East Austin Succulents

It's been several weeks since we made went on the succulent road trip, but I still have to share my finds from East Austin Succulents.  I'm just going to say that this place could be dangerous!  I have very little, if any, self control when I'm in a greenhouse loaded with succulents.  I don't have all the names, but here's what I found.

I think he said this is a 'Luna' Echeveria

Kalanchoe...she's burgundy, not sure the variety

I can't remember the same, but adore this variegated guy!

He didn't know the name either, but it looks like elk horns.

Cutsie little Crassula

Kalanchoe 'Scallops'...see the babies that are growing on the leaves?  That's why she came home with me!

Another Echeveria

That's it for East Austin Succulent's haul!  I've said it before, but it's a really good thing that this nursery is also 1 1/2 hours from my house.  I could get in serious trouble!  Other than my fun finds, I really enjoyed talking to the owner about different plants and loved that he treats his collection to fun music.  Very unique place, and if you're ever in Austin, you should definitely swing by.

As always, if you know the names of the ones I missed or if I got any wrong, please do tell! 

Mandy  

Palmer Sedum

When my mother, Amy and I went to the Succulent Seminar at Shades of Green in June, a lady was asking the presenter if they ever stocked Palmer Sedum. He wasn't sure what that one was, but I remembered seeing it at another nursery and pointing it out to Amy that this was the stuff we had.  We had pictures of it on our phones/cameras, and asked her if this was what she was looking for.  Her reply was, "Yes, I lost mine during the winter freeze."  I told her I'd give her my number after the class and that she was welcome to come by and get some.  She offered to pay, and I thought that was silly considering I had plenty of it and the original pieces were given to be by a coworker years before.  She was going on a trip, but told me she'd call me when she got back.

Fast forward a few weeks. I received a text from this lady one day at work asking if I still had any Palmer Sedum up for grabs, and if I did, could I leave some on the porch and she'd leave money.  Recalling that I already told her a few times when we met that I'd be happy to give it to her, I realized that if she was offering to pay that I should just let her.  The funny thing was, my devotion that morning had been about realizing you "can do" something.  It asked the reader what was it that others were always encouraging them that they could do, but yet you couldn't grasp.  That was what prompted me to say "okay" to the thought of taking money for my succulents. 

I couldn't decide whether to sit out 4 or 5 of the 4-inch pots I had started weeks before.  It's been so hot here that I wasn't happy with the size of them, so I settled on 5.  I set them out in the morning with a note thanking her and came home to a $10 bill tucked under the mat with a thank you note to me!

I was thrilled!  She got a bargain of a deal, and I was pleased to have had the opportunity. 

Palmer Sedum

Mandy

Sidetracked

I suppose I get my name of Side Tracked Annie naturally.  I've got a detailed list for the next four days so that I'll be ready to get our girls, but I made the mistake of sitting down and now I'm not sure I'll get much else done tonight.  I knocked out two errands during lunch, so I suppose I'm a day ahead in that area...surely that counts for something though.  I brought my list home tonight and made it through about half of it. 

The guinea pig has a clean cage and trimmed nails, the girls sheets are clean and the kitchen counter is once again visible.  Miss Hedgie was none to happy about the toenail trim, she nibbled me twice and then shrieked when I drew blood, accidentally of course.  I felt bad, so we called it a night.  I usually get a picture of her enjoying the outdoor time, but tonight I forgot my camera and with all the cats around, I can't leave her alone.  This was the major chore for the night, so all in all, I consider it a successful evening!

I really wish that I could get better about staying focused, but I suppose getting sidetracked is the price this multi-tasker must pay.  Even if everything doesn't get done, it does make for a much more exciting evening!

Visit to Spicewood Spines

This past Saturday, Amy and I went on a road trip of sorts with our husbands to Spicewood, Texas.  I'm really not sure what all is in Spicewoods, but Spicewood Spines was our destination.  In case you're wondering what that's all about...succulents of course!  We ended up going to another really cool place in Austin called East Austin Succulents, but I'll do a separate post on that one. 

It's probably a good thing that Spicewood Spines is an hour and a half from my house.  I could get in a lot of trouble if it was any closer!   I opted to try Amy's technique, walk through everything to look before going back and picking out what you want to take home.  Normally, I walk and grab, so it took more than a little self control on my part.  My husband was funny too, I really think deep down he likes them as much as I do, ok...maybe just a tiny bit bit less!  

The first one is great, and I had never seen it in any of the nurseries around here.  The picture doesn't do her justice, she's segmented like a cucumber with scalloped edges.  The leaves and twirly vines are reminiscent of grape vines.  Love it!!

Cissus Cactiformis 'Cucumber Cactus'

Huernia leachii

I couldn't resist the next one either, I've dubbed her "my little gourd".  The pumpkin looking seed pods are too cute, and are now covered with a pantyhose foot so that I can catch them when they explode.  They are supposed to have three seeds in each pod, but without the "catcher", chances are I would never find the seeds.  

Jatropha cathartica

This next little Kalanchoe was another great find.  I bought another variety as well, but I can't get the photo to upload.  The other one isn't serrated.  What made this a fun find was that we had just seen a rather large one of these at another nursery with a hefty $24 price tag with no identification.  I had taken a picture of it with my phone, so after a quick check to confirm she and her counterpart made it to the basket.   

Kalanchoe sysepaia v. dissecta

 This little lady is in the same family as the 'Vick's Plant', but smells more like Pine-o-Pine.  I've never actually smelled that particular brand, so I'm taking Amy's word for it.  She's so much more interesting though because she has chubby little scalloped leaves.  I was not coming home without her in the box.

Plectranthus

How could I not bring home this one with perfectly circular leaves, it's also the first one of these I have in my collection.

Xerosicyos danguyi

I almost squealed, yes, you read that right, when I found this next one!  I came across one of these last year at a Whole Food store, but lost her in the greenhouse mishap.  She's definitely not as glorious as she will be, but the promise is there!  It shouldn't be too long before the entire stem is covered in leaves and offshoots appear at the base.   

Portulaca molokiniensis

As we're checking out, it came up that we were from San Antonio and I mentioned that I had actually read about them on Not So Angry Redhead's blog.  The owner says, "Oh yes, Not So Angry Redhead has been here before."  I'm not sure why I thought that was so neat, but I did! 

Mandy

New Laptop

Today was a good day.  I'm typing my first post on my new laptop...wahoo!!  The jury is still out on whether I completely love it or not, but I do know it's going to take me a while to get used to it.  I bought another Dell because I'm a creature of habit, and I just wasn't ready to take the jump to the Mac.  That's probably a good thing considering the difficulty I'm having using Windows 7; whatever Apple has might have put me over the edge! As it is, I've already pushed several buttons typing this post that have changed the font size....a tad irritating.  All this while my husband and neighbor friend are accusing me of being unsocial, they're just jealous! As I'm typing this, Amy is reading one of my other posts on her phone.  I don't see a problem here, do you?

My parents had given me my old one for my birthday five or six years ago, and while I was very fond of it, it was time to replace it.  I had to move all my pictures to an external hard drive at Christmas because I was getting concerned that they were going to get lost in the big crash. 

As I'm griping that it's throwing my cursor in places I didn't put it, they inform me that I have to be putting my palm on the mouse pad...smarty pants!

Back to the story.  Recently, I can't even blog decently, downloading pictures to the post was almost unbearable at times.  It had a few cracks on the keyboard and had made more than a few trips to the repair store. 

I wasn't really in the market, but I came downstairs one Sunday morning a few weeks ago and my husband was watching QVC.  I did a double take and asked him, "What exactly are you watching?".  He replied something about a coworker saying he watches it and gets a lot of really cool stuff.  I thought, "Great, he really is old!", but I sat down and starting watching with him.  Getting through the really cool surge protector and trunk saver, my laptop was up next.  He had gone to wash his truck and I was supposed to be getting ready for church.  He walked back in to find me staring at the screen saying, "I need that."  He generally humors me, so he suggested I buy it.  I came back with, "Don't make fun of me, this is serious, I need this."  His reply back was, "Seriously, buy it."  Enough said, I picked up the phone and have been made fun of ever since.  It wouldn't have been a big deal except that I made fun of him first for watching the silly channel and then I'm the one that made the purchase!

It wasn't supposed to be delivered until July 5th, but I was surprised with an email saying today was the day.  I've already put all my pictures and videos back on it and am loving that they are all in one place again!  They are all still backed up on the external hard drive, but I really prefer to have them at my fingertips.  You never know when you might want to look at a picture of your kiddos from 2004 you know!

I hope everyone is having a great week, and pleases excuse any outrageous typos...it wasn't me! 

Succulent Bed Follow-up

I talked about the newest succulent adventure in this post here last week.  Not So Angry Redhead asked for a list of what I put in there, and I really don't know why I didn't just do that to begin with. I went back and added captions so I could remember what was what.  The height should come with the sanseveria that I have on the back row, they're the taller 'Mother In-Law' variety, and the Broomstick on the end is supposed to get quite tall.  My favorite of the taller ones is the 'Lady Slipper' Pedilanthus macrocarpus, she'll get up to 2 or 3 feet tall.  I have esperanza's on the other side of the succulents, so we'll see what it does.  I'm hoping with the lighting they get that they will start doing their thing and spread away!

Another list:

Esperanza (yellow and orange)

Huernia

Grapto-something

Sanseveria,

Echeverias (several)

Sedum

Stonecrop sedum

Pedilanthus macrocarpus

Crassula 'Propeller Plant'

Lamb's Ear (regular and giant)

Sedum 'Brilliant'

Lollipop Plant

Aloe or Agave (not sure which)

Broomstick

Dahlia

Kalanchoe

...something else that I can't remember, but it's fuzzy and supposedly it's blooms attract flys and smell bad

We'll see what it does, already, the stonecrop sedum is not looking like it's real happy.  The funny thing is though, it was in the same spot for months in it's little pot...you'd think it would be a little more appreciative.

Mandy

Ten Good Things on a Monday...Plants

I've wanted to do this one for a while, so this evening I'm joining in with Nina at Brush Up On Your Reading with her 10 Good Things on a Monday.  It's for all us list lovers out there, and I just love a good list!  It doesn't matter that I might not finish them, but I am a compulsive list maker.  I'm going to do ten of my favorite things for my first time here.  Here goes...

Ten of My Favorite Things Plants

1.  Succulent Collection. 

This is a small grouping in what I refer to as my tub.  It includes three of my absolute favorites...'Mother of Millions' Kalanchoe, 'Lilypad' Aeonium and one that I've never been able to identify, but she's in the corner and her leaves are trimmed in purple...beautiful!!

2.  Pineapple Lily

This has to be my absolute favorite right now, or rather a tie for first place.  I picked up a white one too this past week for my mother.  I'm going to take some of mine and share with my mother, and take some of hers to share with me!  This is made easier by the fact that I have them both here!!

3.  Passion Vine Bloom

This is the most whimsical bloom I've come across yet, and she is the other "most favorite" contender.  As though her beauty isn't enough, her fragrance is intoxicating!

4.  Balloon Plant

I have had this little gem for a number of years.  She pops back up in the spring and then dies back when the summer months get too hot for her.  The blooms start out like very small balloons and keep growing and growing until they burst open.  What makes this year especially exciting is that I remembered to collect her seeds, hoping to have a row of these next spring!

5.  'Lady Slipper'

The real name is around here somewhere, but I'm being a little lazy tonight.  This is my first year with this succulent, and am I glad a bought her!  Her blooms darken to a deep pink as they mature and are supposed to look like an old fashioned lady's slipper.  You have to turn them around though to get that, my personal opinion is that they look more like elf shoes!

6.  Pitcher Plant

I lost my original Pitcher Plants in my greenhouse mishap this past winter, but I found replacements in February.  They stayed in the house until it warmed up, lost all their pitchers, but are getting new ones.  This is a first for me, so I check on them daily and am extremely excited that they keep growing!!

7.  Bolivian Jew

Also known as 'Mouse Earred' Jew, this is hands down my favorite non-flowering, non-succulent plant.  With her purple undertones on the bottom side of the leaves, she's extremely dainty, but at the same time extremely hardy...perfect fit!

8.  Red Hibiscus Bloom

Of all my hibiscus plants, and there are a number of them, this one's bloom is my favorite!  She's frilly, she's fluffy and she's solid red...enough said!

9.  Bachelor Buttons

If you would have ever asked me if I liked these, much less wanted them, the answer would have been a flat "no".  I was desperate this year for something that the deer wouldn't eat, and these are not supposed to be attractive to them.  Well, let's just say that the hungry deer in our neighbor hood missed the memo and snipped the ones I put out right up.  I didn't know what to do with the rest, so I stuck them in a pot in the backyard.  I'm really glad the deer ate the one in the front yard, these little guys have grown on me.  They keep getting bigger and bigger and are just as bright as the day I brought them home.

10.  More Succulents!

These are in my mailbox pot, and are still relatively new.  After the verbena died, what else do you put in when it's already 100 degrees outside and it's not even officially summer!

This has been fun, hopefully I'll remember to do it again!

Happy Monday!