Show #46/5007. An Exceptional Gardener That Beautifully Finds A Plant for Every Space

Succulents Make A Lot Of Sense

At Yew Dell they like tropical succulents, everything from agaves to excavarias and various cactus types. They go so long without any water. Some summers they barely even water them but they are available in such amazing colors. There are red, burgundies, blues, greens and yellows. One can make some fantastic mixed containers. These are containers that will still be alive when you come home from summer vacation because they can handle those tough conditions. And there is so much amazing breeding work that is going on in this field and these are super durable plants, so working them into our home gardens makes a lot of sense. Many of these will be around for years and years and years. Even the ones that are more short lived come in incredible variations of colors. And many are beautiful in bloom too and work in a lot of different ways. They over winter them here and then take them outside and actually plant them in the ground for the summer. Some they put out in containers and when you mix these colors and these textures with beautiful, colorful, glazed containers you produce some fantastic compositions. They provide a lot of flexibility in the garden. You get a lot of bang for something that doesn't take a whole lot of maintenance.

Eric has noticed some little propagation trays. That's part of the ongoing education that happens here at Yew Dell with the community. Greenhouses are like closets, it doesn't matter how big they are you fill them with stuff. And it is so much fun propagating these succulents, it is easily done, they multiply really quickly and it's a great thing to be able to do at home because it doesn't take intermittent mist, it doesn't take bottom heat, all it takes is basically a pot of well drained, gravelly, sandy, growing mix, snip off a couple succulent leaves, most of them are very, very easy to root. It's fun to do at home, it's an exciting thing for any gardener, of any age, particularly new gardeners, those just learning, to propagate a plant. But especially this category of plant is not that difficult to take a little cutting and start a new plant. In fact if you want to build a population of that plant you can have thirty more, that then end up in another part of the garden. It's a lot of fun.