Succulent Withdraws

It's been a while since I've shared any of my succulents, and I think I'm having withdrawals from the lack of sharing.  The first one isn't a succulent, and I really intended to share it before Halloween...better late than never.  I stumbled on these Candy Corn Vines back in October and thought they were so darling that I needed two.  I've got the one in the hanging basket in the backyard and the one growing up the trellis in the front. 

Candy Corn Vine

The flowers look like candy corn with their yellow tipped blooms.  Their botanical name is Manettia inflata and they originate in South America.  Another reason I picked up two was that I figured I could at lease keep one alive over the winter and make more in the spring since it promises to propagate easily.  The only thing that would make the plant better would be if the blooms were edible and tasted like their look-a-likes; yummy!!

This next one is one of my favorites, mostly because of her stinky, stinky bloom!  I'm not sure if I caught any flies in the open blooms with my camera, but they're generally not far from this stinker.

Stapelia gigantea

Stapelia gigantea

Did I say the previous one was my favorite?  Oops, this next one is always at the top of my list.  The mother plant died after blooming last winter, but a few of the babies that I didn't give away are growing steadily.  They didn't give me any new babies this year, but I'm sure they'll make up for that next year.

Kalanchoe Gastronis Bonnierfi 'Donkey Ears'

And another favorite.  I looked everywhere for this and then a blogger friend offered to send me some of hers.  What's crazy though, is as soon I got my package from Florida, I started seeing them in local nurseries.  Where were they the two years I searched high and low!  I've really got to move her to a new home for the winter this year.  Besides the fact that she's the only remaining plant in this planter due to Charlie's need to pounce and dig, she needs protection from the freezes that usually come on unexpectedly during the winter. 

Kalanchoe diagremontiana 'Mother of Millions'

My Huernia hystrix is still putting out the blooms.  I can't believe the amount of blooms that have been appearing, but you'll hear no complaining out of me!

Huernia hystrix

Huernia hystrix

Today, my friend, Amy, noticed this next bloom.  I have no idea what the plant is, but I absolutely    A-D-O-R-E it!!  It's a totally different bloom than anything else in my collection.  The tangerine color had me running for my camera.  If you know the name of it, please share.  I searched for a while tonight on the internet, but came up empty handed...help needed!!

Hibiscus and Succulents

I can't believe that it's already the end of the last day of the long weekend...it went by much too fast, as usual!  Our neighbor friends decided to finally tackle the crushed granite path they wanted to make from the front fence all the way back around their back porch.  We always work together, this one my husband represented our team more than I did, but from Saturday morning through 2 p.m. today they got it done! There's something about mud that does nothing for me, so I was much more useful today than the other two days.  I dabbled more at cleaning my house and getting the back porch in order; still have a ways to go with both!  I did however get the succulent hanging baskets done for the front porch.

Other than the Kalancoe 'Chocolate Soldier's' in the middle, everything should grow and hang over.  There's a 'Brown Bean' Sedum, 'Vera Higgin's' Apenglow and a few other Sedum and Echeveria varieties.  Hoping that these should do better in this spot than the Chocolate Mint did...that got repotted and put in the back yard in a shadier spot.  I also worked on the succulent pots that my mother bought and left for me to pot.

This one's my mother's.

This one is mine.

It was dark when I finished these, but I figured I'd take more as they fill out.  Julie, the 'Mother of Millions' you sent me has done really well, so much so that I shared one of them with my mother.  I put my Kalanchoe Serrata, 'Magic Tower', on the top of mine with an Echeveria.  The 'Magic Tower' is more pinkish than the 'Chandelier Plant' that I already had, and it's leaves are serrated, whereas the other is more tubular.  I bought another Hibiscus Saturday morning, my neighbor and I couldn't not leave Home Depot with them.  This is her first and I did warn her that they're also addictive.  They had these great little bushes called 'Carolina Breeze'...a gorgeous orange! 

Off to make an enchilada casserole before we start wilting!

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekends!

Mandy

Special Delivery!

I was delighted (that's putting it mildly) this afternoon when I checked my mail.  Expected the usual humdrum Wednesday junk mail, I was pleasantly surprised to find a little box tucked in amongst the junk mail! Julie from, A Succulent Life, had offerred to send me some of her 'Mother of Millions', Kalanchoe Daigremontiana, and today they arrived!! Want to see them???  She also included two other little succulents, but we're not sure what they are yet.  Oh...did you want to see them?

A lot of the little babies, thinking about 20 fell off in shipping, so they're now laying on the dirt just waiting to take root!  I've been looking for one of these for 2 years now, so I'm very excited to have one of my own now.  I put the other two in a pot together for now.  The larger one looks like a type of Aloe, but I'm not too familiar with the Aloe group, so I'm not sure.  Looking forward to watching them grow!

Julie,  thank you again for being so generous to share and wow are you quick!  My husband was amused and probably a little shocked that I got plants in the mail.  Needless to say, as soon as I opened them up, pots and dirt followed right behind and now they're happy on the back porch. 

To make the day better, the countdown is closing in for my mother to get here...2 1/2 days to go!  Because I know that I tend to sidetrack easy, I thought I'd get a headstart on the cleaning task...yuk! Tonight, with my girls help, we got the upstairs completely done and tomorrow will tackle the downstairs.  Times like these are when I love my little house...so thankful that it's relatively easy to keep clean and if I put my mind to it, I can have it sparkling in 3 hours!

Have a great day!

Mandy