How the Lifesaver Plant Got Its Name

Winter is a time when most of my houseplants get the most love they're ever going to get. That's because if I want to keep these plants - mostly tropicals - they have to live in the house with us during the winter and I generally pay more attention to those things that share my living space. We're in Zone 5b here and it gets way too cold for them to stay outside year round.

These begonias do well in the bright shade of the pergola, but need to
go inside for the winter.

One day, in the summer of 2016, I went nursery hopping with my good friend, Shelley, and while I showed some restraint as we visited various places, only buying what I needed for a photo shoot for a trade industry magazine article I was doing, I found something I couldn't live without. It only cost a few dollars, but we all know that when it comes to plants, cost often has little to do with our buying decisions.

I'd heard about the lifesaver plant many years ago and had seen photos of it - such a cactus-y looking thing with surreal candy blooms. I wondered if those flowers (I felt funny even calling them that) really looked as plasticky in real life.

But now here it was, right in front of me, and oh boy, yeah. It really did look like its photos. So I bought it. In the time since that day, it has taken turns growing in the house, in the conservatory, and outside during the summer. It seems to be a happy camper no matter where it is. You've got to love a plant like that.

Here are the growing stats:

Common name: Lifesaver plant
Botanical name: Huernia zebrina
Plant type: Succulent
Zone: 10
Light: Full sun
Water: Let dry thoroughly between watering, then soak. Tolerates neglectful watering.
Height: Under 6 inches 
Bloom time: Intermittent

FUN FACT: Huernia zebrina belongs to the same family as milkweed -  Apocynaceae. But no, monarch butterflies don't use it as a host plant. 😉

For ideas on how to use houseplants that coordinate with your personal style and decor, see my first book, co-authored with Jenny Peterson: Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook For Houseplants. (2013, St. Lynn's Press)

Longwood Gardens: Shades of Gray

It would just be too tacky to make a play on "that movie" that premiered over the weekend, so I won't do that. But I have to show how much better Mother Nature does it anyway.

In my last blog post, I shared some photos of last spring's visit to Longwood Gardens.The conservatory there is a world all in itself, with each partof it worthy of an essay highlighting its features. It was the lovely shades of gray in its Silver Garden that especially caught my eye this visit.

Take a look:

So many of these plants exhibiting gorgeous shades of gray/silver/blue look as if they would be feathery soft to touch (and some are), however those stunning agaves are anything but. Flowers are beautiful, to be sure, but the Silver Garden of the conservatory is a prime example of how foliage, with subtle hues and bold textures, can be a stunning element of design.

Fellow St. Lynn's Press authors, Christina Salwitz and Karen Chapman, have written one of the best books on this subject – Fine Foliage: Elegant Plant Combinations for Container and Garden.

It's Houseplant Appreciation Day! (+ a book giveaway)

Yes, it's pretty, but...

It's the middle of winter and I guarantee you I'm not doing any gardening out there in the frozen tundra right now. I know the entire eastern half of the country is shivering, but with all due respect to those of you in the south that think you've got it bad, I invite you to spend a few days with me.

It will be two more months before I can even begin to think about what I might do in the gardens outside. But I've got more than enough green going on right here in the house. Those who know me know that I live in a jungle during the cold months of the year. I haven't taken a head count of my houseplants, but it's a lot. Trust me.

Today happens to be Houseplant Appreciation Day and whether you've got one houseplant or one hundred, it's always good to be reminded of why it's beneficial to grow plants in your house (whether it's winter OR summer!).

Nothing adds a spot of color to a cold winter's day like amaryllis.
(Hippeastrum 'Temptation')

• Plants provide oxygen. Remember those oxygen bars that were so popular back in the '90s? You could go in them and breathe super-oxygenated air and it was supposed to provide all sorts of health benefits for us oxygen-deprived humans. Well, plants take your CO₂ and convert it to oxygen, so whether it's beneficial or not, you've got fresh oxygen right from the source when you have living plants in your house. Fresh is better, right? 





Bromeliads like it shady when they grow outside, so they make an ideal houseplant.



• Plants clean the air.  Certain plants are known to actually rid the air of toxins. We live with all kinds of artificial chemicals wafting through the air, coming from the carpets on our floors, cleaning solutions, and plastics everywhere. NASA conducted a study to see if plants could help rid the air in an enclosed space of various toxins and found that growing just one plant for every 100 square feet of living space could do just that. There's a long list of plants that help us in this way, but here's a list of just a few that are exceptionally good at it:
  
  
  
  • Peace lily 
  • Snake plant 
  • English ivy 
  • Dracaena spp.  
  • Anthurium 
  • Chrysanthemum 

Peace lily (Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum) is a real workhorse when it
comes to cleaning the air.

• Plants relieve stress. How many of us enjoy taking a walk through a garden, through the woods, through a park, when we're stressed about something? Studies have shown that environments that have live plants help reduce blood pressure and provide a sense of well-being when compared with those that don't have them.
  





This staghorn fern (Platycerium sp.) likes it in our bathroom, where the humidity
levels are naturally higher than in other parts of the house.



• Plants help people work better.  Again, studies have shown that working in an environment that has live plants will increase your productivity and creativity.
  
  
  

  

  Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema sp.) in my office, as featured in
  Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants



• Plants help fight disease.  Plants raise the humidity levels in the air around them, and who can't use a little more humidity during winter? Those of us who have to have our heat on during this time of year know just how dry the air can get. Higher humidity levels lessen your susceptibility to colds.

Orchids are one of the air cleaners and their beautiful blooms can last for several months.

One of my favorite houseplants (and one of the easiest to grow) is the Norfolk Island Pine. I got my biggest one a few years ago when I was participating in a program by Costa Farms. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Costa Farms is the largest houseplant grower and distributor in all of North America. Go to a big box store and you'll find that most of the houseplants offered there come from Costa Farms.

This Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla), which isn't a pine at all,
was about two-thirds the size it currently is when I got it just a few years ago.

I was fortunate to get to see their home base in Miami, Fl., a few years ago and seeing all those gorgeous plants being grown in ginormous quantities was amazing. I learned a lot about the company and how they do things, which just served to make me more appreciative of how the majority of my houseplants get from there to here.

Now that you know that houseplants are good for you, doesn't that just make you want to run out and get one? (Or two or three?) And if you aren't really sure just how to display your houseplants, let me offer a suggestion that has lots of ideas for how to do that - my book.

Amazon chose Indoor Plant Décor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants as one of their Top 20 Books of 2013 in its category. I'm not sure exactly what the criteria was for that honor, but co-writer Jenny Peterson and I like to think it's because it's got oodles of ideas for how to use houseplants that enhance your particular home decor style, whether it's Classic Elegance, Cheap Chic, World Beat, Peaceful Zen, Modern Eclectic, Haberdashery, Traditional Mix, or Vintage Vibe.

Enter to win a copy of Indoor Plant Décor

I'd like to give a signed copy to one of my readers, so if you want to enter to win it, here's what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment to this blog post telling me your favorite houseplant

and

2. Fill out the Rafflecopter form with your contact details so I'll know how to get ahold of you if you're the lucky winner. I'll also use Rafflecopter to randomly choose a winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You have until midnight EST next Sunday night (January 18, 2015) to enter, but do it now so you don't forget! Good luck and go appreciate your houseplants! It's their day!

Instructions for how to make this succulent wreath is one of eight DIY
projects in Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants.

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If you would like to purchase a signed copy of my book, just click here. A link for purchasing is also on the right side sidebar on my blog. To purchase an unsigned copy at a discount through Amazon, click here.

A Visit With Debra Lee Baldwin (and a giveaway!)

In March of 2012, I had the good fortune of being able to travel to the west coast to attend Spring Trials, courtesy of Proven Winners. It was my first trip to California and there were many things that made it memorable.

Debra and her sweet Lily in her garden in 2012.

One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to see Debra Lee Baldwin, whom I call "Queen of the Succulents."

Debra was one of our mentors when Jenny and I wrote our book, Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants. As a veteran author, she provided all kinds of encouragement and challenged us with ideas, all of which proved valuable to us as first-time authors. (Thank you, Debra!)

While I was at the Proven Winners location near Bonsall, Debra stopped by to see their plants and extended an invitation to me to come and visit her garden on my way back to the airport to return home. The chance to see Debra in her garden was too good to pass up.

If you're a fan of succulents at all, I probably don't need to tell you who Debra is, but just in case you haven't heard of her, she's the author of three bestselling books on the subject: Designing With Succulents,  Succulent Container Gardens, and Succulents Simplified. Even if you never grew a single succulent (unthinkable!), these books are full of beautiful images making them enjoyable just to look through, but they are also jam-packed with ideas and information on growing this unique group of plants.

Debra gardens on a rather steep hillside in her neighborhood in Escondido and because of the way she has paths crisscrossing in tiers, you can almost imagine that you're exploring a trail far away from the city. As with most gardens, Debra's is in a constant state of change and she's told me that hers doesn't look like this anymore, but I can bet that it's just as beautiful now as it was in 2012.

I pretty much drool over agaves, large and small, but this one was really LARGE.
It was taller than me.

Imagine stepping out your front door and having to look at this. Such a travesty.

Doesn't this just make you want to hop, skip and jump to see what's at the other end?

I love the pottery and the aloes.

I'll take my morning tea right here, please.

Debra has this rainbow of succulents potted up on her balcony. Yummy!

Not only does Debra walk the walk as a succulent expert, she's an artist too. She creates beautiful watercolors of the succulents she grows. She sent me a calendar for 2015 that features a dozen gorgeous images of her paintings.

Image from Debra Lee Baldwin

I've done one watercolor in my life and that was several years ago. I found it to be a daunting task, but when Debra did a blog post explaining her process of painting watercolors of her succulents, she made it sound much easier than I remembered. I might just try again, this time painting some of the flowers from my garden.

Debra has offered to send one of her 2015 Succulent Watercolors Calendars to one lucky reader! Just imagine getting to display this artwork on your wall all year long. All you need to do is this:

1. Leave a comment to this blog post, telling me which month's painting from the calendar is your favorite (mine's November - I think)

AND

2. Fill out the Rafflecopter form with your contact information. I will be using Rafflecopter to pick a random winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will end at midnight EST on Friday night, January 9, 2015, and all entries must be received by that time. A random winner will be chosen and the winner will be notified by email.

If you can't wait to see if you're the winner, you can purchase one of Debra's calendars here. Debra blogs at Gardening Gone Wild and on her own website, which has a wealth of information for succulent lovers.

From Debra Lee Baldwin's garden, 2012

___________________________
I was given a complimentary calendar from Debra as well as being able to offer one for a giveaway. All thoughts expressed here are my own.

Updated Lowe's Creative Ideas Project: Swing Shelf Planter

Swing Shelf Planter in March 2013

About a year and a half ago, I did a project as a member of Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Team in which I potted up a trio of herbs in a shelf planter that hung in a window. I designed it and making it and putting it together was a joint effort with my husband. My herbs grew well for several months in that south window, but the day came when I wanted something different.

In the summer, that window can really generate some heat, and I had a few cacti that I thought would work out better. The herbs were constantly thirsty, so I transplanted the herbs to the garden and the cacti to my red pots. They've been living happily there for a little over a year now.

Last month, I spoke at the Ohio Master Gardeners State Meeting at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware. My husband and I arrived early with enough time to look through the vendor's area.

'Frizzle Sizzle' at OFA 2013

I'm always attracted to unusual plants - most gardeners are - and though I vowed not to buy any plants while I was there, Groovy Plants Ranch had a couple that I simply couldn't resist. The price was good, too, at just six dollars each.

I'd first seen Albuca spiralis 'Frizzle Sizzle' at OFA in Columbus the summer of 2013. James Greenhouses had several specimens of this curly cutie on display and they were causing a lot of buzz.

This distant cousin of the hyacinth (you'd never know it though) is a bulb that must be grown in well-draining potting soil and allowed to dry out between waterings or the bulb is in danger of rotting. If you live in Zones 8 or warmer, you can grow it outside year round, but for me it has to be grown as a houseplant.

It likes full sun, and though it will grow in part shade, the more sun it gets, the curlier the foliage will be. Around late winter it will shoot up flower stalks that will bloom with yellowish-green flowers that are unremarkable but are said to have a slight vanilla fragrance to them. That's if it's grown outdoors, where it will go dormant in summer.

I wonder what it will do in summer here. I haven't been able to find any information online that tells whether it will lose its foliage in summer when grown as a houseplant. Maybe one of my readers can enlighten me?

Albuca spiralis 'Frizzle Sizzle'

I started to walked away from the vendor area with my plant as I began to prepare myself mentally for my presentation. And then this caught my eye:

 Opuntia cochenillifera f. variegata

It was a variegated prickly pear cactus - without the pricklies. Sometimes called Warm Hand Cactus or Velvet Cactus, it wasn't the lack of spines that fascinated me. It was the fact that it was variegated, because variegated plants in general are one of my weaknesses. If it hadn't been variegated, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have noticed the plant at all. Ho hum.

Opuntia cochenillifera f. variegata is hardy to Zone 9 and needs the same care as many succulents - minimal water with good drainage and full sun/part shade. It can grow up to 3-4 feet tall, but I'm pretty sure it won't do that for me. If it does, I'll have to find another spot for it other than the swing shelf. ;-)

Four cacti and a 'Frizzle Sizzle'

In case you were wondering, that hairy cactus in the middle is an Old Man's Cactus (Cephalocereus senilis). I've had it for several years now and it's about twice as tall as when I bought it. I learned early on that I had to keep it out of the reach of Simon, one of our inside cats, because he loved to lick it and chew on it. But mostly lick it. I guess he thought it was in need of grooming.

My Old Man's Cactus is sporting a cowlick.

The Gutter Planter Redux - Succulent Style!

Last year, I enlisted the help of my husband and friend Julie to create a gutter planter for my monthly project as a Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Team member.  Once it was constructed, I planted it up with an assortment of annuals and perennials and just for fun, threw in a few glass watering balls that had gotten their bottoms broken off.

Angled gutter planter - Summer 2013

As the summer wore on, the planter, which was located on the hot south side of our house, demanded that I pay pretty close attention to keeping it watered.  Because there's not a whole lot of room for potting soil, there isn't a lot of leeway or forgiveness on the watering issue.

So this year, I decided to try something else. What kind of plants do well in hot, sunny locations that take a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to watering? SUCCULENTS!  So, with the help of Costa Farms, North America's largest houseplant grower and wholesaler, who sent an assortment to me, I planted that baby up with a bunch of cool succulents.

I added in some hens and chicks (Sempervivum spp.) that I already had in my garden, that I'd received from Forever and Ever Plants two years ago. One is 'Red Heart' (seen on the lower right in the photo above) and I've lost the tag for the orangey one.

I also used some of the succulents from Costa Farms in the ground, below the planter, as a tie-in.  Since there are some hardy mums growing here too, I've made sure that the soil drains well, because mums won't survive our cold, wet winters here if I don't amend the native clay soil.  Succulents should do just fine.

It's been a couple of weeks now and we've had a few heavy rains, but the drainage holes in the bottom of the planters allow for excess water to drain away and everything looks just as good or better than it did the day I planted it.  I think this planter will be filled with succulents every year now.  When the danger of frost arrives later this year, I'll pot up the tender succulents and put them in the greenhouse for the winter.

 I just love how this looks!

You can find out how we constructed the planter in my original post, "A Different Angle on Vertical Gardening."

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Thank you to Garden Media Group for arranging to have the succulents sent from Costa Farms.  Thank you, Costa Farms, for your generosity and help with this project!