Herself’s Houston Garden

The Crassula Gollum I planted a couple of years back has done so well with so little effort I thought I’d try another crassula.

This one was acquired at Mercer. I picked it up at the succulents talk, but they had them for sale at the summer sale as well.

It is like a miniature pine forest, I have it planted as a ground cover near the front door. I planted it a couple of weeks into the current heat wave/drought and you can see in the top view photo where it’s a bit wilted from the heat. Perhaps it’ll handle the heat better after it has settled in?

It also prefers a far more acidic soil than we have here ( our is about 8, it prefers 5.5 ).

While it is recommended for full sun, they don’t mean full sun Houston. In Houston and other warm, sunny areas some shade is needed.

Flowers are extremely tiny, yellow and heavily scented.

Height can reach 6″.

Once it is established it will need very little water and easily suffers from over watering.

Originally from southern Africa.

Watch for mealy bugs.

Propagate from soft woody stem cuttings or from offshoots.

I purchased this plant at Mercer when I attended the talk on succulents. I have to say cactus and succulents have been slow to grow on me and until this past year or so I avoided them.

I wanted a low ground cover for near the front door. This spot gets afternoon sun and it pretty dry. It should form a dense, silvery mat.

It is supposed to be an annual, but so are many of the perennials growing in my garden. We’ll see. It is supposed to be hardy in zones 7-11.

Sedums love full sun, this gets about a half of a day of full sun.

Watering should be on the dry side, moist to dry.

The sedum is at full height and should spread to cover the bed it is planted in. Grown in a container it will spread down over the edges.

Flowers are yellow and very tiny and usually appear in July.

Height only to 2″, the plant first grows out, then up.

Native of southern Japan in the mountains where it grows on both trees and the ground.

I planted this a few weeks into our drought/heat wave and it’s settled in and started to grow. Sedums are also recommended as ‘living mulches’ live plants that protect the soil from the heat of the day and help to keep the soil moisture from evaporating.

Propagate from runner cuttings.

I found this one at a Jerry’s Jungle sale last spring. It was the bamboo like stems that got me. The staff at the sale were more impressed with the root beer smell given off when you crumble the leaves. Some botanists claim it smell like anise.

Upon getting it home and reading up on it, I found it listed as invasive by several gardeners. Cool, I have a spot where nothing grows so I planted it there. It’s done very well and not been invasive. This spot is part/mostly shade. This plant prefers shade.

Root beer plant also prefers a moist to damp soil, I’m finding it is doing well in a slightly dry area despite our current drought so perhaps that’s the key to keeping it from being invasive. Watch for suckers, that’s its favorite way to spread.

This is a shrub which can grow to 9′ tall width should be about the same as height once it is settled in.

It is a tropical, It’s too soon to tell how it will do in the winter. It is rated to grow as far north as zone 8a so it should be ok. Some gardeners report it dies back in winter and reappears when the weather breaks. It has not even wilted under the heat wave so I’m sure heat is not a problem.

Flower are tiny, white and clustered and can appear year round.

Propagation is done by division.

I’m told the leaves are used in cooking, other sources say all parts of this plant are poisonous.

Native to Mexico and central America where it grows along the edges of forests and open sites in moist soil.

I picked this up a year ago May at Smith and Hawkins. It is a fast grower and sold often as a hanging plant. It grew, and it grew and was too large to bring inside come winter so I left it to fend for itself. It survived the winter.

Then on the garden club garden tour I saw one potted up and growing up a trellis. How cool thought I. So I cut a branch off the monstrosity and planted it near the front door. As you can see it’s already growing strong a couple of months later. It also found the garage wall and has started its climb. I’m hoping it’ll cover a good portion of the wall before long.

I’ve had this in full sun and just afternoon sun. It’s thrived in both locations. I’ve totally ignored it in the winter and forgot to water it, still it grew.

It is rumored to flower, I’ve yet to see one. Flowers will open only at night, for one night, and are very fragrant.

It is an epiphytic plant, you can grow it in soil or in orchid bark, use which ever pleases you. In its natural habitat it grows on trees with aerial roots. I haven’t tried that yet.

It can be trained up something or allowed to hang down something, which ever pleases you.

Propagation is easy, cut off about 4″ of a branch and stick in in some dirt.

So far I’ve not had a single problem with this plant. It’s a great climber for a cactus garden.