Garden Update: December - January



Good afternoon and happy Friday to all of you!  As promised I'm back with a Garden Update - finally!  I haven't shared photos of my garden since last October!  I can't believe it, but as I mentioned before, you didn't miss much.  I have not included Cactus Corner as part of this update because that baby needs a whole post to herself - stay tuned.  In the meantime, feast your eyes on my garden photos from December and January. 

As much as I would like to include the names of all these succulents and cacti, it would take me forever and I would never get this posted.  I've named a few here and there when I have something to say about the planter, but if you're interested in learning the names of my other plants you can check out this post and this post

Of course, I haven't included all of my planters in this post because I have amassed a lot of them.  The planters in this post are my big planters that all hang out in a group along the edge of the pool, I'll have to share the other smaller ones in another post.  Oh, and that reminds me, I still have to get around to telling you about my plant tragedies (the ones that have died on me).  If you've been reading my garden update posts for a while now you might be sharp enough to spot the planter that no longer has the same plant that it used to have.  *tears*


I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking or else I could be here forever rambling and I've already taken way too long to get this posted for ya...  Enjoy, have a wonderful day and please feel free to ask any questions or share your gardening experiences - I love getting your comments and e-mails!  ;)
Check out my other garden posts:
Garden Update: Succulent Strawberry Pot Planter
Garden Update: My Planters
Garden Update: Random Stuff

Garden Update: Garden Tour Update

Sunny SundayWeekend Garden Goodies
Garden Update - July
Garden Update - April Part 2

Garden Update - April

Garden Update - February
Cactus Corner

My Mother's Garden

Backyard Garden Tour

Weekend Garden Goodies
Succulent and Cactus Garden Tour


*all* Garden Update posts

*all* posts on my garden

*all* posts on my mother's garden

*all* posts on my grandmother's garden




This talllllll plant is a child of the Kalanchoe that I found back in 2010 growing by the side of the road!  Read all about it in this post!  I can't believe how tall it has gotten, it was almost as tall as me (and I'm a little over 5'7") in early December, and it finally grows past the top of my head and sprouts tons of flower buds by mid-January, scroll down to the January photos below... I can't wait until those flowers bloom!

This is the planter that I made for my boyfriend's mother with an old urn she had, I spray painted it brown and filled it with a good layer of rocks at the bottom, soil and then of course - cacti and succulents...  I brought it home with me a few months ago when she moved to a new house because the sunlight in her new yard isn't too good.  It is doing GREAT!  I have added some new succulents to it since I first planted it because the Purslane with the hot pink flowers died from lack of being watered.  Check out this post to see how this planter has changed since August.






I don't remember if this little bird cage is from the Dollar Tree or Michaels, but it was a dollar and I have a few others too.  One day I decided to spray paint one black (they were all yellow, orange or red) and fill it with moss, rocks and a few succulents - such as the String of Pearls succulent you see hanging from it.  It has done very well so far!








These photos are a great example of why I love gardening with succulents, do you see how many different ones are growing here?  That's all because of cuttings!  If your dog brushes by a planter and knocks a bunch of leaves off, or if your succulents are hearty and full of many plump leaves, feel free to grab a few and stick them all over the place in other planters - spread the love!  Be patient, they will grow (most will - though, some may rot before they sprout new plants, but that's inevitable)...  And when they do grow you will have them everywhere, which is what I love :)










Here are a few images of that new planter that I mentioned in my last post, but scroll down to January's photos to see how much more vivid it is now!


Do you see those Kalanchoes on the left in the image above?  Boy have they changed colors since I took this photo!  Scroll below to see...


*January 2012*



As you can see, this Kalanchoe grew even taller since early December! It is now taller than me when I stand next to it. The base of the stem is like a tree trunk and I want to cut it out of the planter soon and move it to the yard somewhere, but I'm going to wait until all of those flower buds open, revealing gorgeous salmon pink flowers that look like little bells! There will be lots of them, I don't have the heart to cut her just yet, gotta enjoy her beauty! That might be a while too, the little pink flowers that a lot of Kalanchoes put out (including other Kalachoes in our yard too) last FOREVER! It's a wonderful gift from nature :)


This is a new planter that my aunt gave me for Christmas, it has a Jade plant in the back, some type of thin spiky Aloe, a
purple Aeoneum arboreum and Echeveria runyonii a.k.a Topsy Turvy...



The flowers are sprouting on these again YAY!!!


Can you tell I love them?  I couldn't pick just one photo, haha :)


Flowers are sprouting on this succulent as well...

And this beauty has also gotten more vivid in color since December... she is perfection....


Look at how gorgeous it looks in the light of the setting sun...

I guess I just can't get over how awesome this succulent is....


This is an African Milk Tree cactus... my grandmother gave it to me back in early 2010, it was soooo much smaller... check it out in this post to see how much it has grown!

This planter is still thriving, the Echeveria Doris Taylor (the fuzzy green succulent on the left side of the planter) is looking gorgeous, the tips of her leaves have been turned pink by the sun....


And here is that new planter again.... the Kalanchoes have turned crimson!!!  I love it so much, the colors and variety of plants in it are awesome....






This purple beauty is an Echeveria succulent and it's called Perle von Nurnberg...  Words and photos really can't do it justice, but they put in a pretty good effort... ;)


Yes, I'm obsessed with this planter... hehe


This Kalanchoe has once again put out tons of gorgeous red flowers!  I love the contrast of the flowers against the turquoise blue of the pot!  That planter is made of concrete and I painted its lower half a long time ago for some pizazz!


This is the planter that my aunt gave my mother for Christmas... isn't it adorable?? 
On the far left is an Aeonium arboreum, I forgot the names of the next two, then there's the gorgeous purple Echeveria Perle von Nurnberg, then some Portulacaria afra a.k.a. Elephant or Rainbow Bush (non-variegated), and then Echeveria runyonii a.k.a. Topsy Turvy.

Sigh... oh nature, you rock my world!!  ;)

(All images in this post are my own personal images, please do not use them without my written permission. Write to me at InspireBohemia(at)gmail(dot)com - thank you!)