Green Thumb?

I grew up in the south, and for many years my mom worked part time on a vegetable farm. She always had a very green thumb so we always had a plethora of plants and flowers around the house. I never really paid too much attention to plants until recently.

When my mom moved away, she really didn't have room to take many of her plants with her. So, my grandmother and I took them all in. I ended up with a 50 + year old snake plant and a 20+ year old Holiday Cactus. The snake plant was about 5 feet tall and about 100 pounds including the pot.

Mom repotted them in plastic pots a few years ago before she left. Because I really didn't know how to take care of them, the plants ended up almost dying. I think because they were so old and big, the plastic pots they were in were not allowing water to drain away. I purchased new pottery for them all and some cactus soil, which drains better than regular potting soil.

When I pulled out the snake plant, the roots were very fragile and tiny, and the middle of the pot was drippy sludge. I took away all the baby plants from around the outside, and potted them by themselves, then the base plant went in a huge pot of it's own. The Holiday cactus had gotten so bad off, I was only able to save about three full sprigs and pot them.

After doing a lot of reading on the care of plants, I am happy to say the plants have made a full recovery. When Sam and moved, I kept the pot of snake plant "babies" as it was smaller than "mom". Grandma ended up with the bigger plant, as we decided we could not get it up 3 flights of stairs.

I placed the plants outside on our balcony and they love it. The weather during the summer is about 80-90 degrees F, and they get indirect light all day. I water the Holiday plant (aka Thanksgiving or Christmas Cactus.. This one blooms in March-April..) weekly, or until the pot dries out. With the weather being so hot, it has a tendency to dry out pretty quick. This photo shows all the new growth that has appeared during this spring and summer. Again, this plant started out as three tiny sprigs!



Here is the snake plant.. The taller stalks unfortunately weren't doing very well from being in standing water. After about a month of being on the balcony though, I noticed that the plant started shooting out baby plants of it's own. The babies have grown about 1-2 feet tall now, and I opted to cut the drooping leaves. I am hoping the cut leaves will be buried under the baby plants one day. Or I may separate the babies back out after they get more established. The green and white variegated leaves are the babies and the dark leaves are the parent plant. It gets watered about every 2 weeks.


Nursing these plants back to health inspired me to go pick up a few more plants for my balcony garden. They had a lot of lovely cacti, so I made my own mixed pot for about half the price that the store was charging. I also picked up a Jade Plant for about $5. It was in a little plastic pot, so I re-potted it also with the cactus soil in a ceramic pot. They also had a very interesting Echeveria, that is sort of pink and lavender in color. Pretty sure it's an "Afterglow" variety.

All of the little succulents seem to be doing really well. The Jade plant and Echeveria enjoy sun and being neglected so I water them every week or until the pot dries out while it's so hot. The large mixed cactus pot I made does not need to be watered too often. Every two weeks or so. I usually go by feel and weight of the pot instead of a schedule on this one. All of the plants have put out a ton of new growth since they were purchased, so I am guessing that I am doing something right. Now I just have to figure out where the heck to put them once the weather outside gets too cold for them!

Something I knew only recently is that really healthy Jade Plants have red tips. After mine turned really red, I was getting upset because I thought I killed it! Nope, it's doing fine. The trick with succulents is to let them have lots of light, and only water them when they are really dry.

I have found that taking care of these plants is very relaxing and rewarding. They make our balcony seem more welcoming and pretty, without having to spend a ton of money on seasonal plants.