Succulents!

Ok, I was going to talk about my 3 ficus benjamina friends, but I was thinking about my succulents so I decided to post about my collection of them instead. 

I have a thing for succulents. I’m don’t quite remember when it started, but I remember seeing a plant that was just incredibly perfect…it looked like something that someone of great skill hand-crafted, rather than something organic. I think it was an Echevaria Elegans like the one in this photo. I fell in love.

I had quite a bit of my collection at work, but the lack of light on the weekends caused me to lose one of my jades and caused the others to stretch up and lose their beautiful, compact forms. I took them home and mounted a plant light below the cabinet to ensure they get enough light each day. For the ones that became the most straggly, I popped the leaves off and put them in rooting medium to start new plants. This mini muffin tin worked really well to set them in while I let the cuts heal over. In the center, you can see my echevaria lola, which looked just like the one in the picture above, but stretched out from lack of light.  I popped all the leaves of to start again. the top had a perfect form, so I planted it in its own pot.

Here is my collection as it is today. The beauty of succulents in that you can always pop a leaf off and start a whole new plant. Often, they will drop leaves on their own and you can just pop them into soil once the wound has crusted. I’m hoping to start exchanging cuttings with friends who are also interested in propagating succulents. (Yes, there is a cactus and a pony tail palm thrown in there, but they are part of the succulent family.)

Money Tree Plant

I received this spiffy plant about a year ago from my sweet husband (at that time he was my boyfriend. Apparently, plant gifts get boyfriends into the husband zone with me!) We have a florist in the same strip mall as my company and he would go there often and pick me up unusual gifts. Usually, he’d bring me whatever wildflowers she had that day, but this money tree struck him as special. It’s been sitting on my desk for this whole year and it seems to really like the office-y environment. I wish I liked being in my office as much as this little plant seems to!

I pretty much leave this little guy to its own devices and it does quite well. The florist gave instructions to mist it regularly, as it is a tropical plant, but I find that it doesn’t seem to make any difference whether I mist it or not. Technically, this plant is a bonsai. Bonsai literally means “potted tree,” so more items fit into the bonsai category than I had realized. One of my coworkers admired this plant, so I got one for her as a Christmas gift last year. She repotted it and it dropped all of its leaves and eventually died. It seemed that it had enjoyed being a bit root-bound, which is also typical for potted ficus plants.

The scientific name for the Money Tree Plant is Pachira Aquatica. It is also known by the common names of Malabar Chestnut, Water Chestnut, Guiana Chestnut, and Saba Nut. In its natural habitat, it grows into large, nut-bearing trees. The nuts of the tree are edible and are said to taste like peanuts. In addition, the tree grows delicate white flowers. The plant typically likes to be in swampy areas (hence “aquatic”) and is a good tree for water-logged areas that are not suitable for other trees. In a swampy environment, it likes plenty of room to spread its roots into the mucky water. I’m not sure why, but when this plant is potted, it seems to enjoy the opposite; a tight pot that will allow it to be slightly rootbound and regular but minimal watering in soil that drains well. I do not water mine more than once a week. It would be interesting to me to study why the potted form of the plant would require different conditions than those for a wild tree.

The origin story for this plant is typically told to be that a man went into the woods and prayed for money. He saw this “unusual plant,” took it as an omen that his prayer would be answered, and took it home. He then cultivated it into new plants that he could sell and therefore his money wish was granted. Although it’s a cute story and a good lesson, the truth is that a Taiwanese truck driver took 5 young trees, planted them in the same pot, and braided them together to form a larger tree. He then very effectively marketed it. Who knows, maybe he came up with the origin story himself (yay, marketing!). You can see that mine has five braided branches, but I have also seen money trees with three or four trees braided together. Recently, I was able to continue the braid for an additional half-inch. These trees can grow several feet tall within a pot, but I plan to train this one to remain at about its current size.

Mark and I have a strong interest in bonsai and I hope to post more soon about our adventures and misadventures with the art. My next post will be about my ficus benjamina plants, including the one I’m currently trying to revive.

The Coming Move

Other than work, most of our time is spent on our plants, bugs, and pets. I guess you could say that we enjoy the care and cultivation of living things. For me, I enjoy collecting and propagating succulents, growing houseplants, learning about gardens, and taking care of our pets. Mark really enjoys practicing the art of bonsai and studying insects. We have other interests, of course, but the focus of this blog will be on the “living” parts of our life.

Mark has been transferred to Wyoming for work, so my current major project, other than packing up the house, is to get our plants and creatures ready for the move. A year and a half ago, we moved 2500 miles with ten pets, four scorpions, and twenty plants. This time, we’re only moving about 220 miles, so it shouldn’t be quite as big of a hassle. We also have an Explorer instead of a Pontiac Bonneville, so we’ll have much more room in the vehicle! Of biggest concern will be Mark’s arachnidae. They all prefer warmth in the 80+ range, so it’s a challenge to make sure we don’t let the temperature drop drastically. The drive will be in winter, with over 100 miles along open range with no pit stops, and 20 miles of gravel roads. Should something happen to the vehicle, I will need to have an alternative heat source to protect his specimens. I’m not exactly sure what my plan will be, but I will need to have a car safe back-up heat source.

I’m also concerned for my ficus benjamina. I have one that seems to tolerate condition changes, but another that is a typical “weeping fig” in that any time I do anything at all to it, the leaves fall off like rain. I recently repotted it and it is highly displeased with me. I think it will have just enough time to grow a new set of leaves before we move and it drops them all again. *sigh*

Beginnings

I'm a person who likes change. I enjoy moving new places, meeting new people, experiencing new things, etc. Whenever my life becomes stagnant, I have a habit of needing to start all over. That's how I wound up in Boston right about two years ago.

When I met Mark, I knew that we would be instant friends, but I didn't realize that we were "practically the same person," as he likes to say. That might make our relationship a bit narcissitic, but I like to think of it as just truly understanding how the other operates. We both thrive on learning and growing and change. We stay who we are while developing into the best "who" we can be. We knew each other and were good friends for a few months before we got together...he had broken up with his girlfriend a couple months before, and I was getting out of a miserable marriage. We had both wanted to spend some time single but the attraction seemed insurmountable.

Once, I asked Mark how we could make sure that our relationship will last, and he told me "I'm not sure, I only know that I'm good at beginnings." I said, "so we just always need to be beginning something." It sounds kind of strange, but I think it makes perfect sense. If we're always working and building and growing...always beginning and changing together, then we'll be ok.

We were married June 27, 2009. This must be our third or fourth beginning together. During our engagement, we decided to choose a new last name together; something that would reflect us and be the starting point for our new family. We've made a new creation. We are now the Foxsparrows, and our nest is in each other's hearts. This is where I hope to write about our little nest.

I'm looking forward to a lifetime of new beginnings.