday, they are so intriguing I can't help but bookmark site after site of info on them. I have found also a wealth of information about sundews, of which the Cape Sundew sounds the most friendly to grow.

In my garden I am still fighting the accursed mealy bugs. Now with a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol, Ivory dish soap and water twice a day. I plan on repeating this procedure until the bastards are gone.

We also went to Lowe's to find Boyfriend a plant, and in the process I saw a plant I have never seen before. It had crinkly folded leaves, dark green, waxy and plastic feeling (it wasn't a fake plant like everyone else suggested though). I left without it, went home and researched the crap out of it, because it didn't have a name label. The plant I came up with- without having the plant in front of me for reference- was a variety of lipstick plant.

After a few days I couldn't take it any more, and I went back for it.
Je Presente:





I Googled the nursery name barely visible on the label and went through their stock a bit and POOF- It's a Rope Hoya, not a lipstick plant. The more I read about it, the less I know for fact.

Fact: I have unknowingly purchased for myself another wonderful succulent. But that's where the facts stop and the opinions begin.

Some people's grow like weeds, some people's never grow; some keep theirs outside all year round, others say they are strictly indoor plants. Some water theirs all the time, others mist them, others say don't water often because they are a succulent and they'll drown. Some people's bloom three times a year, others have never bloomed, or haven't bloomed in seven years. Some live for 60 years, others die in a month. There are east, west, and south facing windows, peppered with advice on how to grow the perfect rope Hoya, from bright sunlight to "never ever bright sunlight you'll scorch the leaves". I have never in my life researched a plant with more confusing and controversial rearing techniques in my life. I'm hoping I can keep mine alive long enough to find out what my specific plant likes- it seems each one is unique in its requirements. Should be interesting.

Pests and New Growth

Mealy bugs have taken over mostly all of my sempervivums (the pointy ones in front below, pictured months ago when they were healthy).


Once I figured out that they were not in fact produced by the plant, I trawled the internet looking for home remedies.

Result:
Rubbing Alcohol/ dish soap.

I applied with a brush and torched those suckers. I obviously didn't get them all because a few have begun reappearing which tells me I need to get a bottle and go to again. They nest in between the stalk and leaves and like for all the world like miniature tent caterpillars; fluffy white cocoons putting spots on the leaf surfaces of the plants.

All I can say about their ecological standing is that they have no natural enemies my ass. They attacked my baby hens and chicks and they are SO screwed. Found them on my infant jades this morning as well making white residue all over them and chilling in the cracks between their stems and leaves. I may have to give every plant the once over.

The lithops are dividing well, some having twins most having just one "baby". Lithops Karasmontana is all tall and spry and leggy and I can't seem to get it enough sun even though it sits in it all day. The one pictured is a lithops dorothae that was planted as an adult back in September. each photo is around a month or so apart. This is generally how these plants grow, close to the ground sprouting leaves from the middle.









My hawarthia retusa is putting out babies which is nice to see.

My African violets that are pains in the asses and won't flower even though it's been a year since they stopped...one has a bloom. a single sickly looking purple flower. This identifies her as Yolanda. I stuck a jobe stick in there over break and voila, a few weeks later one bloom.



The white one still churns out flowers like it's its job.

Lithops!

I got these guys via mail because I didn't have the confidence to grow from seed. These are pics of them from right after they were planted.



I opted for a perlite-pebble-cactus soil mix. very quick draining and all my other succulents were doing very well in it.



After planting I gave them each about a teaspoon full of water because I couldn't resist and haven't watered them since. That was in October.





Some have started to get new leaves, but some haven't even begun to divide; it's my guess that growing conditions are less than ideal for them but they will go through the season and maybe get leaves next year.
I have successive pics for next post of how they've grown (or haven't) so far.

As they grow it's very interesting to ignore them for a week and look back at them in shock and awe- new leaves or new colors. Since they require so little care I sometimes forget that they will grow during this time of the year.

Old pictures and Welcome to My Garden.

The split rock plant lovingly referred to as Nevelson is dead. Officially. It's last little leaf if a pile of brown dried crust.

To lift my spirits I have thought on it and decided to put up an introduction to my plants, as I have many.

I grow a lot of succulent plants, but to stop myself from over watering those and turning them to mush I also harbor some easy to grow regular plants. The large clover/flower looking plant is an oxalis, a member of the clover family. It grows from bulbs, and takes a dormant period fro mtime to time to grow healthy well sustained plants.



There is also Ben and Gwen the spider plants, siblings from the mother plant, and 3 African Violets (they all live in the other window). One of them is flowering snow white flowers like it's its job, the other two named Yolanda and Shiquiqui respectively are not flowering at all. They had beautiful flowers in the beginning but now only pump out leaves with reckless abandon. My guess is A) not enough sun, B) needing fertilizer, C) too many suckers or D) they object strongly to their names. They have not popped out a single damn bud though.

for succulents I have 3 Jades, one started by my grandfather, one started by me with assistance from my grandparents, and one my mom started fro ma leaf that jumped ship off her boss's plant. I also have a Jade started in my seedling pots that I did all on my own!

I own about nine or so Lithops that are new to the family but doing well, each a different breed, if I had to pick a favorite it would be Lithops Dorothae: green with red spots, very unique. More on that later.

I own three aloes split from a mother plant, soon to be gifts, and four different species of hens and chicks. I also own a Kalanchoe plant-the ones everyone sees in the grocery store with the insane bright flowers. I also own a really pathetic tiny sunset plant which is one that I was very hopeful about when I first bought it but as the weeks go by its health seems to be waning. The leaves are all squishy and dull; there is new growth so I've been trying to give it water (just enough) and light and time and space. All a plant needs.




AS far as my nursery goes, I have a cutting growing that I picked up off the Wal-Mart floor and put in my pocket-forgot about-then found and set on some dirt-and IT GREW. My guess is it is some variety of Echeveria. I also have a baby jade or two, and a seedling that hitchhiked in on one of my Hens and Chicks that remains a mystery.