Charlia got me thinking about spring gardening, click here. Darn you, Charlia! 😉
I’ve lived in Colorado for 33 years (or as Mo would say “tirty-tree”) and have learned the hard way: NEVER PLANT OUTDOORS UNTIL MEMORIAL DAY! Don’t let our 300+ days of sunshine fool you, it can get downright nippy in May and I’ve lost plenty of plants to freak frosts & freezes. Sure some plants can take it, but why risk your investment? I’m also a firm believer in bringing plants indoors in September. October is just too iffy.
My favorite thing to plant in our huge deck planters are succulents. They are awesome! I love the variety of color, texture, size, and funky shapes succulents come in! Best yet, they require almost zilch maintenance, water, or care. I plant them at the beginning of summer, water when I think of it, and they last all the way into fall usually quadrupling in size.
Succulents are one of the EASIEST things to grow, but who wants to throw down $80 each spring on Zone 2-4 plants (Coloradans we are Zone 5a-5b) just to have them freeze their little roots off and die? Here’s the super cool thing – I did a little internet snooping into propagating succulents and you can grow a new plant from just about any cutting or leaf. What??? Exponential gardening!!!
My folks gave us an Eschevaria plant as a souvenir when they visited my uncle in California last year and it was gorgeous new. As it grew it went more up than out though. So it was my first victim, er, propagate. Click here for the instructions I used. Here’s the tray of leaf cuttings I ended up with:
And look what I found at the base of the pot, a fallen leaf that had already volunteered!
My mom came over today and we got down to business cutting, clipping, and cleaning up our succulents! Here are a couple blue chalk stick that I brought inside last fall – they thrived but got super leggy and the branches have curved a lot to reach light:
And here are my army of propagates ready for FULL GARDEN DOMINATION this summer!
I’m excited for the possibilities – and now hope I don’t kill off all the plants I saved from winter snow. Do you have any plants that you love to grow and are easy for myositis patients to care for? Let us know in the comments section!
Myositis Colorado 