It all started with jade plants back in college. Well, wait. I was raised by the queen of gardening, so I think I can say a seed was planted (pun intended) at an early age.
But is was in college that my obsession began with jade plants and other succulents and sedum. One of my roommates was majoring in Horticulture and she actually got me a job in the greenhouse at Ohio State. HUGE! Chalk full of gorgeous plants. And needless to say I learned a lot about propogating and nursing sick plants back to life. Every corner in our apartment had plants, and this obsession has stayed with me.
Another obsession of mine? Blue glazed clay pots!
For many years I filled my outdoor pots with different plants in the Summer. But in recent years I discovered that succulents and sedum are actually the perfect plants for Atlanta Summers. My pots look beautiful and need little care. Win-win!
Even though Atlanta winters are not rough, it still gets down to freezing and a lot of succulents will not survive. Needless to say I loose quite a few plants over the winter. Instead of buying all new, I like to propogate over the winter to defray the cost of filling all of my pots.
Indoors, these easy to care for plants need bright light and water roughly once a month. Overwatering is the main culprit for their death. If they are not getting enough sun, you may start to notice them getting a little leggy reaching for more. The leaves stretch furthur apart, and this is a good time to propogate them. (see tallest stems)
The plant above is called Sedum Rubrotinctum, or common name Jelly Bean Sedum. It is extremely easy to propogate. But the following process wiill work for any kind of succulent.
Many of my plants started from cuttings of California leaves and cuttings that I brought home on an airplane and propogated and rooted. Want to learn how to do it yourself? Here we go.
HOW TO PROPOGATE SUCCULENTS
1. Carefully take leaves off the stem by moving side to side until they snap off. If the leaf tears, you will not be able to root it.
2. Next you wait! The step is very important. The ends need to dry out and callus over or they will absorb too much water once put on the soil and will rot. This drying process takes at least a couple weeks. You will start to see the little roots emerge and this is your signal they are ready.
3. Set succulents on top of soil in a well draining pot (ie: it has a hole) I use a soil mix called Cactus & Succulent Mix. I actually do not water until they start to form the little babies.
4. Add water sparingly. When your plants look like this they are ready to be watered. I usually give the soil a good soak about once a week or when the soil is totally dry. Set pot in a window with bright indirect sunlight and watch each one grow. Plants can be transferred to individual pots. I am short of pots at the moment, so I am letting a little forrest grow until they are a bit bigger and I can just transfer them outside to my front steps.
Good luck and have fun!
We arrived home Saturday night after a wonderful week in Florida! My parents rented the same little cabin [
Pine Island has a VERY kid-friendly beach. No waves and knee-deep water out 100+ yards. We loaded up the garbage truck and dump truck [that we brought from Atlanta], a couple buckets and shovels, and the kids were amused for hours. HOURS!! 
Of course we did have to watch out for the occasional stone wall jump. If there is an adventure, Mateo is on it. And funny enough, this little guy wants to do EVERYTHING big brother does.
One word: Daredevils. We are in so much trouble. 
Yes, these padres have their hands full, but look how much fun we are having! 
My brother Tim drove up from The Keys with his son for the weekend. It was so great to see them. 
With a plethora of outdoor activities, the boys were not bored ...and with that comes better behavior. Now, don't get me wrong, we had our moments. Like the morning where by 10am I felt like it was already 4pm and I was going to pull my hair out. The boys were restless and we were coloring easter eggs before 7am. Grandma always has good ideas!
Yes, Marcelo's whole cheek is green. 
Im not sure why I never thought of turning the tv on in the mornings while here. Without the normal routine of cartoons and fruit....we had fruit with chaos! One morning I filled up the sink with water and bubbles and they had a ball for about an hour. 
Even though we didn't see hardly any fish off our dock, we tried our hand at fishing. This did not hold their (or anyone elses) interest for very long. 
We did get to see a lot of fish at the 
You start off with a boat ride from the visitors center to the park where you are able to see lots of birds on the river. With mostly shaded walkways, you are led around the park to see all kinds of native Florida wildlife. Manatees, black bears, flamingos, snakes, alligators, deer, bobcats, and more. Oh and one random hippo named Lou, who was made an honorary Florida citizen by the Governor. Wha?
Thanks to Stuart and Livini for the hospitality and great memories! The drive home was smooth with only a few pits stops. When we were 40 miles outside of Atlanta we hit horrible traffic that lasted for 20 miles. Very Frustrating! So happy that we came home to a clean house. That is the best welcome home! 
This week was pretty awesome at Casa Espinoza. The weather was good, so we were outside a lot. Ernesto and I went running, cruised around the zoo with the kids, and made many trips to the playground. We grilled out and I made 
It's not the prettiest compost bin in the world, but guess what? It does exactly what it is supposed to. It holds compost
Also, I wish it was double this size, but beggars can't be choosers. We have a small yard and this little corner near the deck doesn't take up any of the "living" space, so it's the perfect spot. Bonus: it's convenient! I can empty my bucket by just throwing it over the deck into the bin. Done and done. 
