Jade Plant Leaf Cutting Propagation

Jade plant, jade tree, and money plant, are some of the common names for Crassula ovata. Jade plants are evergreen succulents with thick branches and green, oval leaves. They're one of the easiest succulents to grow, and they are also one of the easiest to propagate. Jade plants can be propagated through cuttings of stems and branches, but jade plant leaf cuttings are easy to propagate as well.

"Christmas Cactus" Blooms, Care and Identification

November is the time of year we start to complain about how early Christmas music and decorations show up all around us. In the indoor garden it is the time when gardener's thoughts turn to Christmas & "Thanksgiving Cactus" blooms, or why your Holiday Cactus is not blooming. If your "Christmas Cactus" is setting buds or blooms right now, you may not have a true "Christmas Cactus" at all. So, how do you know which of the Schlumbergera you're growing? How do you make your "Christmas Cactus" bloom? And Can you grow more plants from cuttings of your "Christmas Cactus?"

Macy's Flower Show Bromeliads & Succulents

Macy's Flower Show opens in Chicago this weekend. I've written a post for my Chicago Garden blog that has all the pictures of the preview of  "Towers of Flowers," the show's 2011 theme. I thought I'd save a few pictures to show you all who don't read that blog. Every year the cacti & succulent display garden is my favorite along with the smattering of bromeliads. Besides just being a collection of some of the most interesting indoor plants, they're always displayed so nicely. My ideal indoor garden consists of a large south facing window with a collection of cacti & succulents arranged like this.

How to Repot Lithops "Living Stones"

Lithops are mimicry plants commonly called “living stones,” “living rocks,” and “flowering stones.” These weird succulent plants have evolved to resemble pebbles and rocks in their native habitat of southern Africa to avoid being eaten by animals during times of drought. I recently gave one to my nephew, in part inspired by the book Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars, in the hopes that the plant would spark something in him. Before he could receive the plant I was called and informed that it had fallen out of the pot. Being the houseplant doctor in the family I was tasked with repotting the Lithops plant.

Lithops fulviceps "Living Stones." "Flowering Stones."

Potting Jade Cuttings

This summer I had the opportunity to visit California for a few days. The last time I was there I was a pre-teen who didn’t care about plants. Returning as a gardening addict, sometimes adult, I was completely floored by a lot of things about California, most of them plant related. In particular I couldn't believe the succulents growing in my aunt’s garden. I’m accustomed to seeing Jade plants of various sizes, but I’ve never seen them in person growing as shrubs before. Knowing succulent plants were easy to propagate from cuttings, I brought back a few cuttings with me from one of the shrubs. Unfortunately, I forgot about them once I arrived back home until just the other day when I found the Jade cuttings in a bag.

Bulb by Anna Pavord, Chicago Flower and Garden Show & new Succulents

ZZ Plant Propagation

Early in the growing season when the houseplants made the yearly migration to vacation outdoors my ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) was damaged in the process. Instead of getting upset at one of my favorite succulent plants being marred I decided to take the opportunity to propagate this plant.

I've blogged before about how easy it is to propagate succulents from cuttings and especially single leafs. It is a great way to get new plants and since prices for ZZ Plants around here are pretty expensive I figured maybe I could make a few extra plants to share with friends and family that are always taking plants when they visit.

Adenium Obesum Flowers and Seed Pod

On a recent visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory I came across this potted Adenium obesum which made me realize just how much I've neglected my own Desert Roses this year. I have yet to officially try to bring them out of dormancy, even though they are leafing out on their own.

String Of Hearts Vine Propagation

String of Hearts Vine, along with Rosary Vine, is a common name for Ceropegia woodii. Ceropegia woodii is a popular hanging houseplant because it is easy to care for, beautiful and being a succulent it is very forgiving to being under-watered. When being grown indoors as a houseplant it is recommended to grow it in a very bright area where it receives direct sun. I grow my plant in a west facing window and don't supplement the low light levels with grow lights and it does pretty good for me. If you're interested I've written a previous post titled Ceropegia woodii: String of Hearts where you can see a photo of the flower. While better known for the foliage and tubers this plant does produce a small flower that is as interesting, if not more, than the tubers and leaves.

Propagating Adenium Obesum By Cuttings

In a previous entry I wrote about how the warm temperatures indoors this winter were causing my Adenium obesum to break dormancy. Since my Adeniums don't want to stay dormant and prefer to grow during this time I figured I'd take advantage of the situation and propagate a branch or two from my plant. Normally propagation of plants is done during the spring and summer when plants are actively growing but I think I can have some success with a little extra care. Here I used a specialized bonsai tool called a 'concave cutter' but a sharp pair of scissors or shears should be adequate. The reason I used a concave cutter is because unlike garden pruners you're familiar with a concave cutter doesn't make a flat cut but a concave one. The reason a concave cut is desired is because this help a tree heal faster and when the wound closes it isn't as noticeable. To see larger pictures in this entry click the images to enlarge them.

Echeveria 'Black Prince' Propagation

Back in August I blogged about restarting an Echeveria where I bemoaned having to take cuttings from this succulent that had become leggy. One of the problems I encounter as an indoor gardener is that I love plants that need very bright sunlight to keep their compact shape. Often times indoors I can provide it and the plants start to stretch or even worse start to deteriorate.

Desert Rose Breaking Dormancy

(Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum) breaking dormancy)

Thanksgiving Cactus Red Flower

The second flower on my Thanksgiving cacti is flowering. I'm really bad at describing colors outside of the primary colors, so this one will be called red. In reality it isn't very "red" but my color vocabulary leaves much to be desired and fails to adequately describe this "red" flower which looks like red satin fabric.

Thanksgiving Cactus Pink Flower

I think my Schlumbergera truncata has decided to make a liar out of me- there may be five of these holiday cactus plants in on the conspiracy. After I made the post about which of these holiday cacti were the real and fake Christmas Cactus none of mine flowered for Thanksgiving and I think they did it on purpose. Two of them are flowering now and the three remaining should be flowering on or around Christmas at the rate they are going.

Mammillaria plumosa- Feather Cactus

Mammillaria plumosa is native to Nuevo Leon, Mexico and is commonly known as "Feather Cactus" because of the feathery spines. Most Mammillarias are native to Mexico but they can be found from the southwestern US all the way south to northern parts of South America.

Decorating Cacti And Succulents

Before I wrote the "Fake flowers on Cacti" entry I e-mailed the two largest cacti & succulent wholesalers I was familiar with from the big box garden centers. I didn't get a response from either one but I thought about those two companies again when I wrote the "More cacti abuse" entry on Halloween and posted a photo of a cactus with googly eyes from Altman Plants. One of the comments in that entry was from NuSuki who provided links to photos of similarly decorated C&S in Spain.

Growing Aloe Vera From Cuttings

A visitor to this gardening blog e-mailed me to ask if it was possible to propagate and grow Aloe vera from cuttings. Honestly, I've never tried it but everything I've read about Aloes indicates that they can't be propagated through leaf cuttings. But it is possible to propagate an Aloe vegetatively by removing a pup or by rhizome cuttings though.

But there are the Aloe vera hybrids that have been crossed with related succulents like my xGasteraloe 'Green Ice' which is reported to be a cross between a Gasteria 'Old Man Silver' x Aloe variegata. When I bought that plant there was one leaf that was much larger than the whole plant and has now died, that's a big clue that it was propagated by a leaf cutting.

If you happen across my blog and you don't find the answer to the question you were looking for try the search boxes on the right or e-mail me through my profile. If I know the answer I'll gladly let you know and if I don't I can probably point you in the right direction.

Not Your Grandma's Christmas Cactus

On a previous entry here I wrote about how to get your Christmas Cactus to flower and on my other blog I wrote an entry on rooting Christmas Cactus cuttings. In the first entry here I alluded to something being fishy in regards to calling my plants "Christmas Cacti." Most of the plants sold today as "Christmas Cactus" are actually not the true Christmas cactus. These are not your grandma's Christmas cactus.

More Cacti Abuse

On a previous entry I wrote about the practice of gluing fake flowers on cacti . If you're not aware of it cacti and succulents growers glue straw flowers on cacti when they aren't blooming in order to increase sales of these plants. Those pink, green, red and blue flowers you see growing on cactus in the big box stores are indeed fake. The most common cactus that you'll encounter decorated with the the straw flowers is one that is referred to as "Fairy Castle Cactus."

How To Make Your Christmas Cactus Bloom

It is the time of year when store shelves are stocked with Christmas cactus plants so people can decorate their homes with them during the holidays. About the same time that they start appearing on store shelves questions on how to make your Christmas cactus bloom start appearing on gardening forums and in the Home & Garden section of newspapers. I've already seen a few Christmas cactus owners posing questions on gardening forums I frequent. What amazes me is the lengths people go through to get a Christmas cactus to bloom.