One Little, Two Little, Three Little Aeoniums!!!!

As I walk through my backyard and see all the new sprouts I notice that the most new "pups" are on what I consider to be one of my favorite plants, they are called Aeoniums. Aeoniums of which there are about 35 different species are from the Crassulaceae family. They are mostly native of the Canary Islands, Madeira, Morocco and eastern Africa, alas these lovely plants are not frost resistant.

I myself have probably at least a dozen different kinds of Aeoniums and thats just off the top of my head. Aeoniums are fast growers and can be green, purple and green, almost black, variegated or a whole rainbow of other colors.

Among my favorites is the Aeonium Arboreum Atropurpureum.This green and purple beauty really stands out in your garden. It really loves the full sun and lots of water. The more time it spends in the sun the more purple it gets. These can grow fairly big, and look great whether they are trimmed or left to grow wild. They start growing "pups" fairly soon after planting and these can be removed if other plants are desired, or left on the stalk of the plant. These do well in the ground or in pots and grow very quickly.

And there is of course the Aeonium Arboreum Albovariegatum this green and crème colored beauty  is also known as the “sunburst” aeonium because of its vibrant pattern. These aeoniums get to be very large when taken care of. I have a sunburst aeonium, that has probably an 8-10 inch leaf span. This plant also loves full sun and lots of water, although this plant does not seem to grow as quickly as some of its cousins.

One of the largest Aeoniums I have in my garden at present has a 22” leaf span and is still growing. This humongous beauty is called an Aeonium Urbicum, aka “red salad bowl” because the edges of the bottom leaves turn red, making it look somewhat like a huge red salad bowl. I really adore this plant I just think it is so beautiful. Lots of water for this plant along with the full sun really appears to get the red edges going on this lovely.

I also have my small favorites such as Aeonium Haworthii or “kiwi” aeonium. This delicate little lovely is green and cream colored, with bright hot pink edges. Even before they get their pink color the shade of green and crèam is stunning. 

Although they are all Aeoniums from the same family, not all of them will have the same reaction to the sun. The larger Aeoniums love full sun, and lots of water. However because they are drought tolerant they can live on smaller amounts of water if they have to. Just know with less water it is likely they will lose all of their bottom leaves, but they will grow back. Some other aeoniums such as the kiwi prefer filtered sunlight, but will do well in a sun to shade setting. A covered patio is a great place for your plants that should not have full sun.

This is just a handful of the Aeoniums that I have in my garden and there are so many more that I will have to devote another post to talk about them, until then....

Peace-Out
Sheila Pichlik-Parrott 

Happy Holidays All Year Round!

It seems to me that this is the time of the year when everyone seems to be a bit nicer, or is it just my imagination? No, I am sure my imagination is not that good! Maybe it’s a matter of making up for being naughty or nice during the year? Me I love the holiday season, if only for the extra little bit of kindness I feel I get from everyone around me. Oh and the lights, I love the lights, the more the merrier as they say. I make it a point to find the best ones and revisit them over the few weeks that they are up and shining brightly for all to see.

It is also this time of the year that I find myself scrambling to come up with some great plant creation to offer my online customers for the holiday gift giving season, this year I believe I have solved the problem. It is the gift you will be remembered for and everyone would love to receive. It is called the BkyardParadise Plant a Month . It is the gift that keeps on giving because once a month for the next twelve months the recipient of this gift will receive one rooted succulent or 2-3 unrooted cuttings or 2 air plants, they come with care and planting instructions. You can find this great gift along with many others at my online shop located at  http://www.bkyardparadise.etsy.com/

My other alternative would be some of my hand built clay oddities. They are always fun. On the other hand if I don’t get back to work there won’t be anything for the holidays.

Hoping the holiday season will bring you a smile!

Peace-Out

Sheila Pichlik-Parrott

Who Would Have Guessed?

If someone had told me a year ago that my life long love of plants and ceramics would be a part of my business today, I’d have told them that they were crazy! Yet here I am a year later with a small backyard nursery, an online plant shop, and a couple hundred pounds of clay sitting on my patio.

It wasn’t as hard to put my green thumb to work as I had thought. In fact the hardest part was deciding which of my backyard paradise would be as desirable to the rest of the world as they were to me. In the end the deciding factor to sell only drought tolerant plants came from the fact that I reside in San Diego where we have water rationing.

Drought tolerant plants have been a large part of my life since moving to San Diego in 1993, and at last count I had over 300 plants in my backyard. That number doesn't include the trays of  2", 3" and 4" plants that are part of my small backyard nursery. As drought tolerant plants go air plants (need no soil and only small amounts of water) and succulents (can live on minimal amounts of water) are not only economical, but they can both produce colorful blooms, again and again!

My name is Sheila, and I would love for you to see some of the beautiful, happy, healthy drought tolerant plants that I have in my online shop at  http://www.bkyardparadise.etsy.com/  and keep coming back to read my blogs! I will share my knowledge and first hand experience about these and other drought tolerant plants.

Be sure to keep an eye out for some handcrafted ceramics oddities that I have created. This will happen a little later on down the road, as I begin firing, glazing, and refiring!  Until my next post...

Peace Out

Sheila Pichlik-Parrott