Friday, September 11, 2020

Styling, Orchids & Alligators

CCC Foyer

CCC Foyer

CCC Foyer

I did a little styling in my foyer yesterday. So fun!

I mentioned I am interested in growing orchids on my trees in my Venice garden. I saw this done for the first time in Jamaica while on my honeymoon cruise and tucked it away in my brain. There is an excellent piece from The American Orchid Society with all the details, but you basically unpot the orchid removing the soil and attach it to your tree using pantyhose or long strand sphagnum moss or raffia twine or black cloth (something soft in other words) and keep the roots moist while it's getting established. My palm trees and oak trees are both perfect choices.

Orchid on palm tree

As for the alligator succulent topiary - I have ordered the form and plan to stuff it myself with sphagnum moss and plant it with succulents - I am thinking either Echeveria


 or Graptoveria.



You just make openings in the sphagnum moss with a pencil or screwdriver and stick in the succulent stems without soil and secure with a hairpin, florist pin, or more moss. There are tons of You Tube videos on topiaries showing it in more detail. The succulents grow and expand quickly so you obviously don't cover it but leave several inches of space between each. I read that you can just cut off the succulent stem and insert it, saving the pot, and a new succulent will grow in the pot. This obviously is much more cost effective. OK gardener friends, is that coleus inside his mouth?

I will post photos when I work on these projects.

Another gorgeous day here of course. Everyone told me it would take me a summer to adjust to the summer heat here and I found I needed zero adjusting. I think the summer heat and humidity here is very much like the D.C. summers. And no more coats and boots in my future. Glorious!



18 comments:

  1. The plants look more like Polka Dot plants. Hypoestes phyllostachya. (Mel)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks - I have an aversion to houseplants, so my knowledge base on them is non-existent.

      Delete
  2. I agree with Anonymous, those look like polka dot plants. And maybe some ivy along the bottom portion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks - I think I will skip the ivy on the bottom.

      Delete
  3. Hello, I just love the idea of making a succulent structure, could you tell me where you found the form?

    ReplyDelete
  4. So looking forward to what you do!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Design question! What color paint did you use on the walls and baseboards in todays photos? :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I, too, would like to know where to find the alligator structure. I bought Duranta topiary trees today at Lowes thanks to your previous post. I, too, got them at Lowes and they are huge. Keep the tips coming. I read and take notes on all your sources and purchases. Do purchase some orchid fertilizer for your plants in the trees. My biggest orchid did to bloom this year and a master gardener asked if I fertilized it. Nope. Now, I do it every Saturday. I also use burlap bags for orchids that I make from fabric with sewn up sides. I just slip the orchid inside. By the time the fabric disintegrates, the roots are wrapped around the tree. The burlap looks like part of the tree. Seamless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Henderson Garden Supply and thanks for the orchid tips.

      Delete
  7. Hi, Beth - Love your blog! Would love to know where you found that fabulous, big foo dog ginger jar! Don't say HomeGoods!! I live in PA and our HomeGoods is terrible! Thanks so much! Barb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks - it is my favorite - not HomeGoods - LOL. I found it at a consignment store in Alexandria for $95 and it appraised at over $1,000!

      Delete
  8. Love all these ideas. I had seen a small lucite chest at HG a while back but didn’t have the vision! The orchid concept will be amazing. Agree re houseplants. Not my thing either but the gardening ideas are insoirational.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks - it's fun trying all these new things in the garden.

      Delete
  9. Good morning.. I’m excited to see your post about the alligator topiary. Lucky enough I went to my SC home left Lisa behind . Now she’s heading up here . Love SW Florida too ! Best place to be in the winter ;)

    ReplyDelete