Christmas Cactus blooming!

I noticed one of my Schlumbergera cacti was blooming, so I moved it out from behind Doozey's stroller, and a myriad of other items blocking it's loveliness...and now it sits out prominantly displaying itself for the length of it's blooming duration. The faintly pink is in bloom now, and it's potmate is covered with darker red buds! I wish they were synchonized to perfection, but alas, they are not..

Happy cactus/succulent Monday!

Happy Monday! I am finally remembering to participate in Cactus Monday!!! Yeah! Over the rainy weekend I took a few pics of things in the screenroom. If you read to the bottom I will include a pic of the cute earrings I made from left over paper beads I had from my sisters bracelet.

Here are the buds on my white Christmas Cactus! The pink one has no sign of budding yet.

Is this (below)an Aeonium??? I can't remember!

Here is my amazing many-lived Kitten Ears plant (also a succulent plant)...some of the leaves are turning a pretty bronze color, and a close up shows the fuzziness of them. I have gotten more joy out of this plant...you can't imagine! It comes and goes, but when it is going, it is really pretty!!! It hates water!!!I only water it about 3-4 times a year.

Below is my gorgeous variegated gasteria...love at first sight when I found it a few years ago!!! This is my beauty queen!!!

And a trio of Haworthia(?)...aren't they cute? Only about 2 inches across, each!

OK...here are the earrings I threw together for a craft fair visit! I wish I had had some gold crimps, but alas, no. I used the silver ones (as the base) and it was OK. I'm a mixed up kind of person anyway (mixed gold and silver)....well, nd just plain mixed up as well! Hahahaha.

Happy Cactus Monday everybody!

On Cactus Monday, I ask you...

what is wrong with my Christmas Cactus plant?


I have two planted in this pot...both flowered beautifully as they should over Christmas and January. Now one is turning red and wilty. I thought it needed water, so I watered yesterday. It didn't help. The other one is green and happy looking. I am suspecting that this plant is trying to die on me. Maybe it got too much water recently during a few days of rain??? But it is planted in cactus soil, and drains well. Any ideas??? I moved it more into the sun as well.

This is how purdy it looked when it bloomed last!!!

What growing and showing on this New Years morning?

Happy 2010 everybody!

I woke up at 8am, started the coffee, and decided to take a few early morning pics for you from my little plot in the world...my little homestead (I like to call it)! Hee hee hee!

I realized when I got outside to my strawberry pot full of kalenchoe...that it has to take the first place ribbon for the plant that has been a continual source of joy for me throughout 2009 and beyond! It is entertaining...changes colors from green, to red, to purple, to blue. It makes new little leaves on the edges of it's own leaves, which is always a delight to see! It is a very invasive plant and still speads like the dickens, if not contained properly. Even after I moved it into the pot here, I still have to weed more of this stuff out of my succulent tires constantly. Sometimes I will leave it in with my other sux, because it will be at a size and state of lovliness, that it will compliment the tire, but when they get too large, generally, I have to go in and pull them all out (they start to get on my last nerves)! I throw the stuff I pull out, over along the fence, and it will not root over there ...too much shade and not the right soil, I suppose. That is fine with me!!! Anyway...it just occured to me that I believe if I could have just one succulent plant, this would be my choice, which is really saying something for this fella!!!


The collards are about ready to transplant now! Maybe I can get that done this weekend.

This little aloe sits outside on one of my tables with Buddha! Buddha will not give up his Mardi Gras beads...they make him very happy!

My succulent bowl I planted up about 1 year ago looks like a vision of perfection right now! I always dread when they start to outgrow and the pruning must begin! I need to take a few to the greensmarket to sell one day!

Two flowers are starting to open on the Christmas Cactus. I have a few sort of peachy/beige buds on the white one, and one of those is opening first, along with a pink! Nice show for the first day of the year, guys!!! LOL!

And last, but certainly not least...I decided to try and grow a pineapple from a top. I read online that you can trim it down and get all of the pineapple fruit off and place the stalk in a glass of water and in two weeks you will have an abundance of roots. I know, I think MOST people lay them out to dry for a week, and then plant in soil...but I decided to try this method and see what happens...plus I have the added bonus of having it in my windowsill to watch up close!

I hope you all will find so much happiness, love, hope, stress relief, and just plain JOY for this year just being around your plants!!!
xoxo- Julie

Buds galore!!!

Here are my two Christmas Cacti in one pot! They are both covered in buds...one with white and one with pink! It looks great! Now, to wait for some to open!!!
I will post more pics when that happens!!!

Rootings, cactus and tumblers!

Good Saturday morning! I am doing laundry (since 6am), and drinking my coffee...getting ready by 8am to go hit some garage sales! I love it when my daugher has a driving 'NEED" to go do some shopping! She ordered a new ball- jointed doll for her Christmas gift from us (and Santa)...and it is very small. It wears clothes the size of a Kelly doll (Barbie's little sister). We have not been to lucky finding Kelly or her clothes anywhere this year! So, now we MUST go out looking on the streets!!! LOL. It will be a lot of fun, and we are taking my Mom also, so hopefully we can find some new treasures! I see in the paper that we have quite a few to choose from in the area...YEAH!

So here are some random pics of this going on here. First a shot of my attempt to root Angelwing Begonias in water. They are long peices, and I have lost a few leaves so far. It has been about 5 days, and no sign of roots yet...but I am still holding out that there will be many in just a few more days!!! :)
The other one is my cutting from a kalenchoe that has taken on well, and is really starting to grow nicely!

Can you believe all of the dark pink buds on this Christmas cactus?
My all white one, had 2 light salmon colored ones come on it this year. I do not remember them being there last year! Hmmm. They are pretty though, and I like them. They were some of the first ones to open up, so they are on their way out already, and then I will have all white!
You can see the two salmon ones right in the front of the picture below!

We have a Tervis Tumbler store here, and they are so popular in south Florida because they have double insulated walls, and a lifetime guarantee...so whenever I have one that gets messed up for any reason, I just drive over to our local store and trade out for a new one. Well, I had one with an angel in it that was allowing some condensation to build up between the walls of the glass, so my sweet Mom took it over and traded for me. I asked her to get me something bright and colorful, and here is what she picked! A Key West sort of house! Isn't it cute??? I am so happy with it.

The have so many designs, and I cannot have a coordinated set because I want one of each! That seems to be how it goes for me. I like variety in every area of my life, for some reason. And colors. Below are a few others of my Tervis Tumblers. I have about 15 of the larger ones, and then the 4 small bird ones. They are extra- specially nice also because they are dishwasher and microwave safe. I used to never want to drink out of plastic, but I have a big ol cup of coffee in one every morning and it is just heavenly!

There are different sizes and styles...out favorite is the short fat one with a handle (like the Key West house one). The bird ones you see here were a secret Santa gift from one of my neighbors 2 years ago (smaller without a handle). There were 4 different birds in a set. You KNOW I loved those!!!!! I just bought myself this green dragonfly a few months ago (couldn't resist)! If anyone is interested in checking out all of their designs, I use an online store that has free shipping anywhere in the U.S! You can find them here at The Tervis Tumbler Store. They will ship to APO addresses also, if you have anyone overseas in the military. I love to send a set as a gift because they can be personalized to the individual, with all of the different designs available! I have sent out Florida Gater ones, Army ones and a set of kitty cats to my sweet DIL over in Germany! Check them out, just for a little fun!

Buds on the X-Mas Cactus! YEAH!!!

This morning I walked out to check for buds...and I found some on my white-blooming cactus!!! I think I see little teenie start-ups of some on the tips of my pink- blooming plant too! Time will tell. I gave them a good drink (they were on the dry side)...and now I am praying for a lovely show to begin!!! I think I will give them a light application of Miracle Gro tomorrow also.