Succulents in Winter

I have a lot of succulents and many of them I have had for years. I over-winter them in my unheated  garage, putting them in plastic bins on a workbench where they get a little light. In the late winter I may give them a little water, and then I start bringing them out again in early spring. I trim them up a bit, and they usually come back well.  I may lose a few, but in general this works for me.

Frogs in for the winter

Sunny Succulents

The plants that are really happy in this heat are definitely my succulents. I have quite a collection now, I try to pick up a new one every year and after several years, I have a lot of different varieties. I don't really know their names, I know they are sedums and echeverias,  I just get what I like. I find I like these succulents more and more,  as they thrive in our hot summers and need very little care.

I think what I like the most are their different textures.  Some are spikey, others are smooth like stones, some are rosettes, big and small. Some leaves are smooth, others ruffled.  The colors, too, are so varied- dark green, silvery green, bluish gray, variegated,  almost black,  chartreuse. There's lots of creative things you can do with succulents, too, like make wreaths, dish gardens, and all kinds of hanging gardens. All you have to do is look on Pinterest to see what people are doing with succulents. I am just happy to put them in interesting containers.

I have had one or two struggle this summer because of the rain. They were in a spot that got drenched and if there's one thing succulents do not like, it's too much water.

Sedum

Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy'

Variegated sedum

Echeveria 'Ruffles'

Echeveria blooms

Succulents in Winter

I am gradually getting this garden ready for winter. It's been pretty chilly the past few days, so it was time to gather up all the succulents and bring them in the garage. I put them in plastic bins and place the bins on a shelf in the garage, where they still get some light. I give them a little water maybe once over the next few months, and then will bring them out early in the spring so they're only banished to the garage for about 3 months. Most of my succulents are several years old, so this system seems to work pretty well.

And good news on the computer front, I finally bought a new Macbook Pro yesterday, woohoo, and I hope to pick it up today. They kept it at the store to load a few things on it, and also took my old computer and were going to take out the hard drive and see if they could retrieve anything. Fingers crossed! Maybe tomorrow I will be blogging on my new computer!

Friday Fleurs: Succulents