A succulent-loving mom balances childcare and growing succulents, tired but happy

Preface

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Thanks to the author [The end . ] for theoriginal submissionsharing

Submission date: June 9, 2018

Edited by: Encyclopedia Jun

Location: Yinchuan, Ningxia

Don't be lonely anymore

 Don't be lonely anymore

Xu Jialing 

00:00/03:42

I've been growing succulents for three years. I don't have much experience to share, only a heart full of love for succulents. At first I fell into the succulent pit simply because I was poisoned by beautiful photos online. Later I found a local chat group on QQ, and it felt like finding my own organization. Every day I saw all kinds of status photos posted by others, and I was truly drooling over them, and then it got completely out of hand. So this road of growing succulents has been walked for three years. After more than a thousand days and nights of waiting and keeping each other company, they have long become an inseparable part of my life!

(A self-made pretty picture, doesn't it have a bit of feeling too.)

From just watching at the beginning, to trying my hand at buying small seedlings online. To browsing flower markets for succulents, to "observing and exchanging" at fellow succulent friends' homes, reaching out to get leaves, leaf-propagation seedlings and so on. Undeniably, we were all once freebie-seeking beggars that people despised. Later I simply gathered two or three good friends and we went to greenhouses together to admire and buy succulents, though we only bought good-looking and cheap varieties. And there were freebies with purchases; the greenhouse owner would also give away some Graptoveria 'Titubans', Graptopetalum paraguayense, Sedum 'Marcus', pilea-like filler plants and such, which were quite nice for making mixed pots. Every time I was overjoyed and came home fully loaded!

Life has since gained one more thing to care about, one more responsibility. I hope all my succulents stay healthy and become more and more beautiful! This is a pot I made from local materials, woven from willow branches, planted with some leggy leaf-propagation seedlings. Does it look like a bird's nest? I carried it to the bushes in front of the house to take photos, and it looked so lovely in the sunlight. I even seemed to hear little birds chirping, saying this nest is really nice, I'd love to move in.

Looking back on the succulents I've grown these past few years, at the beginning the pots were mostly small colored square pots, plus some reused bottles and jars, mostly a bit crude, but at least the growth was still good! Later, as I kept growing them, I began to pursue their condition, switched to control-type pots, and added gritty soil. Now the succulents, paired with little pots of all different shapes, and after being carved by time, have also become refined and beautiful!

And so, in January this year I added another little fresh piece of meat weighing six jin and six liang! Having to take care of the baby and also split my attention to care for all my little succulents is really not an easy thing. Often after coaxing the baby to sleep, I hurry over to take a couple of glances: which leaf has gone soft and needs watering, which has grown and needs repotting, which damn one has grown mealybugs again, which has become prettier and deserves a few more snaps!

But since I chose to enter this pit, I have to take responsibility. Watering, catching bugs, repotting and all sorts of matters must be done personally. Last year I saw many posts on the Encyclopedia about hand-painted pots, some by masters, some by beginners, and watching made me eager to try. Without realizing it I fell into the pot-painting pit d(?д??), just to give my succulents a beautiful and comfortable home! As the saying goes, if the succulent isn't good enough, a beautiful pot makes up for it. I immediately bought some plain pots, ready to show my skills, but reality is always not as simple as imagined.

Referring to pictures searched online, and relying on a bit of foundation from before, I just painted stroke by stroke. But to be honest, most of what I learned in school had long become unfamiliar, all given back to the teacher, so at the beginning the painting style was like this. But hard work pays off, and later I became more and more fluent, gradually making some progress. I'll keep working at it!

Later the effect was like this, more people liked it on Moments, and my confidence grew. But who knew that in early summer last year, I unexpectedly found out I was expecting a little treasure, with all kinds of pregnancy reactions, feeling drowsy every day, so I could only focus on resting for the pregnancy, and the pot painting was put aside for more than half a year. As for the succulents, only when I felt less uncomfortable did I have the energy to go look at them and water them. Fortunately they were all quite tough, and through the whole autumn and winter there were no deaths or injuries.

After giving birth to the baby, every day is an endless cycle of breastfeeding, coaxing to sleep, and changing diapers... There are also times when I feel powerless, physically and mentally exhausted, and looking at succulents and painting pots became my only way to relieve my worries. Painting pots can only start late at night when the baby is sound asleep. Every time I pick up the brush I seem to forget time, and by the time it's roughly finished, it's already one or two in the morning. But being able to persist in doing what I love, and getting others' praise, is also very fulfilling. At least I'm not a mother who is good for nothing.

As someone born in the 1980s, I surprisingly have never watched "One Piece", which is a bit laughable to some. Referring to some pictures I found online and making slight modifications myself, I painted two cute little Choppers, one planted with Sedum 'Little Star', the other with Graptopetalum amethystinum. I've also included step-by-step photos of painting the pots. The style is a bit rough, but don't laugh at me. Someone once said the Chopper I painted had bootleg clothes and hat. Bootleg it is then, who told me my painting skills are poor.

Actually, once you start painting pots you get a common problem: whatever beautiful pattern you see, you want to paint it on a pot. I saw a pot someone painted on Moments, so I asked their opinion, whether they minded if I used it as a reference, and got the hoped-for answer "I don't mind". After coaxing the baby to sleep at night, I started sketching with a pencil and outlining with acrylic. Outlining first was to hide my weak point of poor line work, but after coloring it didn't cover it at all, and didn't achieve the expected effect.

When painting skills aren't enough, you can only put more thought into later decoration. The small colored rhinestones left over from when I did diamond painting before, and nail polish long unused, came in handy. First spray a layer of paint, then while the paint is still wet, place the rhinestones one by one. After drying, spray another layer of paint, and they're firmly fixed. A pot I did this way last year still hasn't lost any rhinestones. Finally, use nail polish to lightly brush a layer on some of the patterns. How is it, the final effect is still quite beautiful and dreamy!

Hehe, I've somewhat lost the main point. Let's stop the topic of painting pots here, and next let's get to know my succulents together!

Pansy - I've had it for about two years. It went from two heads to many heads. Although it's not especially outstanding, its shape has been maintained quite well. It lives in the magnolia pot I painted earlier.

Olivia - a variety recommended by fellow succulent friends when I first entered the pit, good-looking, easy to grow, and easy to produce pups. From the initial four-head flat pancake to now a refined bouquet. In March this year I put it out for open-air growing and it even unexpectedly developed blood spots from the cold. Above is how it looked last autumn, little buns one by one, somewhat similar to 'Benba', which shows that the beauty of succulents lies in their ever-changing colors and forms.

Graptosedum 'Francesco Baldi' - also one of my veteran succulents. Now it likes a bare face, occasionally with a light touch of makeup! I still remember how it looked back then, blooming and radiant, youthful and lovely, as if it were yesterday!

Pachyveria 'Clavifolia' - some people say with such thick leaves, how can it be called thin-leaved. Actually it was once just a flower stalk shared by a fellow succulent friend, so thin and inconspicuous. What? You don't believe it? Then let's see together how it went from ugly duckling to white swan!

Sedum 'Golden Glow' - a good-looking and cheap variety. Its leaves have become thicker and thicker under my care. Actually, whether common or expensive, once they show their condition they are all extremely beautiful!

Echeveria 'Chihuahuaensis' - a classic variety. Probably every fellow succulent grower in the pit has one pot, or even many pots. Anyway, they're now at cabbage price, so you can buy them freely.

Echeveria 'Derlucy' - very easy to grow leggy, but also especially loves to produce pups. Some say it's bound to die in summer, but I've already gotten it through three summers. I'll keep at it! From the comparison photos you can see it hasn't been repotted for two or three years, which is a bit shameful. This time I must tailor-make a new home for Mr. Derlucy.

Mountain rose - sometimes in bud ready to bloom, sometimes growing wildly! Its beauty is no less than fresh roses; rather, one easily withers, while the other has vigorous vitality, endless life!

Lily Lili - thick leaves, lovely color, and with a natural fruity scent, simply perfect! But when it first came to my home it was also very green.

Echeveria 'Guanghan Gong' - sometimes cool and aloof, sometimes delicate and modest, sometimes grand and gentle! This is the same plant in different periods.

Echeveria pulvinata - velvety texture, especially beautiful when it shows its condition. I've grown it for about three years too!

Moon fairy - fairy or not, let its condition speak! In winter the leaves are longer, but there are many layers, and at any time it never loses its fairy quality!

Echeveria 'Afterglow' - compared with winter, the leaves are now more thick and compact. This is a rare variety that doesn't fade easily.

Echeveria 'Christmas Eve' - it doesn't look like other people's at all. Some succulents shrink as you grow them, and may even become unrecognizable, forgetting their original appearance, just like my Christmas Eve. It was cuter when it first arrived, plump and chubby.

Echeveria 'Hongzhilian' - this pot is hydroponic, and the leaves are fairly plump. But the color was still more vivid in winter; now don't count on it, as long as it gets through summer safely that's fine. Fortunately I have many of them, haha! Let me quietly tell you, they were actually all picked up, didn't expect that!

Echeveria 'Sasa Queen' - wouldn't it be more apt to call it "a hundred girls turning into a queen"? Its appearance in different periods is simply greatly different.

Rose - when I bought it the seller said it was 'Yero' and also a large-type rose. It can be said that apart from when it first came back, it has never been pink again. But it's my own child, loved no matter what. Now it has entered dormancy and turned into a dried flower.

This is another pot, using a Pretty Goat pot. With a rose on top of its head, isn't it even more beautiful and cute?

Now the ones in the best condition, probably besides the roses, are only the Aeoniums. Below let's look at my Aeoniums together.

Aeonium 'Zwartkop' - bought for ten yuan three years ago. This is the change from Spring Festival to now. Aeoniums are truly changeable. With a hundred succulent growers, there are a hundred different states of black Aeonium. Not to mention how ugly and leggy it was when I first bought it. Fortunately at that time my taste wasn't so picky!

Aeonium 'Green Yarn' - my new Aeonium favorite. I was drawn in by the Encyclopedia group, so I bought a few cheap small single heads. This one has a ring of small side shoots, a potential bouquet stock. This is how it looks two months after planting. Quite a change, isn't it.

Sedum 'Spring Miracle' - also a new favorite bought this year, especially tough and easy to grow. Not long after planting I put it out for open-air growing, and now it has colored up, becoming more and more beautiful. With itchy hands I also pulled off a few heads and planted them in other mixed pots, and they have already started growing one after another.

As the scorching summer arrives, the succulents are all undergoing the harshest test. Many have taken off their red clothes and changed into green, their condition gone. I only wish for low casualties and a safe summer. But the only one is our family's most precious little succulent now, growing gratifyingly, full of vitality, mischievous every day, making people busy inside and out, not knowing whether to laugh or cry! In the future I will continue moving forward on this road of growing succulents, and I hope that when the baby grows up, she will love succulents and love life just like me!

Finally, let me show two pots of giant succulents grown by grandma: one pot is an old stem of Graptoveria 'Titubans' grown from leaf propagation, and another is a bear tree grown from six leaves. The soil grandma uses for succulents is mostly peat or garden soil. Maybe because it retains water better, they have always grown faster than mine, and not just a little faster. I'm ashamed!

I've rambled on so much, I don't know if anyone actually read to the end carefully. Don't forget to like it for me (′-ω-`). As a mom holding a baby in one arm and stumbling around in the succulent pit with the other, I really need everyone's encouragement. Anyone who likes it is a kind little angel!

If this submission can be published, and if anyone is interested, next time I will also find time to share my method for weaving flower baskets with everyone. Actually it's very simple. As long as you're willing to use your hands, everyone can do it!

Succulent culture needs you and me to promote it! Remember to share good articles more, so more people fall in love with succulents!

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