Tag Archive for: How to Plant

Tips to Save Money When Shopping for Succulents

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Shopping for Succulents, Desert Botanical Garden Plant Sale

Shopping for Succulents, Desert Botanical Garden Plant Sale

I enjoy attending plant sales hosted by botanical gardens. Why? Because you can often find the newest plants (even hard to find ones) at them. Of course, you can also find old favorites as well.

Smart Succulent Shopping: Tips to Save on Succulents

Succulents, including cacti are a great way to add texture and interest to the garden at a fraction of the maintenance and water that other plants require. However, they tend to be more expensive than shrubs, vines, and perennials. But, don’t worry – I’m here to help you save money on succulents with these tips…

Shopping for Succulents agave

Shopping for Succulents

Shopping for Succulents

1. Choose Wisely: Avoid purchasing agave in 15-gallon containers or larger.

Why?  Well, almost all species of agave will flower toward the end of their life and then die.  That is what agave do.

Flowering is triggered by the age of the agave. In addition, different agave species live for differing lengths of time – some live less than 10 years. If you buy a 15-gallon or larger boxed agave – it is safe to assume that they are much older then those in smaller pots and will flower and die much sooner.

So my advice is to purchase agave in 1 or 5-gallon sizes – they will last much longer and you’ll save a lot of money.

*BONUS: Look for succulents that have more than one plant growing in the nursery pot. Sometimes, you can find more than one – that’s like getting 2 for the price of 1!

Octopus agave

Better yet, ask a friend or neighbor for a volunteer (pup) from their agave.  Many agave species produce volunteers that can be transplanted.  To learn how, click here.

Shopping for Succulents, My husband and daughter checking out the young saguaro cacti.

Shopping for Succulents, My husband and daughter checking out the young saguaro cacti.

2. Size Matters – Buy smaller cacti rather then larger.

Columnar cacti are beautiful, but expensive. The price is usually based on the height of the cactus. Saguaro cacti are priced based on each foot high they are plus the height of each arm.

The price for a 1 ft. high Totem Pole cactus was $48.

The price for a 1 ft. high Totem Pole cactus was $48.

The reason that I recommend starting out with a smaller columnar cactus such as Mexican Fence Post (Pachycereus marinatus) or ‘Monstrose’ Totem Pole (Lophocereus schottii ‘Monstrose’) is that they will begin to grow at a faster rate once planted in the ground.

Smaller Plants are Smarter Plants

In fact, smaller plants have an easier time becoming established then larger ones.

Many columnar types of cacti grow faster in the landscape then in the wild due to the presence of water – that includes saguaro cacti as well.

totem pole cactus in the garden

Cacti from Cuttings

Like agave, you can start some species of columnar cacti from cuttings.

I planted this Mexican Fence Post cactus in my garden 11 years ago.  It started out as a 2 foot cutting given to me by a client from their large cactus.

Look how much it has grown! You can ask a neighbor or friend if they would mind you taking a stem (or pad) off of their cactus so you can start your own.

Many cacti can be started as cuttings. Simply take a piece of cacti, and place it in a dry, shady spot for two weeks and then plant it in the ground or in a pot. Wait a month before watering. For a new cactus cutting, it’s a good idea to water it once a month through its first year.

cactus/succulent

3. Plant with Care: Handling Prickly Succulents

If you hadn’t noticed, many succulents are prickly. So, it is a good idea to plan on how you are going to plant it. Decide whether you can do it yourself or if you will need to hire someone to plant it for you.

For small cacti, you can use a towel to help you plant them without getting pricked. See how here.

For larger cacti, you can use pieces of carpet or rubber straps. But when in doubt about whether you can plant it yourself, hire an expert.  

Teddy Bear Cholla (Opuntia bigelovii)

*Years ago, as a golf course horticulturist, I used to transplant Teddy Bear Cholla (Opuntia bigelovii) from areas that were to be built upon.  I would use rubber straps to carry the cholla and regular kitchen tongs to pick up the pieces that dropped off.  I would then plant them elsewhere.

discounted plants.

4. Look for Discounts: Keep an eye out for discounted plants.

Often, not all plants will meet the high standards of the nursery.  Sometimes, this can be mostly cosmetic damage, but occasionally you will see a succulent that has not been watered correctly or placed in too much or too little sun.

This can be a great way to save money and provide a little TLC to new succulents.  Research online how to care for that particular plant and soon you will have a healthy succulent growing in your garden that cost you a lot less.

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I hope that these tips will be helpful to you the next time you are shopping for succulents.

Add Dramatic Flair With Ocotillo

Ocotillo

Beautiful Ocotillo Flowers

There is little that can compare to the dramatic silhouette that Ocotillo add to the landscape.

I have been fascinated by these plants ever since I moved to the desert, over 27 years ago.

Since then, I have planted Ocotillo in landscapes around golf courses and even have one of my own, which was a gift for Mother’s Day years ago.

If you would like to learn more about Ocotillo including the fact that they are actually shrubs and not cactus, like many people assume – please check out my latest article for Houzz.com

 

Architecture, interior design, and more ∨

Hire residential landscape architects to help with all aspects of landscape design, from selecting or designing garden furniture, to siting a detached garage or pergola.
As you get ready to host an event, be sure you have enough dining benches and dishes for dinner guests, as well as enough bakeware and kitchen knives sets for food preparation.

**I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that your refrigerator is filled with delicious leftovers 🙂

Now on to Christmas, my FAVORITE time of year!  

Two Iconic Sonoran Desert Plants: Saguaro and Ocotillo

A Boy Scout, a Horticulturist and a Lot of Plants

A few months ago, I was asked to help re-design part of our church’s parking lot landscape.  There was nothing really wrong with it except for some old plants and some dying Chinese Elm trees.

So, I created a design that switched out the dying Chinese Elm trees, which don’t do all that well in parking lots, with Sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo) trees.  I also switched out some of the missing Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Green Cloud’) shrubs as well.

I ordered the trees and shrubs and we were all prepared for an all-church work day.  I showed up bright and early (I think 8:00 is early for a Saturday, don’t you?), and met up with a 16-year old boy scout, who was earning community hours for his badge.

He was a very nice boy and we started placing all of the trees and shrubs.  Then we started digging….


Yes, I dug holes too….although it has been awhile since I’ve had to dig so many.

We worked on digging holes for the shrubs.  My ‘helper’ had never planted a shrub or a tree before and he watched and listened as I showed him how to do it.

I realize that most of you may know how to do this, but just in case, here is what we did.  He took pictures for me (I knew I would blog about this) – you can see his shadow in most of the photos…

Planted a shrub

Planted a shrub, First, I hit the sides of the container, to loosen the root ball from the container.

Planted a shrub

Planted a shrub, Then I spread my palm out so that I held the shrub between my thumb and fingers and then flipped the container and plant over.  I carefully pulled off the container.

The root ball was pretty healthy, it was not root bound.

The root ball was pretty healthy, it was not root bound.

Planted a shrub

I placed the shrub in our already dug hole.  **An easy tip for figuring out how deep the hole should be, is to put the entire container in the hole you have dug and see if the soil line of the plant is level with the sides of the hole (NOT the sides of the container).  You don’t want to plant too deep or too shallowly.

My Boy Scout assistant finished planting the shrub, taking care not to pile up extra soil around the shrub.

My Boy Scout assistant finished planting the shrub, taking care not to pile up extra soil around the shrub.

After planting this shrub, we went on to plant more.  We took turns digging holes, but I must admit that he did more digging then I did.

I enjoyed working with him and explaining how to plant trees and shrubs.  After we had worked together for quite a few hours, he asked me, “Are you a teacher or something like that?”

I told him that I ‘teach’ people how to take care of plants.

I hope this was helpful to some of you.  I will share my tips for planting trees (we planted 6 of them), next time.  

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On a personal note, I have been stuck at home the past few days.  My daughter, Gracie, is sick with an extremely contagious virus.  The sickness itself isn’t that bad, but the fact that it is easily spread is the problem.  She has to miss a week of school and will thankfully, go back on Monday.

However, I am going nowhere…..my son now has it.

So, I am spending my time writing gardening articles, knitting, blogging and doing a little gardening.  It really doesn’t sound all that bad when you think about, does it?

Six Trees, a Boy Scout and a Horticulturist

“Plant As I Say…..NOT As I Do”

Tuesday was a beautiful, sunny day and the kids were home on spring break.  It was a perfect time to go outside and plant three new plants that I purchased from the amazing nursery at “The Living Desert“.  Did you really think I could leave that wonderful place and NOT buy any plants?

I had just the place to put them.  It was a rather bare area between my Desert Museum Palo Verde tree and my Bougainvillea, which has just been pruned back.

Desert Museum Palo Verde

My daughter is proudly displaying our new plants, below.

spring break

We are planting a Chaparral Sage (Salvia clevelandii) and 2 Pink Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’).  

Warm days make my son eager to take his shirt off whenever possible, although it was only in the low 70’s.

spring break

The first step was to rake back the gravel (rock) with enough room to place the dirt pile on top of the bare dirt and not mix it up with the gravel.  Then we started digging.

*We bought a set of kid-sized gardening tools over 16 years ago when my oldest daughter was 10 years old.  They have lasted a long time and now our youngest children are using them.  I recommend kid-sized tools for your kids to use which will make gardening much easier for them and increase their enjoyment.

clay soil

Look what we dug up….

Many people are surprised that not all deserts are made up of sand.  I know I was when I first moved here.  We actually have clay soil in our area while the deserts in California are mostly sand.

planting

Okay, back to planting – I taught my son how to check that the hole is at the proper depth by putting the plant, (while still in the pot), into the prepared hole.  The top of the pot should reach the the top of the hole.  Take the pot back out and adjust the hole if needed.

planting

He placed his hand around the plant and carefully turned it upside down over the hole and worked off the container with his free hand – I helped him with this part.

planting

He placed the plant in the hole and filled it in with the remaining soil.

*I typically do not amend the soil for desert-adapted shrubs because they are well adapted to soils with little organic matter.  But you can always add compost if you like.

planting

Press the soil around the new plant and then recover with the gravel if needed.

Plants grow very quickly in our climate, so tiny, straggly looking plants will not look that way for long.

Note about the small clumps of dirt in the photo above – I’m not the neatest gardener and seldom create a large enough gravel-free area in which to dig a hole, so there is always some mixing of the soil and gravel.

spring break

We had two more plants to install and my older daughter decided to help us out.

Okay, the following is what NOT to do, but I confess that I often do.

shovel

To save your back, do not use a child’s shovel.  It was convenient and so I used it, but a larger shovel is much more comfortable to use.

I didn’t realize how color coordinated I was with the shovel, which was totally unintentional – I am not a slave to fashion to that degree 😉

carefully press

When you dig holes and carefully press the soil around newly installed plants….it is best not to wear flip-flops.  I don’t have much of a defense for this one but here it is – I am from California and grew up going barefoot or wearing sandals for much of the year.  I don’t wear them in the winter because my feet get really cold.   I was so excited to be able to wear them this week and did not want to take them off to put on my gardening boots.  

If you look closely, I have a ladybug painted on my toes to celebrate the coming of spring, which really has nothing to do with this post 😉

**By the way, a kind reader pointed out that I did not state if we watered the plants in afterward.  Probably one of the most important part about planting and I left it out of my post.  We did water the plants well after planting.  Thank you Edith for bringing it to my attention.

Fall is Here! Time to Start Planting!

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The time has finally arrived!  Summer temperatures are but a memory and fall is here! 

Every year we wait for the end of summer so we can start adding plants in the garden. The only question is what plants will I add?

The possibilities are endless…    

add new plants

 Purple Lilac Vine (Hardenbergia violaceae)

The signs that fall in the desert may not be as evident as in other parts of the county, yet they are here.  Elongating shadows, cooler evening temperatures along with increased plant growth and flowering are clear signs that the heat of summer is fading and cooler temperatures are on their way.

add new plants

 Blackfoot Daisy  (Melampodium leucanthum)

October and November are the best months in which to plant most types of plants in the desert.  The reason for this is that plants use the cooler weather in which to grow a healthy root system so that by the time that the summer arrives, they are ready to handle the stress of the intense heat.

add new plants

 Parry’s Penstemon  (Penstemon parryi)

Most trees, shrubs, perennials, and succulents can be planted now.  Stay away from planting palms, bougainvillea, lantana and other plants that suffer frost damage during the winter months.  They do best when planted in the spring.

add new plants

 Chaparral Sage   (Salvia clevelandii)

As in all climates, be sure to plant correctly.  Dig a hole three times as wide as the root ball but no more profound than the root ball.  This will allow the roots to grow outwards more quickly.  

When growing native plants, you do not need to add any amendments to the hole as this can cause the roots to just stay in place, enjoying the nutrient-rich soil, instead of venturing out into the regular soil.  If you do decide to add amendments to the soil, be sure to incorporate them well with the existing soil.   

Newly installed plants will initially require more water than established plants, so be sure to adjust your watering schedule accordingly.

Bower Vine

 Bower Vine (Pandorea jasminoides)

So visit your local nursery and get planting! 

Fall Planting: How to Select Plants

Purple, Prickly and Beautiful: Santa-rita Prickly Pear

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santa rita purple prickly cactus

Exploring the Beauty of Prickly Cactus

Do you like prickly cactus? I have a few favorites, one being the Santa-Rita Prickly Pear (Opuntia violaceae var. santa rita). The color contrast of their blue-grey pads and the shades of purple are so striking in the landscape.

The Santa-Rita Prickly Pear: A Stunning Accent Plant

The Santa-Rita prickly pear is a captivating addition to any landscape. Its blue-grey pads and vibrant shades of purple create a visually striking contrast. Not only is this cactus aesthetically pleasing, but both its pads and fruit are edible (though you may want to remove the spines first). Cold temperatures and drought conditions intensify the vivid purple color of this remarkable cactus.

Native Plant Beauty of the Southwest

Native to the Southwestern regions of North America, the Santa-Rita prickly pear can reach impressive dimensions, growing as large as 6 feet by 6 feet. However, if you prefer a smaller size, careful pruning at the junction where the pads connect can maintain a more manageable shape.

prickly cactus in full bloom

Blossoms and Wildlife with Prickly Cactus

In spring, the Santa-Rita prickly pear graces the landscape with lovely yellow flowers that later give way to red fruit during the summer months. Keep in mind that javelina, rabbits, and pack rats are occasional visitors that might nibble on the pads, while pack rats ingeniously use the pads to build their homes.

Handle with Care: Dealing with Spines and Glochids

Prickly pear pads are covered with clusters of 2″ spines and tiny spines known as glochids. Glochids are especially irritating to the skin and easily detach from the pad, making them challenging to remove. When handling these prickly cacti, use multiple layers of newspaper or a piece of carpet to protect your hands. Avoid gloves, as glochids can render them useless.

Removing Glochids Caused by Prickly Cactus

If you encounter glochids with prickly cactus, there are different methods to remove them, including applying Elmer’s glue, allowing it to dry, and then peeling off the glochids. However, many find greater success using duct tape for a more efficient removal process.

close up of prickly cactus

Versatile Uses in Landscaping

Beyond being a landscape accent, the Santa-Rita prickly pear serves as an excellent screen. Surprisingly, it can thrive in containers as well, although it’s essential to keep them away from high-traffic areas. These resilient cacti flourish in full sun or light shade and well-drained soil.

Low-Maintenance Prickly Cactus Beauty

Santa-Rita prickly pears are incredibly low-maintenance plants. When pruning, use tongs or newspaper to handle the trimmed pads. While they are highly drought-tolerant, occasional watering during the hot summer months, especially in the absence of rain, can enhance their appearance. Shriveled pads signal acute drought stress, so a little extra water can work wonders.

santa rita prickly cactus disease

Addressing the Cottony Mystery on Prickly Cactus

Some might mistake white, cotton-like areas on the pads as a fungal infection, but it’s actually caused by a small insect known as cochineal scale. Removing this cottony mass is simple—just spray it off with a strong jet of water from the hose.

pad cactus purchased at garden center

Propagation: A Simple Guide

You can propagate Santa-Rita prickly pear cacti with ease. Simply cut off a pad that is at least 6 inches tall, let it callus upright in a shady, dry spot for about two weeks, and then plant it with the cut end down.

Plant with the cut end down, do not water for the first month because the bottom is susceptible to fungal infections. After the first month, water every 2 – 3 weeks until established. 

Timing Matters

Planting in the summer requires shade until the cactus is established (approximately three months). However, it’s often advisable to wait until spring when the soil warms up for planting, especially in regions with cold winters.

Renewed Growth: Pruning and Propagation

For those with established Santa-Rita prickly pear cacti, you can rejuvenate growth by pruning or starting anew. Simply remove the cactus, cut off some pads, and replant them in the same location. Many have embraced this method and have been delighted with the results.

An Interesting Historical Fact

The Aztecs would cultivate prickly pear cactus infected with cochineal scale because the insects secrete a dark red dye with crushed. This was used to dye cloth. The Spanish exported this dye from Mexico back to Europe where it was used to dye royal garments and British military uniforms. The dye was highly valued by the Spanish, next to gold and silver. It takes 70,000 insects to produce 1 pound of dye.

*This is but one of many beautiful prickly pear species available to the home gardener. Do you have a favorite species of prickly pear cactus?

Planting & Care of Cacti & Succulents

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Care of Cacti

 Agave macroacantha with ‘Firesticks’

Succulents are some of my favorite types of plants. I especially like the smaller agave species such as Agave parryi, Agave victoria-reginae, and Agave bovicornuta to name a few.

Let’s talk a little about how to care for cacti and succulents. 

Care of Cacti

 Silver Spurge (Gopher Plant)

Agave, cactus, yuccas, as well as other succulent plants, can continue to be planted during this month. Warm soil temperatures are necessary for succulents to grow and they do best when planted during the warm season.

Care of Cacti

 ‘Baby Rita’

Contrary to popular opinion, newly planted succulent plants need to be watered in order to become established and grow a healthy root system.

Care of Cacti

Established cacti appreciate some supplemental water during the summer months, (especially this summer with our non-existent monsoon). I typically water large cacti with a garden hose about once a month in the summer unless we have had a lot of rain.

Lophocereus schottii 'Monstrose'

Care of Cacti, Lophocereus schottii ‘Monstrose’

Some cacti and agave plants may show signs of yellowing in the summer. This is usually due to high temperatures. Be sure to give them some supplemental water if you notice the yellowing. Usually, the yellow color disappears once temperatures cool down in the fall.