Penny Carnathan

Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.

Kim Franke-Folstad

Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.

Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.

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Dirty pictures—Friends of The Dirt share theirs (check the succy update)

Posted Sep 11, 2009 by Loren Omoto

Updated Sep 11, 2009 at 08:19 PM

After reading about how I coveted the not-for-sale succulents dish garden at USF Botanical Gardens last Sunday, Janice Vogt of Seminole Heights shared her easy—and cheap!—solution.

She started her succulents phase months ago, during yet another long, hot, dry period.

I spy flapjacks!

After seeing my original post here, Janice did some thinking and some research. She had said she got the plants at Home Depot for $14.99, but then remembered they came in a sort of kit. She checked online and there it was, just $12.97 and from our very own Farmer Rick at Riverview Flower Farms.

“I was on the link from his site today and they are called Classic Creations, they have a diagram on how to place them in the pot,” she wrote.

I visited and didn’t see the diagram. Maybe it comes with the container? Hopefully, Rick will drop by and let us know—along with when these trays are most likely to be available.

(Hearty congratulations to Janice for her first successful cut and paste of a photo from a Web site! You go, you little geek!)

Inspired by Janna’s Cassia?NOT, Susan Gillespie of Riverview sent a status update on some of the plants that started as seeds, cuttings or volunteers passed around by us Dirt folks. (A seed-sharing mix-up left Janna with a mystery plant. Good thing she didn’t just yank her mysterious stranger!)

Susan got a blue sky vine cutting from the monster that is devouring my shed. (The shed is ugly, the vine is beautiful, so it’s all good.) It took a long time to root and get growing, but Susan is patient and here’s the payoff:

“My blue sky vine finally has blooms, and I was camera ready,” she writes.

I got the original at a now defunct nursery, but I’ve seen them at Lowe’s. Blue sky is very tough and takes the sun well. It froze last January, but came right back. The only problem: It is very aggressive, so if you don’t have a lot of room, you might want to avoid it.

Susan’s pagoda cleredendrum was another that’s slow to establish, but once settled in, is unstoppable. She’ll find volunteers all over the place in the spring.

She’s only had it in the ground a few months and it’s almost as tall as her fence!

Apparently, she didn’t mix up her cassia and hollyhock seeds. Here’s the cassia. They grow surprisingly quickly from seed into a beautiful smallish tree with a weeping form. (Susan, I’m guessing you started this around March or April?—See comments; yes she did!)

And Janice’s hollyhocks continue to spread their love. Here’s Susan’s.

If you’ve got dirty pictures to share, email them to me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). The more information you put in the email about each photo, the happier you’ll make everyone!

And if you want to get in on some seed/cuttings/volunteers sharing, remember we’re planning a trip to Riverview Flower Farms on October 24. That’ll be a great time to pass stuff around. (Details on the trip—time, carpooling info, etc.—to come later this month.)