My lemming here is mostly to have someone come and plant miniature cacti in all my old candle jars (and then, presumably, to come back later and replace them). From P.F. Candle Co, a terracotta jar with soy wax candle, in Night Blooming Jasmine, Lavender or Western Red Cedar, $30 at Nordstrom.
The red cedar sounds marvelous. The secret to succulents is soil. I use Bonsai grit for mine, there is no organic matter at all, which makes it virtually impossible to overwater your plants. It makes the converse a problem. You must be fairly disciplined about watering weekly/monthly. I love Bonsai Jack, great succulent mix and he sells in smaller quantities. We are slowly converting an excellent collection of succulents that belong to the Norfolk Botanical Garden over to grittier soils and into Bonsai pots. We display them with the Bonsai over the growing months and people get very excited about them.
Thank you! It sounds like you are exactly the person who needs to come over and fill my old candle pots, LOL…
I used to grow lots of succulents when I lived in Cali and had no problem. I think my current house is just too old and drafty, or it’s the thing where my husband waters plants without telling me
You are right about the correct growing environment. All the succulents and cactus growers I admire are in Cali. It is a lot more challenging in humid climates.
Ooh, I love bonsai! I tried to learn how to do it for a while, without much success at all. I’m going to try again when I retire, as they need more focused attention than I’m currently able to give them, especially in my hot, humid climate.
Old candle jars are great for disposing bacon grease and other greasy stuff you don’t wanna clog your drain with…..LOL
Sad to say that our county recently stopped recycling glass, because it costs more to recycle it than to produce new!
To the landfill it goes….
Ugh. In a way, I see their point: glass is silica and silica is common and inert; recycling glass involves washing and melting and that is a cost. Still.
I listened to an ecological economist on Planet Money recently, he said everyone still recycles metal but most glass & plastic in the US ends up in landfill, and so does a lot of paper.
He talked about considering the energy resources needed to clean glass & plastic, so my new rule is if something glass or plastic can be rinsed quickly with cold water, I separate it, and I’ll continue to do that until they tell us to stop. But if it requires hot water or substantial rinsing, I reluctantly throw it away.
That’s why I stopped recycling my peanut butter jars. Could never get them thoroughly rinsed.
Starting on Sept 1, glass in my county won’t be recycled. And to really enforce it, if a recycle bin has glass (or any other prohibited item, there is a $25 fine).
Wow!
The problem with miniature cacti is that they grow into non-miniature cacti.
Ha, I don’t have to worry about that anymore
Robin, I’ve seen some realistic looking faux cacti at the craft stores. Guaranteed to not die on you!
Good point!