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May 2, 2012 / alice

a little plant TLC prepping for spring

some of you readers may remember one of my first posts about a succulent arrangement i made.

today my paper writing break revolved around trying to salvage a plant that has not been liking it here at my (our) house. i don’t usually have a hard time taking care of plants… especially succulents! lately i have even gotten my orchid to bud. i am thrilled about this.

one succulent in particular, called “string of pearls” (botanical name: senecio rowleyanus), is one that i have always wanted to have in my collection. it looks exactly like what it’s named for. a glorious green string of pearls! my sweetie bought me one a few months ago. it was large, flourishing and gorgeous.

but, my big “string of pearls” plant got smaller and smaller the more rain we got.  it hasn’t had time to dry out and hasn’t got enough sun as the light changed and started heating different parts of the area around our house.

so, i decided i needed to do something about this! i couldn’t handle letting it die.

from my experience in the past with this plant– it can’t get too dry. now i know the soil can’t be too wet either!  it’s kinda like Goldilocks….. she like her soil just right. iv’e (finally) done a little more reading on this particular plant. here is an article that is simple to understand and has loads of good info on this stunning succulent.

so….

– i started by taking some strands out of the big plant and  found another home for them. i have another little succulent arrangement in a pot that has also gotten kind of soggy recently.

– first i took out some of the wet dirt out of the new pot, since it doesn’t have a drainage spot. (i got this pot from my grandmother and i love it. i am sure she got it from her travels somewhere. i miss her so!)

-i added fresh cactus mix to the pot and then put a bunch of the little green pearl strands and little pearls into the dirt. i also put some of the strands that still had roots into the pot, taking off all the dead and rotted part. i also had a tiny little pot by a native american artist that became a home for a few bits of the plant as well.

the pots now have a new home on a windowsill that gets a lot of afternoon sun. i have read that these plants can get burned easily by too much hot sunlight as well. so i will need to keep an eye on them.

the big pot has been moved to a sunny spot outside. i think it will like it’s new home there.


here are some succulent spruce tricks that are helpful this time of year

remove any dried leaves that may have fallen into the pot and are covering the dirt or rocks. having this excess plant matter on top of your soil can cause the plants to rot where the stalk hits the soil, which happens easily to succulents.

clear out all the beautiful little volunteer sprouts that may be popping up. simultaneously check to see if there are any little baby succulents trying to take hold. nourish them by making space for them and coaxing them out of their hiding place under other leaves or dirt.

lastly…. look to see if there are any pots that seem to be lacking dirt, have roots sticking out the bottom, or don’t look too happy even if you haven’t changed their habitat. this may be a sign that you need to re-pot or just need to add some fresh dirt.

happy planting!

2 Comments

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  1. qatheworld / May 17 2012 8:21 am

    I had a string of pearls plant too! And it died 🙁 despite my efforts trying to coax it back to life. I love succulents and would love to find another string of pearls and keep it alive this time.

    • avenues of artistry / May 17 2012 3:27 pm

      yes! i hope you can get another one, and i have faith that you can keep it alive this time! lemme know how it goes if you get one!

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