hen and chicks – the perfect dessert plant

Walk one foot into my house and it is apparent that I have a never ending love for succulents.  So Hen and Chicks are a no brainer for my yard. These are hardy and rewarding because they multiple and create little hen and chick colonies. They are also fun because you can easily share them with friends. 

This “hen” was given to me by a coworker last summer. Yes, this is the same plant.   Look how many babies she’s had!  As you can see, they change color quite a bit depending on the season.

 

I’m always dividing and transplanting them.   This is an example of a tiny chick that I separated in the fall. Low a behold, this chick is now a hen, producing little tiny offshoots. When transplanting I try to include as much as the stem as possible. Then just bury the stem and water when you remember.

Just a few more.

alliums – practical and lovely

I have been a big fan of alliums for quite some time. I remember stealing some dried up alliums from an abandoned house and spray painting them gold when I was 14. They look like an overgrown dandelion flower after it’s gone to seed. 

 These babies are so fantastic because they don’t need anything special to thrive.  EXAMPLE:  My neighbors across the street are not yard people.  They don’t have a sprinkler system and never weed.  Their yard right now has about 100 alliums blooming and looking wonderful.  Alliums actually prefer to be on the dry / neglected side.  They come up every spring and will make your heart happy every year.  

I have two types of allium in my yard. My “Purple Sensations” were planted my first autumn that I lived in my house (p.s. always plant alliums in the fall). They are purple and they are sensational. Need I say more?  I always get comments on these because they are so noticeably different then any other plant.

The second is called a “stars of Persia” allium.   This was a rouge bulb that came up one spring and I had no idea what it was until about 2 weeks ago (I feel like an idiot for not classifying this sooner..Duh amy). It has light purple, almost metallic petals and the flowers are larger and more spread out. So beautiful and low maintenance.

There are so many varieties of this plant.  While I’ve been studying up, I think I want to add some more to my collection.  One being the gladiator allium.  It’s the same idea as the purple sensation, just humongous!  I recommend adding these to your life.



mushrooms a plenty

Does anyone else think mushrooms are so weird / awesome?  This last week my yard has absolutely exploded with this alien creatures.  I left them alone for a few days because I wanted to watch their growing patterns. Apparently the cold rainy climate of the last week is exactly what they like. They've tripled in size since I saw them pop up about 5 days ago.  

The feeling I get from people when I ask about mushrooms in your yard is that it's a negative thing.  Sorry but I think they add something fun to my yard.

 When I first bought my house, there were two enormous cottonwood trees that were dead up the center.  We had to remove them because I was scared a wind storm would send them tumbling down on my little house.  We had the stumps ground and we were left with a whole "buttload" of mulch. We used this mulch to raise some of our flower beds and I also spread it around as an "organic substance" that I figured would help with soil conditioning.  After doing some research, it sounds like decomposing wood can cause mushrooms to sprout which is why my yard is a little mushroom forest right now.   As soon as it heats up, sadly they will disapear.  If you don't appreciate their presence,  you can always just pull them out, but they still will grow back unless you use some sort of chemical mushroom killer. I would never.

 

 

spring in the mountain west

I can't explain to you how lovely the spring is in salt lake.  There are way better climates to live in, but after the long winters we have, the spring feels like a miralce every year.  What? I can go outside without wanting to die?  That is fantastic. Life changing infact.

 My brain starts to function like a human again and I get very excited about things like dirt and pulling weeds.

This blog is my way of living it up while I can.