Tag: Succulents

Garden Visit: An 81-Year-Old Daily Gardener in Oakland Shares Her Lessons Learned – Gardenista

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Ann Nichol’s home and garden in Oakland, CA, is impossible to miss. Fortunately, there is ample street parking on her block to pull over and gawk and be inspired by the colorful waves of plants on her property.

When Ann and her husband moved into their home in 1983, the property was filled with agapanthus, a few camellia bushes and “tons and tons of crabgrass,” she says. After two years of clearing and amending the tired soil, Ann was ready to make the garden her own. The only plant that survived the purge: a stately Canary date palm that has since quadrupled in height. “I hemmed and hawed over it for quite a while, as I wasn’t keen on having a tropical garden. However, having decided to let it stay, I felt obliged to keep it company with other tropical plants.” Ann eventually brought in landscape architect Bob Clark, who suggested she divide the garden into different levels and rooms. Unfortunately, Bob left the Bay Area before he was able to add any plants. No worries, Ann was more than up for the challenge and, in the beginning, did the planting herself.

Ann’s entry into gardening started when she was in her early thirties and living in a different house. Her neighbor across the street was a gardener and had a tiny plot filled with plants. Ann spent time with her friend in her garden and according to Ann, this turned into “a pastime, which became an addiction.” Still pruning, curating, and appreciating, Ann, at 81 years old, knows a thing or two about the power of gardening.

Here are her lessons learned from decades of working the soil.

Photography by Kier Holmes.

It’s about the journey, not the destination.

Above: Neighbors and people passing by get a free and inspiring view of her lush and well-loved oasis.

What gardener doesn’t get impatient and want immediate gratification from time to time, but deep down we know that we need to slow down, pause, and not rush ourselves so terribly. Ann knows this mantra well as some of her chosen plants don’t bloom overnight or fill in the nooks and crannies with a blink. “Being patient positively affects both plants and well-being,” she shares. “Once you and your plants get to know each other, the plants will tell you what they need if you listen.” Do they need more water or a shadier spot, perhaps?

Trust your gut.

Above: Even the steps leading to Ann’s front door are decorated with specimen potted plants, creating another plant-filled experience.

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December 3, 2025
‘The Dry Lush Garden’: A Review of the New Book from the Ruth Bancroft Garden

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The title of the new book Designing the Lush Dry Garden: Create a Climate-Resilient, Low-Water Paradise reveals much of what you need to know about what’s between the covers, but hearing the story behind it will tell you a lot more.

Like every public garden, the legendary Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA, closed when the pandemic struck. Wanting to connect with gardeners during that time, the garden began offering online classes. “After a year we had a pretty good idea of what people were interested in as well as what they needed to know—but maybe didn’t know that they needed to know,” explain Cricket Riley and Alice Kitajima, two of the book’s coauthors. In March 2021, Riley and Kitajima helped the Ruth Bancroft Garden launch their Dry Garden Design Certificate Program, which hundreds of gardeners have since completed. Now, Designing the Lush Dry Garden is meant to bring the ideas taught in this course and the deep institutional knowledge of the Ruth Bancroft Garden to an even wider audience.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson for Designing the Lush Dry Garden.

Above: The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA. This is what the authors mean by a “lush dry garden.”

So who is this book for? Fellow Gardenista contributor Kier Homes, the third coauthor of the book, tells me, “It’s for gardeners curious about switching or tweaking the way they currently garden to an approach that is more water-conscious, sustainable, resilient, and in-sync with their climate.” Riley adds the book was written with both the novice and experienced gardener in mind. The lessons in the first part of the book lay out the basic steps to design a low-water garden, but “we also provide extensive lists of dependable, low-water plants that many people experienced in the field might not know about,” she notes. (The favorite plant lists alone might be worth the cover price.)

Above: Aloe ‘Creamsicle’ in full bloom under a mature Aloe ‘Hercules’ in the Ruth Bancroft Garden.

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October 2, 2025
Scientists create rechargeable, multicolored, glow-in-the-dark succulents

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Glow-in-the-dark plants bright enough to light up streets at night may sound like the stuff of science fiction or fantasy.But scientists have already made plants that emit a greenish glow. They are even commercially available in the United States.A group of Chinese researchers has just gone even further, creating what they say are the first multicolored and brightest-ever luminescent plants.”Picture the world of Avatar, where glowing plants light up an entire ecosystem,” biologist Shuting Liu, a researcher at South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou and co-author of the study published Aug. 27 in the journal Matter, said in a statement.”We wanted to make that vision possible using materials we already work with in the lab. Imagine glowing trees replacing streetlights,” she added.To make the plants glow, Liu and her fellow researchers injected the leaves of the succulent Echeveria “Mebina” with strontium aluminate, a material often used in glow-in-the-dark toys that absorbs light and gradually releases it over time.This method marks a departure from the traditional gene-editing technique that scientists use to achieve this effect, following a model pioneered by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Injecting a plant with nanoparticles instead of editing its genes allowed the researchers to create plants that glow red, blue, and green. Normally, constrained by the plant’s natural color, scientists can only create a green glow.”Gene editing is an excellent approach,” Liu told CNN in an email Tuesday, but added: “We were particularly inspired by inorganic afterglow materials that can be ‘charged’ by light and then release it slowly as afterglow, as well as by prior efforts on glowing plants that hinted at plant-based lighting — even concepts like plant streetlights.””Our goal was therefore to integrate multicolor, long-afterglow materials with plants to move beyond the usual color limits of plant luminescence and provide a photosynthesis-independent way for plants to store and release light — essentially, a light charged, living plant lamp,” she added.The research team attempted to show the practical application of their idea by constructing a green wall made of 56 plants that produced enough light to see text, images and a person located up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) away, according to the study.Once injected and placed under direct sunlight for a couple of minutes, the plants continued to glow for up to two hours.While the brightness of the afterglow gradually weakened during that time period, “plants can be recharged repeatedly by exposure to sunlight,” Liu said. The sun replenishes the plants’ stored energy, “allowing the plants to continue glowing after the sunlight is removed.”The plants maintain the ability to emit the afterglow effect 25 days after treatment, Liu said, and older leaves injected with the afterglow particles continue to emit light under UV stimulation “even after wilting.”While strontium aluminate can readily decompose in plants, posing harm to plant tissue, Liu said, the scientists developed a chemical coating for the material that acts as a protective barrier.The researchers said in the paper that they see their findings as highlighting “the potential of luminescent plants as sustainable and efficient lighting systems, capable of harvesting sunlight during the day and emitting light at night.”However, other scientists are skeptical about the practicality. “I like the paper, it’s fun, but I think it’s a little beyond current technology, and it might be beyond what plants can bear,” biochemist John Carr, a professor of plant sciences at the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the study, told CNN.”Because of the limited amount of energy that these plants can emit, I don’t really see them as streetlights anytime soon,” he added.Liu acknowledged that the plants “are still far from providing functional illumination, as their luminescence intensity remains too weak for practical lighting applications. Additionally, the safety assessment of afterglow particles for both plants and animals is still ongoing.”She said the luminescent plants currently “can primarily serve as decorative display pieces or ornamental night lights.”However, Liu added, “Looking ahead, if we can significantly enhance the brightness and extend the duration of luminescence — and once safety is conclusively demonstrated — we could envision gardens or public spaces being softly illuminated at night by glowing plants.”

Glow-in-the-dark plants bright enough to light up streets at night may sound like the stuff of science fiction or fantasy.

But scientists have already made plants that emit a greenish glow. They are even commercially available in the United States.

A group of Chinese researchers has just gone even further, creating what they say are the first multicolored and brightest-ever luminescent plants.

“Picture the world of Avatar, where glowing plants light up an entire ecosystem,” biologist Shuting Liu, a researcher at South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou and co-author of the study published Aug. 27 in the journal Matter, said in a statement.

“We wanted to make that vision possible using materials we already work with in the lab. Imagine glowing trees replacing streetlights,” she added.

To make the plants glow, Liu and her fellow researchers injected the leaves of the succulent Echeveria “Mebina” with strontium aluminate, a material often used in glow-in-the-dark toys that absorbs light and gradually releases it over time.

This method marks a departure from the traditional gene-editing technique that scientists use to achieve this effect, following a model pioneered by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Injecting a plant with nanoparticles instead of editing its genes allowed the researchers to create plants that glow red, blue, and green. Normally, constrained by the plant’s natural color, scientists can only create a green glow.

“Gene editing is an excellent approach,” Liu told CNN in an email Tuesday, but added: “We were particularly inspired by inorganic afterglow materials that can be ‘charged’ by light and then release it slowly as afterglow, as well as by prior efforts on glowing plants that hinted at plant-based lighting — even concepts like plant streetlights.”

“Our goal was therefore to integrate multicolor, long-afterglow materials with plants to move beyond the usual color limits of plant luminescence and provide a photosynthesis-independent way for plants to store and release light — essentially, a light charged, living plant lamp,” she added.

The research team attempted to show the practical application of their idea by constructing a green wall made of 56 plants that produced enough light to see text, images and a person located up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) away, according to the study.

Once injected and placed under direct sunlight for a couple of minutes, the plants continued to glow for up to two hours.

While the brightness of the afterglow gradually weakened during that time period, “plants can be recharged repeatedly by exposure to sunlight,” Liu said. The sun replenishes the plants’ stored energy, “allowing the plants to continue glowing after the sunlight is removed.”

The plants maintain the ability to emit the afterglow effect 25 days after treatment, Liu said, and older leaves injected with the afterglow particles continue to emit light under UV stimulation “even after wilting.”

While strontium aluminate can readily decompose in plants, posing harm to plant tissue, Liu said, the scientists developed a chemical coating for the material that acts as a protective barrier.

The researchers said in the paper that they see their findings as highlighting “the potential of luminescent plants as sustainable and efficient lighting systems, capable of harvesting sunlight during the day and emitting light at night.”

However, other scientists are skeptical about the practicality. “I like the paper, it’s fun, but I think it’s a little beyond current technology, and it might be beyond what plants can bear,” biochemist John Carr, a professor of plant sciences at the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the study, told CNN.

“Because of the limited amount of energy that these plants can emit, I don’t really see them as streetlights anytime soon,” he added.

Liu acknowledged that the plants “are still far from providing functional illumination, as their luminescence intensity remains too weak for practical lighting applications. Additionally, the safety assessment of afterglow particles for both plants and animals is still ongoing.”

She said the luminescent plants currently “can primarily serve as decorative display pieces or ornamental night lights.”

However, Liu added, “Looking ahead, if we can significantly enhance the brightness and extend the duration of luminescence — and once safety is conclusively demonstrated — we could envision gardens or public spaces being softly illuminated at night by glowing plants.”

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September 6, 2025
Succulents in Winter: How to Overwinter Succulents – Garden Therapy
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Succulents are typically thought of as a plant that thrives in warm temperatures. However, with a little extra care, succulents in winter can do just as well! Here’s how to overwinter succulents and keep them thriving all year long.

With succulents at the height of popularity, there is now a great variety of interesting new plants available for the home garden. There are so many beautiful and decorative specimens that you very well may have collected some succulents that you would like to grow for years to come.

Some succulents are alright to remain outside, while others benefit from being brought inside. Don’t worry, I’ll break it all down!

This is how I overwinter succulents, both hardy and tender, so that they continue to thrive in my garden.

Succulents in pots will need to be moved undercover outside.

What is a Succulent?

A succulent is a fleshy-leafed plant that is tolerant of drought due to the retention of extra water in the leaves or stems. Succulent plant varieties include:
- Sedum
- Sempervivum
- Echeveria
- Aeonium
- Crassula
- Aloe
- Haworthia
- Cacti
In general, the term “succulents” is used to categorize plants that have fleshy parts and a similar need for some water, bright light, and a tolerance of drought. While there are about 60 families of plants that fall into the category, not all plants in all of those 60 families are succulents.

As you can imagine, it’s difficult to have a care standard for “succulents” as there is a wide range of plants that fall into the category.

Three Catagories of Succulents

That being said, I tend to separate them into three categories and use those guidelines to care for my plants. This allows me to know how to overwinter them too. The three categories I use are:
1. cacti
2. hardy succulents
3. tender succulents
Personally, I don’t grow any cacti outdoors—I certainly don’t have the right climate for it! So, in this post, I will focus on caring for succulents in winter that are hardy and tender.

Many of us grow tender succulents inside.

How to Overwinter Hardy Succulents Outside

Before getting started with overwintering, I clean up my plants and transplant the pups or offshoots into their own containers. If I have tall or spindly succulents that I don’t love the look of, I remove the tops and transplant them.

Some winter-hardy varieties don’t need much special care. In fact, some succulents love a cold period, which helps them thrive for the rest of the year.

Winter-hardy succulents like many Sedum, Sempervivum, Agave, Ice Plant, Lewisa, and Yucca will overwinter well up to Zone 5-6 and higher. Again, this is a generalization, and many of the varietals in each family will have more or less cold-hardiness.

If these hardy succulents are planted in the garden, I generally leave them over winter and just clean up the brown leaves or transplant them in the spring.

If they are in containers, I move the containers under cover. Simply placing the pots under a bench, deck, or eaves near the house saves both the pots and the succulents some wear and tear.

Look up if your succulents are hardy in your zone, and then you can leave them outside.

How to Overwinter Tender Succulents Indoors

Tender succulents in winter such as Aeonium, Echeveria, and Crassula will need a bit more hands-on care during the temperature drops. However, it is worth doing what you can to protect them. These are beautifully decorative succulents and they can add a lot of wow-factor to next year’s containers and projects.

Start by cleaning up your succulents.

Remove any transplants into new soil.

Just as I do with the hardy succulents, I clean up the plant as much as possible and transplant any offshoots. It’s not worth saving a plant that is looking a bit rough around the edges or one that has disease and pest problems. Just add them to your compost bin and focus on the healthy plants.

If your plant is a little bit overgrown, then it might be worth taking some cuttings and propagating those for new, young plants next spring.

Move your tender succulents into new soil to avoid transplanting over critters.

The Best Soil for Succulents

Replace the soil by removing the plant from the pot, shaking off any soil from the roots and replanting the succulent into a sterile cactus & succulent mix. This will keep the critters that are in the soil from overwintering along with your succulents.

You can find my homemade succulent soil mix here. It’s easy to make and works very well!

Succulents need soil to dry out completely between waterings.

Location Needs: Temperature, Light, and Humidity

Move the plants indoors into a cool location like a garage or basement that gets at least a couple of hours of light per day. When the succulents go dormant in the winter, they don’t need 8 hours of bright sunlight (but if you keep them indoors where it’s quite warm, then they will need sunlight because they won’t be able to go dormant).

Keep the succulents in a location that gets enough heat to dry out the air. In areas that get quite a bit of moisture in the winter (like where I live in Vancouver), I find that an unheated garage or cold space in a basement can have too much moisture and cause the succulents to mould.

I set my succulents on a north-facing window in a heated garage that I keep much cooler than the house and they are happy as can be.

Succulents need no additional fertilizer in the winter either.

Watering Needs

When tender succulents have gone dormant for the winter they don’t need as much water. You can give them some water every 1 to 2 months and allow the soil to dry out between watering. The soil shouldn’t be soggy or else it will promote rot.

With these tips, both hardy and tender succulents will have a nice winter’s rest. In the spring, when the temperature warms up, they may look a little bit scraggly. Pop them outside again, pull off any brown leaves, and place them out in the garden. In no time, your succulents will be bright and beautiful again. Let’s hope they even multiply!

I only water my succulents every 1-2 months in the winter.

FAQ About Succulents in Winter

Should I fertilize my succulents in the winter?

No. Your succulents (and most houseplants) go into dormancy during the winter, and they won’t require any fertilizer since they’re not in an active growth period. This is also why they require minimal sunlight and water during this time.

Can I put my succulents in the garage for the winter?

It depends on where you live, but the garage could be the ideal place for your succulents. If it’s cold, you can move your hardy succulents in pots into the garage, and they’ll be protected quite well.

My tender succulents are in a north-facing window in my garage studio below the ground line, and they go semi-dormant in the winter. It gets quite chilly in there. Once I move them back outside for the spring, they perk right back up. However, if your garage gets super cold, it might be too cold for your tender succulents.

Should succulents be by the window in the winter?

It’s very difficult for succulents to get enough sunlight indoors. I prefer to put my succulents in an area where they get only a few hours of sunshine a day, and it’s cold. This forces them into dormancy.

If it’s warm, they won’t go dormant and will require the usual 8 hours of sunlight. So, if this is the case, you want to put them in a south-facing window with as much sunlight as possible in the winter. They’ll probably get leggy but should perk back up in the spring.

Gollum jade succulent

More Tips for Growing Succulents
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Stephanie Rose

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September 26, 2024
Flora Grubb: An Interview with the Nurserywoman on Gardening

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Plantswoman Flora Grubb is here to dispel rumors that she sold her beloved namesake nurseries in San Francisco and Marina del Rey. They are not under new ownership. “In fact, you can still find me working (like most nurserymen) at least fifty hours a week. I’m still both pulling weeds and poring over spreadsheets. My fingernails are still perpetually dirty,” she tells us. “Along with my business partner Saul Nadler, who co-founded the nursery with me twenty years ago, I do whatever it takes to keep my independent nursery growing.”

Thank goodness! For as long as our site has existed, we’ve been inspired by Flora and her keen eye for interesting plants (in particular succulents). Today, she’s sharing her thoughts on gardening, including why there’s no rest for the weary gardener in California and the reason she makes room for some non-natives in her landscape.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson, courtesy of Flora Grubb, unless noted.

Above: Flora, pictured here at home in Berkeley, was one of the judges in Gardenista’s Considered Design Awards contest in 2014. For more on her garden, see Landscape Designer Visit: At Home with Flora Grubb in Berkeley, CA.

Your first garden memory:

My first garden was a patch of Gerber Daisy grown against a scruffy rental house in Austin, Texas, where I grew up. My dad would take me and my four siblings to the nursery and let us each get one plant. I’ve been gardening ever since.

Garden-related book you return to time and again:

Designing with Palms by Jason Dewees.

Instagram account that inspires you:

The account of a wonderful wholesale grower in New South Wales, Australia: @exotic_nurseries.

Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.

Above: Textures and shapes take center stage in her garden. From left are Acacia cognata ‘Cousin Itt’, the silvery Leucophyta brownii, Buxus ‘Green Mountain’, Ceanothus griseus var. horizontalis ‘Diamond Heights’, Aeonium ‘Mint Saucer’, Santolina virens ‘Lemon Fizz’, and Peperomia ferreyrae.

Lush. Textured. Cohesive.

Plant that makes you swoon:

Cussonia. We grow cussonia from seed at our farms in the Rainbow Valley. We’re growing a few different types, and we’ve experimenting with raising them in our greenhouses for our customers to put in their homes as well as their gardens.

Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

After 20 years of being surrounded by thousands of plants every day, I’ll say… I just like plants. Plants I thought I didn’t care for have surprised me by turning up in places I don’t expect them looking perfectly lovely. What makes me want to run the other way are plant combinations. Mostly, multi-colored six packs of annual plants never end up looking beautiful in any context.

Favorite go-to plant:

Above: For Flora Grubb’s growing guide on Dudleya britonii, go here. Photograph via Flora Grubb Gardens website.

Dudleya britonii, a beautiful chalky white California native succulent.

Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:

In our coastal Californian climate, gardens don’t “rest” in the winter time, and neither can I. When we have mild and wet winters,the garden must not be ignored. The plants love the rain and the coastal California version of “cold” does not slow them down much. By the time the sun comes out in spring, the plants I’ve nurtured may be buried under plants I don’t like as much. The lesson: pick any dry-enough, warm-enough winter day and get out there!

Unpopular gardening opinion:

The beauty of the California garden comes from the liveliness that natives contribute when combined with the forms, colors, and wonder brought by well-adapted plants from around the world. For building resilience to climate change, particularly in the dense coastal cities where my customers live, “California Natives Only” is not a good strategy. This may seem self evident to some, but in some circles this is an unpopular opinion.

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May 26, 2024
Garden Visit: At Home with Landscape Photographer Caitlin Atkinson – Gardenista

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For years I’ve marveled at (and been envious of) the work of photographer Caitlin Atkinson, who captures gardens, interiors, and still lifes with a serene, dreamy, almost ethereal feel. She is a master of catching the sun as it shines soft and warm, as it creates glowing halos around plants, highlighting and hugging simultaneously.

Caitlin photographed landscapes for the book Under Western Skies: Visionary Gardens from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, written by Jennifer Jewell, that spotlights innovative and inspiring gardens in the West. [N.B.: More recently, she’s been working with Kendra Wilson on Gardenista: The Low-Impact Garden, to be published next spring.] Caitlin’s work, of course, involves almost constant globe-trotting, but when she is able to be at one of her own homes, either in Nevada City or Santa Cruz, you can find her digging and tending her own patches of dirt.

Caitlin Atkinson at Home

Caitlin’s gardens have different styles, as they are in different climates and settings. The Nevada City garden, in the foothills near the Yuba River, is, as Caitlin describes it, “more of a subtle color story.” One area of the garden consists mostly of blues and is situated in a very sunny, dry, and hot spot. She also has a fescue meadow that she continues to seed and plant into. “The drought has more of an impact here, along with the risk of fires.”

The Santa Cruz garden, on the other hand, is a beach cottage with more colorful plantings. And even though the garden gets sun all day, the proximity to the ocean creates a very mild climate. “The hardest things to work with there are the sand for soil, the wind off the ocean, and the salt air,” shares Caitlin.

Join us for a closer look at her two gardens.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson.

Nevada City Garden

Above: “Everything I plant has to be low-maintenance, very tough, deer-and bunny-resistant, plus like where it lives or it will not make it,” says Caitlin. Both gardens started slowly and continue to evolve that way as well.

Above: Caitlin decorates her porch with pots purchased from Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Agave ‘porcupine’ fills most of them, while a Clematis armandii vine frames her forest view.

Above: “My work often gets incredibly busy right when you might be the busiest in the garden, so I often do not get to do much in the garden. It can sometimes turn into a real wild scene, but mostly things are left to their own devices with a little maintenance when I can,” says Caitlin.

Above: This simple concrete bird bath attracts mostly acorn woodpeckers. Caitlin adds, “Of course robins, seasonal finches and hummingbirds are in the garden, but they are not so much at the water.”

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May 3, 2024
Clement Nursery: San Francisco’s Oldest Garden Store

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Aside from its rich history, Clement Nursery is also known for its inventory of particularly resilient and tough plants. The nursery sits just a few blocks from Baker Beach, basically in the harshest of city environments. “We specialize in plant material best suited for the Richmond District—species not minding the coastal winds and extra frigid temperatures. Fortunately for us, if a plant can survive here, it will thrive anywhere in the Bay Area.”

Above: Clement Nursery at times feels like someone’s private garden. Here, the blurry line between the nursery and a neighboring cottage.

Focusing on sustainability, the nursery offers a selection of California native plants that have low-water needs once established. The nursery also carries drought-tolerant species from South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand—places that have a similar climate to California. “We use large soaking trays to water as much of the inventory as possible, so that there’s no water wasted in the process,” shares Phillip.

Above: Clement Nursery is a resource for native California grasses.

What plants are trending at the nursery? Not surprisingly, houseplants are popular. Roughly 30 percent of their space is dedicated to tropical houseplants, with a huge greenhouse for climate control. Top sellers: the families of Dracaena and Ficus, including Dracaena Massangeana, Dracaena Janet Craig Compacta, Ficus lyrata, and Ficus decora.

Above: The indoor spaces at the nursery are filled to the brim with popular houseplants. Photograph by Kier Holmes.

In landscape plants, hardy hellebores for winter color and colorful fuchsias sell well in the shade section of the store. In the fern section, staghorn ferns are always trending, plus all varieties of maidenhair ferns. In their full sun section, phormiums and cordylines are very popular due to brilliant colors and low-water needs. “A favorite Cordyline is a newer introduction: ‘Charlie Boy’, which sports leaves striped with red and pinks,” says Phillip. And both California native and non-native Salvias are constantly desired due to their ability to attract pollinators.

Above: The exterior of Clement Nursery. Photograph by Kier Holmes.

Their best sellers, though? “Our top selling plant, year over year, in sheer quantity, are succulents.”

See also:

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March 14, 2024
Hoya Heart Plant: Everything You Need to Know About Hoya Kerrii

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Hoya Heart, Hoya kerrii

Who needs red roses for Valentine’s Day when there’s this sweetheart of a succulent that packs oodles of charm in a tiny package? While it’s true that nothing beats the smell of fresh roses, this heart-shaped plant wins when it comes to gifts that last.

Please keep reading to learn more about the hoya heart.

Above: Single-leaf hoya hearts are starting to rival red roses when it comes to Valentine’s Day presents. The Bouqs sells their Desert Love duo in pink pots for $54.

Leading up to Valentine’s Day, single-leafed hoyas fly out of nurseries, florist shops, and garden centers. And you can see why: It’s petite, it’s heart-shaped, and its petals don’t fall off. Its cuteness seems tailor-made for the holiday. Just be advised that it won’t grow into one massive heart, nor will it sprout multiple hearts. That’s because the single leaf is rooted as a leaf cutting, not as a stem cutting with nodes. Still, that single leaf planted in well-draining soil can live for years. If you prefer a hoya heart plant that will grow multiple leaves, make sure to buy a rooted version that has at least two leaves.

Native to Southeast Asia, hoya heart is a tropical vining succulent with thick and waxy evergreen leaves. If conditions are right and you have a mature plant that’s a little root-bound (they like tight quarters), you will be gifted clusters of fragrant white blooms. But even without the flowers, the plant is attractive. I love houseplants that wind and weave, and especially when they trail down shelves, and some hoya heart stems might be as long as six feet or more.

Since hoya hearts come from tropical areas, they do appreciate some warmth and humidity. Either mist them every so often or place them on a steamy bathroom shelf. Another option if your home has dry air is to place your potted hoya on a bed of pebbles filled with water to add ambient moisture.

For bonus charm and uniqueness (and a bigger price tag), look for two unique varieties: Hoya kerrii ‘Variegata’ with yellow edges and Hoya kerrii ‘Splash’ with speckled leaves.

Cheat Sheet

Above: The Variegated Hoya Heart is $62 at The Sill (currently out of stock).

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February 14, 2024
Make a Sweet and Succulent Valentine’s Box – Garden Therapy

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If you have a plant lover in your life, trust me when I say this is THE gift to win them over. Show them how much you understand their plant love with this cutie succulent valentines. And hey, if you want to make one all for yourself, no one is stopping you from being your own secret valentine!

This sweet and succulent valentines is just what Dr. Love ordered for the winter blues. It’s a thoughtful and unique way to brighten up someone’s day.

A colourful collection of succulent cuttings set in a heart-shaped candy box will surprise and delight your lucky loved one, and it’s also just the right size to root a collection of cuttings.

Make your own DIY succulent cutting propagation tray for Valentine’s Day, and these beauties will be ready to head out to the garden by the time the frost has passed.

Here’s how I made this adorable heart-shaped plant valentine using succulents.

Sedum, Sempervivum, Echeveria, Aeonium, Haworthia, and Crassula are all great succulents to include in your valentine.

The Perfect Plant Valentine

It wasn’t easy, but I gave up sugar years ago to help reduce the inflammation that was causing me to have Fibromyalgia flare-ups. By “gave up sugar,” I mean that I stopped eating all sugar, honey, maple syrup, and fruit.

When I say, “It wasn’t easy,” it wasn’t just the cravings that were hard. I missed the celebrations that come with eating sugar. Two years’ worth of birthdays without even a bite of cake. Christmas cookies, pumpkin pie, and even cranberry sauce were left off my party plates. Since I love to celebrate, it has taught me to look for other ways to treat myself.

It’s a good thing I’m a gardener because there is no end to the treats found at a garden center! It’s hard to think beyond candy for decadent Valentine’s Day goodies. Of course, there are flowers and cards. I won’t turn down either of those.

I love turning little succulent propagations into the perfect Valentine’s Day plants. Just in case you are looking for the perfect gift for me this February, let me show you the way to my heart with this succulent valentines.

A metal tin works best for this project since water will drain into it.

DIY Succulent Valentines

You might be surprised how easy this valentine is to make. Around Valentine’s Day, it’s pretty easy to find heart-shaped boxes. You can then head to the garden centre and get some small succulents or propagate your own to use as Valentine’s Day plants.

Materials

Make It!

If you don’t have cuttings available, purchase already small succulents or ones you can divide.

You can make a succulent valentines with either small succulents in pots or with cuttings (my preferred method). If you have some overwintering succulents or overgrown succulents in need of dividing, those will work well.

When shopping for succulents, look for ones that are growing pups or have multiple stems. You can divide them up and root them for summer projects.

Remove all of the candy from the box and give it away. I won’t judge you if you eat it yourself!

Don’t skip this step! Your plants need drainage to survive.

Use the bamboo skewer to poke a hole in each one of the candy cells to provide some drainage.

Fill the candy tray with cactus and succulent soil mix and water it to give the water time to absorb before planting.

You don’t need much soil to fill the heart.

If you have potted plants, remove them from the pots and shake the soil off the roots. If the roots are long, give them a trim.

See how many succulents you can get out of “one” plant!

Any fresh cuts will need a few days to dry before being stuck in soil.

If you have plant divisions, remove them from the parent plant. Remove a few of the lower leaves to get a good stem to set into the soil. Allow these to dry for a few days before planting.

Play around with shapes and sizes for the best effect.

Arrange the succulents in the tray by varying the colour, shape, and size of the plants. Use a paintbrush to dust excess soil off of the leaves.

Fill in the spaces around the plants with reindeer moss to give the arrangement a finished look.

You can use dried or fresh reindeer moss for this project.

Care Instructions

Your succulent valentines is a great way to root and grow new succulents until they are ready to move to larger pots. Rooting them in the house around Valentine’s Day will mean they will have strong roots by May, when they can be used for a variety of projects.

Until then, water them sparingly and keep them somewhere sunny.

FAQ About Succulent Valentines

What does giving someone a succulent mean?

If you’re interested in the symbolism behind your gift, you will be happy to hear that succulents represent tenacity and endurance due to their ability to survive with little water. So if you want to represent your strong, enduring love, this is a good choice!

How do I care for a succulent?

While drought tolerant, succulents still need regular watering. Water your succulents when the soil has gone completely dry, watering until the soil is damp. Succulents prefer lots of sun, so place them on a sunny windowsill.

Ensure they’re potted in soil designed for succulents and cacti and in a pot with drainage holes.

What succulent has heart-shaped leaves?

There are a few succulents with heart-shaped leaves. A hoya heart is on large heart-shaped leaf. String of hearts is another popular one, with trailing often variegated heart-shaped leaves.

Hoya heart

More Plant Love Projects to Try

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Stephanie Rose

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February 7, 2024
Agave Tequilana: How to Grow Blue Weber Agave

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Blue Weber Agave, Agave tequilana

A daring husband and wife team in Sonoma county—Laurie and Adam Goldberg, co-founders and owners of Stargazer Spirits—is experimenting with large-scale agave farming by planting test blocks on approximately six acres of varying soil types, with blue Weber as one agave variety. They are deep in the learning stage, so I reached out to Laurie for advice and insights into growing blue Weber agave, a historically significant succulent.

Please keep reading to learn more about this drinkable plant and this adventurous couple.

Photography by Adam Goldberg, courtesy of Stargazer Spirits.

Above: A field of blue Weber agave growing bigger and stronger every year.

First, a little backstory about blue Weber agave: The Greek word that agave comes from is Agavos, which translates to illustrious; in Greek mythology, Agave was the goddess of desire. Blue Weber agave is native to Jalisco, Mexico, and was considered sacred by the Aztecs. The first alcoholic agave beverage was pulque (potentially dating back to 1000 B.C), made from the fermentation of the plant’s sap. When Spanish settlers entered the scene, they began experimenting with the distillation process, eventually using the pulque to make tequila and mezcal. Today, Jalisco remains the source of the best and the majority of tequila.

The Goldbergs’ mission is to create top-notch agave spirits in California. (Side note: in order for a drink to be called tequila, it must be made from blue Weber agave in Jalisco or other limited municipalities in Mexico.) They are among the first to grow agave for spirits production outside of Mexico. “We have around 3,000 tequilana (including several heritage varieties) and approximately 6,000 plants total. We’d hoped that Agave tequilana would be a low-water, low-maintenance, set-it-and-forget-it plant for us, but in fact it requires more water than any of our other agaves (though still around 75 percent less than what grapes need on a per-acre basis),” shares Laurie. The Goldbergs continue running a number of soil amendment, mulching, and watering experiments. “The bottom line is that this agave is likely to thrive in warm areas in full sun without winter frost. It requires 70 to 80 gallons of water per plant in the summer months, though water requirements will depend on location and soils. Lastly, it likes loose, sandy soils in which its roots can spread out.”

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December 13, 2023