There are so many types of Aloe plants.
I have four or five different varieties.
Many of mine have bloomed this year.
I love succulents.
Aloe Bloom
Mangave Red Wing
Mangave is a cross of Manfreda x Agave.
They are somewhat of a hybrid plant they combined the growth and pattern of the Manfreda with the refinement of the Agave.
I found these two plants I have on clearance at Lowes. Regular price for a 2 quart container was $15.00 but I only paid $5.00 each.
My favorite way to get new plants is on sale but especially on clearance.
The Terra Cotta pots I bought about 20 of them around 15 years ago from Garden Ridge Pottery I really miss that store.
We have added a rock garden area to our side deck and everything over there is sedum, succulents or cactus type plants. We put in almost 2 yards of pea gravel.
We still have not figured out if we are power washing and staining again or painting this deck area lots of boards have been replaced already. We will wait until the temperatures are cooler to actually do this. This deck area is two levels the upper level is 10′ x 30′ feet the lower is 12′ x 20′ this will take several days to get this job done.
Rock gardens areas with water are really pretty so I am thinking about a large tall fountain type pot the ones I really like are glazed and around $500.00 but this would look good in the center of the area. I have never spent that much money on a pot but for a fountain I think it might just be worth it.
I can always come up with new projects for the house or the yard and I love working in both areas.
Kalanchoe
I love Kalanchoe and currently have 4 colors of it planted in a large container.
There is a red, dark pink, pastel yellow and a yellow orange color. I think there are about 12 plants total.
These are from last spring they need to be cut back after blooming this year because they are somewhat leggy. You can take the cuttings and root new plants.
Kalanchoe is a thick leaf succulent that can be grown indoors or outdoors. This time of year it is easy to find them at the garden centers.
Blooms, Succulents, and Sedums
This is our well shed and I enjoy changing out what’s hanging on the walls.
This was my hanging herb planter but it is now for succulents & sedums. This is on the right side of the well shed from the back. There is a pink crepe myrtle and white plumbago.
On the backside are the window frame, planter box, and stars accented with dianthus, wandering jew, and pink chi – chi bushes.
Chi – Chi’s is a cousin plant to the purple showers which you have seen on my blogs in the past.
On this particular morning, the humidity fogged up my lens so that gives the images a softer look than normal. I was going to redo these pictures but I and decided I liked the look.
I love all the plants blooming in all the colors it makes me very happy.
Succulents and Sedum plus more
Lately, I have been planting lots of succulents, sedum, and English ivy as well as airplane plants.
I had planned on doing a trade days sale but with this virus scare and my heart issues, I decided against it.
Now I will try and advertise to sell these locally but this is one of my latest DIY things. They are all so cute but the pedestals ones I love.
Happy Birthday to my little sister
Happy Birthday to my little sister Sheri who is 57 years old today.
I made her a few Hypertufa pots for her birthday & filled them with plants.
We both love our plants and planters & we both love being creative.
Here is a picture of the largest planter with succulents and sedum. This pot is 20″ across and 10 ” deep. It is a bowl type planter and I love the look of them.
Every planter I make has slight imperfections in it but that is what makes them so unique.
Do something creative today that can bring joy to someone else.
The succulent Purslane
This beautiful succulent is called Purslane or Portulaca.
It is an annual it works well in pots or planted in a flower bed.
The flowers bloom like crazy as long as the sun is shining but they close up every evening.
This plant is a good bang for the buck for instant, fast-growing color.
DIY – Succulent table
Recently I was on an auction site that had the baby change table tops that go on top of a chest of drawers.
I started bidding and believe it or not these things are $150.00 – $200.00 each. I ended up winning 4 of them for a grand total of $22.00 for all of them.
After staring at them a few days I came up with the idea to use to some table legs I already had and make a succulent table.
I had my husband put the legs on the table and reinforce it then I mixed up some grey chalk paint and painted it all. We then lined the inside with some of the leftover greenhouse plastic.
It was starting to look pretty good. I went to Lowes to check out the clearance rack and low and behold there was a large pot of succulents piled in this container that would be $12.00. Well, that was a bargain because small succulents are generally $3.00 each this was about $75.00 worth of stuff.
We added some soil and I planted it and I love the way it turned out. It sits on our back porch and really seems to like the area.
As far as the other 3 changing table tops I gave one to my sister, and we are making the grandkids a lego table with the biggest one it is a foot longer than the others. That leaves me one to do something with and I am thinking it might make a good potting table.
Use your imagination to figure out how to repurpose something into something new you never know what you might come up with.
Sonya Lira Photography 