Shipping Succulents Course Announcement

Many of you may know that I have shipped over 2,500 succulent arrangements through my Etsy shop. I often get asked how I ship them so that they arrive in perfect condition. It’s difficult to answer this question properly in the short time permitted, so I have created this video course on “How to Create and Ship Succulent Arrangements.” This course will take you through step-by-step how to create and package a succulent arrangement that can be shipped cross country. This video course is perfect for you:

1) If you are already selling succulents and would like to expand your market share to include the whole country.
2) If you are already selling online but would like to include fully assembled succulent arrangements to your product line.
3) If you interested in starting a home business and already love working with succulents.
4) If you work with succulents as a hobby but would like to send succulent arrangements as gifts to friends and family.

https://idreamofsucculents.com/shipping-course

Upcoming Event: Wreath workshop in Manhattan Beach

Come join us in Manhattan Beach on Sat Dec 15, 2018 at 10 AM for a succulent wreath workshop.

https://apm.activecommunities.com/citymb/Activity_Search/holiday-succulent-wreath/26531

Description: Decorate your home with a unique, handmade wreath, filled with dramatic succulents. Because of their resistance to drought, succulents are the perfect living plant for your holiday wreath. Students will assemble a wreath with succulents, grape vines and other decorative elements while learning how to care for and propagate succulents. All materials and plants are included.

Succulent topped pumpkin workshop

We had a great time at our succulent topped pumpkin workshop today at the Manhattan Beach Art Center. We even had a baby at the workshop! He was very helpful in making sure the mini pumpkins tasted good enough for the succulents. Thanks to everyone that made it to the class. We had a great group of artists today!

Check the manhappenings website for our next succulent workshop where we will be making a succulent holiday wreath

Empty Pot No More

Many of us have empty pots just laying around our house or hidden out-of-site in our backyard. Maybe the plant that once thrived there has since died or you just haven’t found the time to plant anything in it. Here are two 10” diameter pots that my neighbor had laying around. I filled them with potting soil mixed with perlite (almost 50/50 ratio, probably more soil than perlite) for better drainage. If there is one thing you should know about succulents is that they will not do well in wet soil for a long time.

How to repot a succulent arrangement

If you have one of my arrangements, I think this particular blog will be helpful. Your succulents may have grown out or up and there is a long stem under the leaves or rosettes. If you want to try to clean up the look of your arrangement, it is fairly easy to do.

This arrangement was created back in September 2013. In this red 6 inch bonsai pot, some of the succulents are rooted and some are cuttings. After finishing the arrangement, I placed it in a bright shady spot in my back yard so the plants can get nicely rooted without have to use its precious resources to fight off the heat of the scorching sun. Some plants will root faster (within 1-2 weeks), while others may take 6 weeks or longer to root. After about 6 weeks, I gradually moved it to a different spot to get more direct sunlight. When in bright shade, some of the more vibrant succulents started to turn green, but once I introduced it to more sunlight, the bright colors came back. I watered it about 1 a week and even less often as time went on. I have to admit, I neglected it after 2-3 months paying little attention to it.

One year later, September 2014, it looks like this. Even with neglect, this is what it looks like. As with any garden, there will be some plants that do not do so well and even plants that die, but with succulents, even with neglect, many will do fine. As a general rule, the thicker the leaves, the more water it can store and the longer it can go without water. As you can see below, the more delicate plants couldn’t hang on for as long. If you look carefully, they had thinner leaves to begin with.

Now we dismantle and recreate the arrangement.

Some people like to leave their plants alone and see how they develop. Many like seeing their plants grow out of their pot, but others like looking at a clean and organized arrangement. With succulents, the latter is fairly easy to achieve. Transplanting a succulent will not traumatize it as it would with traditional plants. For those of you who may have done some gardening, you may have experienced a plant dying after you dig it up and tried replanting it someplace else. This is called transplanting. Succulents do very well when moved from one location to another. In this case, we will be taking the succulents out of the original pot, cleaning them up and re-potting them into its original pot with fresh soil and a new look fresher look.

Step one:

Carefully remove each succulent out of the pot and set them aside. You may clean the bottom of the succulents by removing any dry or dead leaves:

Step two:

Remove old soil and add new soil. I like to use cactus/succulent soil or a regular potting soil mixed with perlite or pumice. The perlite or pumice is important because it helps provide better drainage, which is important for succulents. Succulents will not do well if they sit in wet soil for long periods of time. They need periods of drought time, which means the soil must be allowed to get all almost dry to completely dry before it is watered again. Generally, once the succulent has established itself (rooted and cozy in its location), it can go longer without water. During this extended period of drought, they will draw moisture from their plump leaves until they get watered again. Having said this, if you would like to see your succulents do their best, they will benefit from regular watering. If I had given my arrangement above regular watering, allowing the soil to dry in between, with only a few occasions of longer drought periods, I am sure more of the delicate plants would have survived. However, the after photos above show what happens from too many extended periods of drought and just plain neglect. Nevertheless, one could argue it has done ok despite the neglect.

Step three:

I wanted to try to get the arrangement back to its original form as much as possible, so I trimmed some of the plants back to create a more compact look. Again, this is what is so cool about succulents, you can almost cut anywhere on the plant and it will regrow roots. A cutting of a succulent is often just as good as a well-rooted plant.

The final product. I look forward to repotting this arrangement in a couple of years.

The Essence of a Peacock

A client of mine wanted to get something that resembled a peacock or the “essence” of a peacock for her friend’s birthday. Initially, I didn’t know where to start, but I googled “peacock” and I got photos of tons of the peacock with feathers in full show. It makes sense-the pattern on the peacock has come to symbolize the peacock, so I set out to use succulents to mimic the pattern of a peacock.

First Try:

This is what I came up with. The red crassula campfire would be the head of the peacock for it pointy form to mimic the pointiness of the beak. The purple sempervivum hens and chicks would be the eyelets on the feather.

Here is one of the many beautiful photos of peacocks that served as inspiration for my design:

Customer’s Response

Unfortunately, while she thought it was beautiful, she was looking for something different. “It didn’t’ have to look like a peacock, just the essence of it,” she said. She graciously offered a photo of an Aeonium Sunburst to show what she meant. An Aeonium Sunburst was one plant I didn’t have, but I did know where I could get one. There is the house around the corner that is full of succulents. Whenever I walk by, I always wanted to knock on the day and tell them what a lovely succulent garden they have, but never did. Well, this was my opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. One day, on one of my walks with my kids, I knocked on the door, dogs were barking, and an elderly lady yelled out, “who is it?” She came to the screen door and I was able to introduce myself, my kids and I told her how lovely her succulent garden was and that I was wondering if we could trade some plants. She was very quick to say that I could take “whatever I wanted.” She is an elderly lady and proudly told me how old she was-82 years old and that she was the original owner of the house. She began to share how it was back when she first bought her house for $13K. She is such a sweet lady. I brought her some euphoria firesticks and a Kalanchoe thyrsiflora “flapjacks” and planted it in her yard myself.

Some might say that they do not like to deal with picky customers, but I am grateful for the experience. She challenged me and I got to make a special friend. I go back to visit periodically to say hi and to give her new succulents that I have acquired.

Second Try:

This is what I came up with to capture the “essence” of a peacock:

In the center is the acclaimed Aeonium Sunburst. Others in the arrangement include: Aeonium “kiwi,” euphoria “firesticks,” senecio “string of pearls,” crassula “baby jade,” sempervivum hens and chicks, red ruby and desert bloom, and sedum humisifusum “tiny urchin.”

Fortunately, she loved it and I have a happy customer. As for the original peacock creation, it sold shortly after.

As always, we would love to hear your comments. Please let us know if there is a topic you would like us to blog about regarding succulents.

A new large vertical wall garden

Here is a new large vertical wall garden I completed recently. This time my customer requested a slight variation. Instead of my usual square garden the customer wanted a rectangle and wanted to hang it portrait-style. I think it came out great. I love it when my customers challenge me to do things differently.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon to see my latest creations.

A bird and a snail

I made some new arrangements today. A bird and a snail. Perfect creatures for a backyard sanctuary.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon to see my latest creations.

Large Vertical Walls

I mentioned vertical walls in an earlier post. Lately I have been getting requests to do large vertical walls. The result is stunning. Here are a few of the projects I have completed recently.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon to see my latest creations.

A succulent planter

One of the planters in my house was hosting azaleas. While beautiful when in bloom, they required too much maintenance and were in direct sunlight for most of the day. After a year of trying to maintain them I decided it was time for a change.

Last weekend I removed the azaleas and replaced them with succulents. Below is the finished product. I am much happier with the variety of color, textures, and shapes. Plus the succulent bed will only require watering once a week and will thrive in the direct sunlight. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon to see my latest creations.