howdy, Maddie here (short for Madgardener ) I decided to return and peek through the postings to see if there was a place for my insatiable need for horticultural endeavors. Yeppers! I am gardening inside to satiate my urges to grow....but that weren't enough. I pinched a few leggy purple leaf ends of an overpriced but way leggy ornamental Gynura aurantiaca (purple passion vine) and brought them home and started them in my rooting bottle (an older glass apple bottle I bought in Colorado that had apple juice almost 27 years ago, I believe now the apple shaped bottles are now plastic) and I just planted it. Right now I have a Sanseveria that has a spike on the end of it's rolled up leaves and makes it look like a green tail of sorts that has a bloom spike about to open its flowers, a crown of thorns that has both red and white flowers on it, a kalanchole that turned out to have red flowers, a Rubra oxalis that I got from Logee's years ago that has never failed me making buds on the little tree like plant. Next to it, upset at the dryness of my house is the Green and gold oxalis which always sulks during winter. It more looks like a small shrub underneath the Rubra I planted at the same time in the same pot. I also have a wide assortment of various spiny cacti, succulents, and an unusual tradescantia that turned out to be tropical that I finally had a fellow gardener find it's name after for over 29 years I referred to it as "Dutch pipe, or Cherokee pipe plant" which was totally false. It turned out to be a Setcresea Purpurea (Tradescantia Cousin) as far as I know. I also have a cactus named Brenda who weighs 150 pounds in the 20 gallon pot who blooms at night in September which is an upright Cereius and a monstrosa cactus that is really old in a clay pot weighing in around 60 pounds who has refused to bloom yet that I've had now for well on 30 years. A schiffelera that is over seven foot tall that I hung Christmas decorations on because we couldn't get a tree, and no room in our new den because all the tender house plants (including the 5 gallon clay pot full of 22 year old Blood lily bulbs) needed to come in before killing freeze. Yep, I can't seem to give it up either. I have shallots, red onions, and garlic with shoots up in the new garden, narcissus and other little bulbs I planted in November starting to come up already because I'm unsure of what it's like here in Western Tennessee. thanks for listening! maddie gardening in zone 7b 50 miles about from the Mississippi River near Jackson, TN

Al - Thank-you for giving me a better understanding of the time frame for re-potting/trimming and why. I see what you mean about the spots with three branches, but I think I need to study some other jades and maybe trees to get a better feel of which to prune to make a more attractive shape. You have a nice set of screens! I think there's actually some old insect screen in the garage and I have a picture frame without glass; time to get crafty! Your posts are like classroom lectures (vocab word included - trifurcation :D ), but everything made sense! :P I really appreciate the time everyone put into answering my questions. Thank-you guys sooooo much!!

Ok so I posted a lot of pictures because I want to explain what plants are doing well in this location.I took out all the grass and have been trying to install a complete water wise landscape. The soil is new and is supposed to be well draining cactus and succulent soil. I converted the yard to drip although thus far have just watered with a hose because I am still struggling to find plants that are going to live and thrive. The last 5 pics are of what I planted months ago which is doing ok. I have barrel cactus which doesnt seem to be growing but its not dying either. I have several red yucca which were in bloom last year and havent grown much either but I hope they will bloom again now that its spring. I also have french lavender which has grown and looks great.I have sticks on fire which has grown and looks great. And the elephants food I replaced after over-watering it and now its doing well. The tall plant is called a candella wax plant but has other names and varieties and I plan to get another since its grown and attracts hummingbirds. So I still need to plant the blue glow agave which I think will do well because this is a very hot sunny location and there are agave growing all over this area. I live in southern California but not on the coast. I am about an hour inland and so thats where it gets tricky because I love these little echeveria,crassula,flapjacks and varieties of succulents which can be more sensitive to the sun and water. I planted some in a pot and they actually did well when it rained for months and when they were in the shade on the side of the house. But I need to get my front yard landscaped and dont want to just dump a ton of rocks and dg on it. I want to have lots of plants,cactus and succulents,and many varieties. So they look ok right now because I just planted them 3 days ago but already I can see them burning. I see brown spots,shrived leaves,but others look fine. I am afraid to water them at all. I checked the soil with a moisture tester and it showed a 5 which is a midpoint on the scale of 1-10 so I assume they are wet at the roots. Should I water when the tester shows 1? Should I look for other signs? Since my yard has no trees and is completely exposed to the East and gets morning sun til about 3-4 pm,its really almost 10 hrs of sun before it goes behind the house. I have nothing to shade these plants and I need smaller low laying plants on the front half of my yard towards the street and than I planned to put the barrel cactus and agave and sticks on fire,red yucca,and other larger aloe. Last year I tried the echeveria and it died as did some of the grasses,some sedum ground cover,and just about everything else I could find that was low or short. The summers here can get into the 100's for days and even weeks. This week was in the high 80's and so already I am seeing the succulents looking great at the store when under the shade cover in the nursery but when I take it home and plant it,I just fear its all going to die very quickly. Any ideas and suggestions are much appreciated.

Hi Bethany. It’s not watering that kills succulents, it’s sitting in water too long that does. It rots their roots. I have both cacti & succulents sitting outside, where it rained for 3 days last week. I did move the cacti under covered porch on day 2 just to be safe, but none died. Remember, in the desert, when it rains, it’s often like torrential rain or a cloudburst. All of my c&s are planted in unglazed clay pots & in a “soil-less mix” of chicken grit (manna pro chicken grit from Tractor Supply), coarse-grade perlite, sifted to remove dust & small particles & turface, also sifted for same reason, in equal ants of each. Turface is calcined clay & can be found at most landscaping places . it’s used alot by sports teams b/c it soaks up water, like so baseball players can play after a rain w/o the field being a mud pit. Rina enlightened me to this soil-less mix. I had to learn to water some c&s more frequently in this mix but b/c of how quickly it dries out, they aren’t likely to rot. My bears paw & echeveria seem to like a little more watering in this mix, as in about 1x/wk in summer. I don’t know what climate you are in. it was 91F here today, good thing I watered yesterday! Also try to keep your pot sizes no more than about 1/2 - 1” bigger around than the circumference of the plants rootball. If you think there is enough ”good” left on your plants to save, you can repot them. Rinse off old soil & lay them out to dry a few days before potting up into the new, more rapidly-draining mix. If you can’t find any of the ingredients I mentioned, a lot of people just pot their c&s up into pumice only. I can’t find any here in the Midwest. its also recommended to use your existing soil that you just bought, buy a bag of coarse grade perlite, sift or rinse it & mix it in at least a 40-50 ratio w/ your soil. I personally think 70-30 would be better, especially if you live in a wetter climate like FL or pacific NW, but if in a drier climate, the 50-50 mix should work well. whatever soil you end up using, please check it for moisture at the bottom of pot before watering again to make sure it’s dry or nearly so. I stick a bamboo shishkabob skewer down to bottom of pot (I get at Dollar Tree for $1USD). If skewer comes out wet, I wait a day or two to water then check it again. Hope this helps!