creative jewish mom

How To Choose Pots For Succulents

Succulents make amazing pets, truly! They come is so many amazing varieties, have a great range of size, and require very little care. Plus you can talk to them and they won't talk back! Ah yes, and they are so very simple to propagate, so if you like you can make gifts for friends, or simply amass your own huge collection quite easily. And of course, if you are looking for some really great looking outdoor accents, assuming it doesn't freeze where you live (or you have a greenhouse and pots on casters) succulents (as well as plants in the cactus family including agave and yucca) may just be your answer! While it is true, the succulents given just enough water generally don't need much care, but they can get too big for their pots or most often, too leggy, meaning some pruning (which leads to more baby plants) is generally necessary. Of course, this article is about choosing pots for your succulents, so lets get back to that!

The Cyclamen That Didn't Stop Blooming!

This is the best cyclamen plant I've ever owned as it just will not stop blooming! Okay, honestly it took a tiny break during the early summer, having bloomed non-stop from December to May or so, and then after that short rest, it started blooming once again, and now 5 months later it is just starting to look like it may need a rest. No complaints, I received this as a Chanukah gift in 2020 and it has been such a wonderful addition to our entry courtyard! I even left it on that table as a succah decoration! Yes, I have a sidetable next to my front door, because it is under an overhang, and just happens to be perfect for holding a plants. The side table was actually found on the street years and years ago, and back then I was actively doing mosaics with broken tile, so the top got a mosaic treatment that is still going strong 20 plus years  later! Keep on reading to see more......

Houseplants 101: The Money Tree, Pachira Aquatica

Isn't this Pachira Aquatica Money Tree houseplant great looking? I can't take the credit for choosing it, as it was on the kitchen counter in our airbnb in San Francisco. Of course I can take the credit for realizing that I ought to share it with you! And I have to admit, while I have not been a fan of terra cotta pots lately, this looks fantastic, and is such a great compliment to the exposed red brick wall. So, I'm rethinking the terra cotta pot friends. I don't think it will fit into my Moroccan style black white gold and aqua theme, but who knows! And regarding this plant's name, i just did a bit or research and discovered that while money trees, are considered to be a symbol of luck and prosperity, but they haven't been for all that long. This doesn't date back centuries, like we might expect, but rather, to the 1980s! The braided money tree as we know it was actually first cultivated then by a truck driver in Taiwan, and quickly became popular in Japan and East Asia, also becoming associated with the Chinese practice of Feng Shui. Okay, maybe we need to come up with our own money plant, right?

Okay, lets learn a little bit about how to care for a money plant, should you be blessed with one anytime soon. Here in Israel we generally aren't buying new plants this year, as we are in the Shemittah year, the year in which according to Jewish law we need to let the fields rest, and this extends to our personal gardens at the very least in that we aren't busy with it! So, while I'd love a plant like this, I don't recall seeing any in my area, and it will have to wait a year in any case. Okay, get out those green thumbs......

Foxtail Agave Makes A Stunning Container Garden Addition

I just love Agave, and was so happy to see them in gardens and container gardens all over San Francisco, during our visit this past July. I'll admit I first became aware of them because they are used and grown in abundance in Australia, and I just so happen to follow the design/gardening scene on that huge continent via a very lovely site called the Design Files. Lest I digress, Australians love all things Californian, and now vice versa, the Agave has caught on in California, well northern at least, and it looks amazing! Lets take a closer look at this great looking plant, that by the way can also be grown in a huge clear glass vase, as Australians do! (This may not be long term though, so maybe don't try it on an expensive plant, but rather if  you have a bunch in the yard!

Narrow-leaf Chalksticks, Senecio Vitalis Makes A Great Bedding Plant

We are now in the shemittah year in Israel, meaning we are letting the land rest, so no gardening, or at least no planting for me this year, but I can surely dream right? Plus, right now we are in the middle of Succot, when there is no crafting, so a great time to share some of my gardening discoveries from our trip to the USA this August, including this wonderful succulent, Senecio Vitalis!

This popular, ornamental spreading evergreen succulent plant hails from the Eastern Cape of South Africa and is a member of the Asteraceae family. Narrow-leaf chalksticks are both bedding plant and succulent, which is a great mix! I recently saw this large succulent bush, planted at the base of a japanese plu, and it was lovely indeed! It is deer-resistant and naturalizes easily in a wide variety of settings. It is a great choice for Mediterranean gardens, succulent gardens or rock gardens when paired with Kalanchoe, Agave or large Aloe. It does well as a bedding plant or border plant. It is an interesting choice in containers and even hanging baskets, but it does not do well when grown indoors as a house plant. Okay, lets learn a bit more about this interesting choice, (also referred to as Blue Chalk Fingers, Blue Chalk Stick, and Narrow-leaf Chalksticks), for your garden, shall we?

An Amazing Succulent: Rock Purslane

I love gardens and all things botanical and I am always on the lookout for interesting plants and great garden design, where ever our travels take us! The love for all things drought tolerant is particularly strong in California, by necessity, but also because so many of the drought tolerant species are just downright wonderful. I thought I was somewhat well versed regarding succulents, but apparently not, as an amazing succulent called Rock Purslane, somehow flew under my radar, has now come to my attention and wow, wow, wow! Look at those amazing vibrant pink flowers on tall stalks! I'm sold, of course we are now in the shemittah year here in Israel, meaning no new additions to my garden anytime soon, but I can dream! The really really amazing thing is that the leaves of the Rock Purslane look almost identical to the leaves of the Oribe Gorge succulent that is a part of my container garden, check it out here.

Goodbye Pink Cyclamen, Thanks For Months Of Non-Stop Blooms!

I am a huge fan of cyclamen in bloom, especially since they are natives to Israel, blooming in the late winter. The blooming cyclamen is also a part of Israeli culture, which is why they fill the shops come December, and are irresistible, basically! And truthfully, given the return on your investment, next year be sure to treat yourself to a few! This particular plant, which my husband gave me during Chanukah, is just now at the end of its blooming cycle, meaning we enjoyed blooms like this for FIVE months, got that, FIVE months! The only thing that has yet to happen is a painting of them, look at those petals, wow! Not is the photo is the white cyclamen that was actually a plant from the year before, and rebloomed because it was a bulb......take note, there are bulb cyclamens and something that is not yet a bulb. Nuturing the non-bulb variety over the summer is not something I've succeeded at yet, but will try again with this plant. The bulb however, piece of cake! Okay, lets take a closer look at this blooming cyclamen, shall we?

How To Choose The Right Sized Pot For Your Plant

Spring is here, and what better way to celebrate the season than with plants? Flowering plants and plants in general are a wonderful way to add colorful and attractive accents to your home, patio and garden. Plants indoors of course need pots, as do plants on a patio or deck, and some choose to bury seasonal flowering plants in pots in the garden to ease removal. Regardless of how plants fit into your life, there are two major factor that comes into play. Firstly make sure to buy quality plants or bulbs from reliable sellers like Dutch-bulbs.com and secondly use the pots that are best suited to your plants! It is true potted plants purchased from a nursery come in a pot, but a very basic plastic one that is generally on the small side and not attractive. There are so many options to choose from, based on both style and function, and now one can even choose self watering pots! Where to start? I have a few important tips for you that will help build your confidence, whether indoors or in an outdoor container garden. Okay, lets delve into this personally beloved topic, shall we?

Hello Prague: Geraniums Add Whimsy To Historic Architecture

No matter where our travels take us, as a container gardening enthusiast I am always on the lookout for lovely window boxes and container gardens, commercial or not, and I often share these finding with you here. Our visit to Prague last October was no exception, and while the city does not seem to invest in numerous public installations of flowers on a large scale, there were sweet displays of colorful flowers, mostly in the form of window boxes, and overwhelmingly geraniums, here and there, prompting me to pull out my camera. So, as I continue sharing my photos from our trip a full year ago, lets pause for a moment and enjoy the charm that geraniums bring! I'll admit, once upon a time I looked down on geraniums as too commonplace, but now as an experienced container gardener I highly recommend them for their long blooming period, ease of propogation and variety of color and type. There are pillar geraniums which grow on tall stalks, and there are also trailing geraniums and then there are all the others that are neither trailing or upright, but something in between. If you have freezing winters in your neck of the world, cuttings from geraniums are taken before the first snowfall, and new plants are grown indoors or if you are lucky, in a greenhouse, until spring, when you can replant them outdoors. Okay, lets get inspired to include some geraniums in our lives, as who doesn't love non-stop blooms and bright flowers?

DIY Rope Or Twine Wrapped Plant Pot

Since I've been talking about gardening this week I thought I'd share a super simple way to turn a basic plant pot, even a plastic one straight from the nursery, into a show stopper! If you are like me and you love houseplants, keeping them all in nice pots can be costly not to mention downright inconvenient, especially when you start getting interested in propogating, which results in even more plants! So regardless of your budget, this simple DIY twine wrapped pot is a great little trick to pull out of your sleeve when you want to make rustic centerpieces, give a plant gift, (to someone who may plant it outdoors) or spread the joy with all the baby plants you've created from cuttings! There are so many ways to go when it comes to making your plant collection look great, and sometimes that means adding a pot or two that are quite different from the rest. So, lets learn how to transform a simple pot into an ethnic/rustic/boho inspired one!