I just love this charming hand drawn cartoon that correctly depicts some of the wonderful benefits that we receive from plants. All of which are very true!
Which square is your favorite?!
Interior Plantscaping
Taking care of your indoor succulents
Care for a succulent garden
Light: In general, succulents need about 6 hours of light. Though, that said, 6 hours of direct sunlight can scorch or burn the plants. Placing your succulent garden in a south facing window is a great location, but again make sure that it's not receiving too much sunlight. According to blogger Succulents and Sunshine, an east facing window is an ideal location for your succulents. Things to consider, the farther they are away from a window the more the plants will begin to stretch towards the light (which some succulents don't look too great all stretched out).
Water: Over watering your succulent is one of the fastest ways to kill you succulents. Here's the scoop; the roots like to be soaked with water but then dry up quickly. So if you keep the soil wet every day your succulents will die quickly from over watering. But simply misting them can also kill them as well, due to them not receiving enough water at their roots. So simply put; when watering give your succulents enough water but allow the soil completely dry out before watering again. Your frequency of watering obviously will depend on the container and the light levels. If you are keeping your succulents in direct sun you may find that you need to water more often than if your plants were in less direct light.
Temperature: Succulents can handle very hot climates but their ideal temperatures for summers are between 70 and 80 degrees. Come winter during their more 'dormant' period, succulents like to be between 50 and 60 degrees.
Bugs: There are 2 common bugs that you may run into; fungus gnats and mealy bug. Generally if you see little flies in your containers you most likely have fungus gnats. This is because the soil is being kept too moist and you are providing a nice home for these gnats to lay eggs. The best way to avoid or solve this problem is to let your soil dry out completely between each watering. Also make sure that your soil is a well draining soil that will mot hold in additional moisture. Secondly, the mealy bug, this bug will appear most likely where the leaves meet the stem. They are a white sticky looking bug. If your succulent gets mealy bug there are 2 different solutions. First mix a bit of dish soap with water in a spray bottle and spray on areas affected. The second method is using rubbing alcohol again you can put this in a spray bottle and spray the plant making sure to also lightly spray the soil as to kill any eggs. Or you can soak a Q-tip in the rubbing alcohol and directly target the bug.
Lobby Plant Design
Choosing the right look for your lobby or office can definitely present it's challenges! Where do you start, and how do you choose from so many different options?! Well, that's exactly what we at Harding Botanicals are here for! We are here to make your decision making process that much easier.
The first thing we like to establish with our clients is the look that you want. Do you want a lot of plants? Or do you want plants in the key areas? Secondly, what style are you working with? As we look around your space we will get a sense of the decor we are working with; be it modern design, traditional, elegant, eclectic, ect. Third, we take the reins it is important to us that we have a budget so that we can know what perimeters to work within. Now you sit back relax and let us pick out a few options for containers, plants, and design, that we believe will look best in your space!
Take a look at some of the beautiful spaces that we have designed and maintain.
Give the gift of COLOR!!
Not only do we design and deliver monthly flowering plant bowls, we also offer a colorbowl gift program!!
Let us deliver a 'welcome' or 'thank you' garden gift to your special clients. We offer spectacular orchid and succulent gardens, as well as seasonal colorbowls.
To inquire please contact Alyce at ac@hardingbotanicals.com
Let's create something beautiful!
Faux Succulent Garden Construction
Just recently we installed this stunning faux succulent garden in a lobby in Boston. I figured I'd take pictures along the way during the 'construction.'
See how we made it:
Step 1 : First I had to know the dimensions of the planter bed. Lined up the green foam and cut to size.
Step 2 : Using a sharpie I drew out the line that I wanted the succulents to follow; making sure to number them so that during installation we know what order each sheet of foam goes in.
Step 3 : The largest succulents we used were sedums. I wanted to make sure that they were spaced out appropriately so those were the first that I placed. (make sure to remove all tags from the items! You definitely don't want to see those ) Also! Make sure to leave enough space under each plant for the rocks (topdressing).
Step 4 : After placing the sedums, Started at the very beginning and created the "look" that I wanted for the whole display.
Step 5 : From there I created little groupings of the pops of bright green (I have a lot of the red succulents for filler!)
Step 6 : Then I added the red succulents and followed the line that I drew to get a beautiful wave.
Step 7 : To make sure that everything would look right I tested out the look with rocks.
Step 8 : Knowing that this display needs to be permanent I hot glued each succulent in place.
Viola!
