I have been having so much fun with my own sempervivums (see my little mint box and picture frame) that I am thrilled to share this news: Arrowhead Alpines is offering to send one lucky person (in the U.S. who is at least 18 years old) six of their very own named sempervivum varieties. Keep reading for how to enter…

• Create a new Pinterest board and name it “I love sempervivums” (this is how I will find all the entries)
• Add this link to your board: http://www.arrowheadshopping.com/collections-124/sempervivum-collection-130/
• Add at least three other links that are about sempervivums (from whatever site you chose) to your board. Look for projects using sempervivums, informational articles about growing sempervivums, profiles of particularly beautiful semps. Whatever you like so long as it obviously relates to sempervivums.

If you are not already on Pinterest and would like to participate, leave a comment on this post and I will send you an invite.

I will pick my favorite board at  12pm Pacific time on April 13 to win a 6 plant collection of named sempervivums from Arrowhead Alpines. My primary deciding factor will be the number and quality of pins included in the board. Any boards with pins that are obviously not linked to the original source (i.e. linking to Google Images instead of linking to the actual website) will be disqualified. Also, you should know that it annoys me when people post things to Pinterest with a “.” for the entire description of the pin. I wouldn’t do that if you want to win.

Ready, set, GO!

If you’ve ordered a bunch of sempervivums from Arrowhead Alpines like I did, you need lots of things to do with all those little babies semps make. This was a totally fun and super easy little garden to make. I used a mint tin that I purchased at Trader Joe’s but if you’ve got an Altoid tin around, that would work just as well.

What You’ll Need:

• 6-10 small sempervivum “chicks”
• Metal breath mint tin
• Awl or nail
• Hammer
• Glue gun (optional)
• Approximately 1/2 cup of cactus potting mix

Like all projects that involve converting some sort of “trash” into a container garden treasure, you need to poke some holes in the bottom. I used an awl and hammer, but if you don’t have a hammer, a nail will do the trick. If you have a small piece of scrap wood handy, put it inside the tin and hammer the holes from the outside. The wood will help support the tin and prevent it from crunching inwards when you make the holes. If you don’t have any scrap wood, it will probably be fine, just try and hit the awl firmly and hard so that you don’t have to keep on hitting it over and over again.

I wanted the lid to my tin to stay open at a specific angle, so I squirted a little bit of glue from my hot glue gun into the hinges to hold them in place. You can skip this step if you’re not anal.

Next, fill the bottom of the tin completely with the cactus potting mix. Then take your sempervivum cuttings and arrange them however you’d like inside the tin. In a few weeks, your semps will have grown roots and hold themselves firmly in place.

This past Saturday I did a demonstration at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show on vertical gardening. One of the things I demonstrated was how to make a succulent photo frame. As promised, here are the step-by-step instructions for those of you who weren’t able to make it to the show…

What You’ll Need:

• Sempervivum cuttings (I used Whirligig, Alone, 735 Belgium, and Korump from Arrowhead Alpine’s named forms collection)
• A few scraps of chicken wire
• Shadowbox-style photo frame (I bought this small one at the dollar store)
• Cactus potting soil
• Sphagnum moss
• Staple gun
• Gloves

First things first. Don’t be an idiot (like me) and forget your gloves. That is, unless you enjoy scraping your precious little fingers on chicken wire.

Now down to the actual work. You start by stapling a piece of chicken wire that is a little larger than your frame to the inside of the frame. This will make a nice front face for your frame.

Next you make a little sandwich. Not one you’d want to eat, but your sempervivums will enjoy it. Layer sphagnum moss down on the inside of your frame, right on top of the chicken wire you just stapled. Then pack in as much of the cactus potting mix as you can. Layer another bit of sphagnum moss down. The moss is preventing the soil from falling out, but still allows water to drain away. Finally, staple a second pieve of chicken wire (this one should be slightly smaller than your frame) to the back.

Now you’re ready for the fun part. Collect your sempervivum cuttings. Since sempervivums make so many little offsets (the “chicks”), it is easy to just clip a few off (enough to fill your frame) without even taking the mother plant (the “hen”) out of the pot. Be sure to leave a little bit of the umbilical cord on the cutting, as this will help you stick your plant into the frame and keep it there until roots form.

As sempervivums grow, they often create a shaggy layer of dead leaves at their base. Gently pull those off so that you can get the plant flush with the chicken wire/photo frame. The photo on the left is the before and the right is the after.

Using a pen or some other similar shaped object, poke a little hole into the sphagnum moss and put the sempervivum’s umbilical cord into the hole. I found that gently twisting the plant back and forth helped it get situated.

Continue to fill in with more plants until you’ve completed your frame. Let it lay flat for two weeks so that the roots can develop before hanging it upright.

In honor of the NCAA’s Sweet Sixteen which begins today, I thought we container gardeners could have a sweet sixteen competition of our own. A SEMPERVIVUM Sweet Sixteen. We’re going to have brackets just like the NCAA tournament, except our brackets will pit different varieties of Sempervivum against one another. You all will vote for plants at each round, with the winners advancing to the elite eight, final four, and ultimately, the 2012 championship.

Everyone knows Sempervivums, right? They’re the hardy succulent that almost anyone can grow, even if you live some where with real winters. Sempervivums are hardy to zone 4. Commonly they’re called “Hens and Chicks” because a single plant will soon surround itself with lots of little baby plants.

So what do you say? Game on?! Be sure to vote in all 8 match ups…

 Take Our Poll

Take Our Poll

Take Our Poll

Take Our Poll

Take Our Poll

Take Our Poll

Take Our Poll

Take Our Poll

If you’re a fan of Life on the Balcony’s Facebook page then you probably know that I recently bought some neat sempervivums from Arrowhead Alpine Nursery. I have several projects in mind for these succulents, but the first is this photo frame, filled with little semps. I am going to be a horrible tease though, and say that you have to come to my talk at the San Francisco Garden Show this Saturday (Mar 24) at 11am to find out how I made it. I’ll post instructions on Sunday for those of you who are too far to make it to the show.

1. Whirligig
2. Alone
3. 735 Belgium
4. Korump

People often ask, “Can you really cram succulents in there like that? Won’t they quickly out grow the arrangement?” Well…

The image above is two shots of the exact same container. The photo on the left was taken in July of 2008 and the photo on the right is from just a week or two ago. I think after 3 1/2 years, it is finally time to replant the pot and divide up that Paddle Plant (Kalanchoe luciae ‘Flapjacks’)!

So, I guess my answer to the original question is, yes, the succulents will eventually outgrow the arrangement, but it won’t be for quite some time, even years.

Have you ever heard of the succulent called Donkey’s Tail? Perhaps you heard it called Burro’s Tail instead? There are actually two different but very similar succulents that are both called those names. Sedum morganum and Sedum burrito. Can you tell the difference between the two plants shown in the photo?

The reason I bring this all up is to highlight the importance of knowing the latin names of plants. If you really preferred Sedum morganium‘s pointier leaves (it’s the plant shown on the left) you would have to use the Latin to make sure that everyone knew that you were talking about the pointier Donkey’s Tail, not the rounder, stubbier, one (shown on the right–which is Sedum burrito). I know it can be hard to learn botanical latin, and I sure have flubbed the pronunciations at times, but as you grow as a gardener, you may find it essential to be able to communicate about exactly the right kind of plant. Botanical Latin helps you do that.

I’ll share a funny story about Latin pronunciations. Do you know the plant Coral Bells? It’s Latin name is “Huechera.” Since I live in Southern California, where we have a large Spanish-speaking population and a lot of cultural ties to Spain and Latin America, I am used to pronouncing words that look like Spanish with a Spanish accent. So, for the longest time I thought “Huechera” was pronounced “WAY-chair-uh.” Uh…no! It’s actually pronounced “WHO-kerr-uh.”

So…are you a Latin pro, or a n00b?

Spotted in Rancho Santa Fe, CA

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days with Debra Lee Baldwin, author of two excellent books about gardening with succulents, including a wonderful guide to using succulents in container gardens. Perhaps best of all, I got to spend the night in Debra’s guest bedroom, which looks out onto her gardens. I’m trying not to brag, but I also got to tour Debra’s gardens twice, once with Jean Ann Van Krevlen, and the second time with three talented landscapers in tow. Lucky for you, I took a lot of photos…

Of course a succulent aficionado like Debra fills even her window boxes with succulents. Whether she is looking to highlight the color or shape of a plant, or to frame a view, everything in Debra’s garden is done with intention. Here, she has combined three types of succulents, all with colors reminiscent of a sunset. It’s also a balanced composition in the sense that there are large, medium, and finely cut leaves, with the tallest plant (Firesticks – Euphorbia tirucalli ‘rosea’) in the center, flanked by Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives,’ and graptopetalum paraguayense ‘pinky’ spilling over the side.

Another thing I noticed in Debra’s garden was her affection for one of a kind pottery. She is slowly amassing a collection of hand thrown pots created by ceramic artists and sold at succulent and cactus shows. Debra feels that these pots reflect the natural habitat of succulents and better show off their innate beauty. I have to say, I agree. Also notice that Debra top dressed the soil of those container with small, rounded pebbles.

This is another unique pot. Debra drilled small holes in pieces of broken pottery and created a “necklace” by stringing them on a long piece of wire. There’s also another necklace with beads on it. What a great way to dress up a terra cotta pot!

I’ll finish my tour of Debra’s succulents with this interesting contrast. A water feature surrounded by drought tolerant plants. I hope the birds that use this bath enjoy the view of Debra’s garden as much as I did!