If you鈥檝e been out in your yard raking, snipping branches, and generally cleaning up, you鈥檙e probably discovering all those muscles that get their first good work-out with spring yard work!聽 Ouch!聽 Take a break, and let鈥檚 catch up on the news from the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society.聽 Our May meeting on May 20 has been cancelled, and we know everyone is disappointed because that was scheduled to be our 鈥淚ron Gardener鈥� event.聽 So remember, the May 20 meeting is cancelled.聽 Also, our Spring Plant and Bulb Sale that was scheduled for Friday, May 22 is cancelled.聽 We鈥檙e sorry to disappoint our valued plant customers who come to support us every year; we thank you for your past support and let鈥檚 hope that perhaps our fall plant sale might be able to go ahead.聽 We鈥檒l have to see how things go, but visit our website at www.yorktonhort.ca and rest assured that we will keep you informed about what is happening with the group.
Have you noticed how many beautiful succulents are on the gardening shelves?聽 They are lovely and interesting, even without blooms.聽 We bought some based purely on how beautiful they look, but what to do next?聽 Time for some homework.
When we are used to planting regular annuals, in larger containers with rich soil, it is hard to imagine that not every plant wants that!聽 Succulents fall into that category.聽 They are used to growing in environments that do not offer rich soil, deep pockets of soil, or regular rain.聽 So we have to readjust our thinking to supply our succulents with soil suitable for cactus plants (or it may be labelled suitable for succulents), containers that are on the shallow side, and watering schedule that would leave our regular annuals wilted and panting for water.聽 PS: I read that if we want to make potting soil more suitable for succulents, we could mix our own with an even mix of potting soil, perlite, and sand.
Succulents are a big family that include sedums, kalanchoes, sempervivums (hens and chicks), and echiverias.聽 If you were at our hort hypertuffa session last summer, those trough-like planters are perfect for our succulent garden!
That鈥檚 one of the things I love about succulent gardens: that minimalist, Zen-like quality of low, shallow containers and plants that offer such a variety of color and texture, beautiful even if they never bloom.
When it comes to the actual planting of our succulents, we still have to be sure that all our specimens want the same amount of light, just to make them fully compatible in their new home.聽 Be careful with them, because they are quite delicate and can break easily.聽 We can plant them quite close together because they won鈥檛 have huge root balls to contend with.
Once our plants are all planted in the container, we can jazz it up by adding a finishing layer of fine mulch, pebbles or sand, and maybe even a small rock or two, or a small tchotchke.
Care is easy; as gardeners we can take a breather, because while succulents will like to have soil moist (but never wet), they will also kindly forgive us if we forget to water them for a day or two.聽 By their nature they are sun-lovers, but we must be careful with them during the brightest, hottest part of the day.聽 We might even have to move their little container, or give them a bit of sun protection on really hot, brilliant days.聽 And because of their high water-content, our succulent garden will have to come indoors when the weather turns chilly.
Thank you to our friends at Yorkton This Week for their wonderful work.聽 Let鈥檚 pray for health for all; have a great week!聽聽聽
