Welcome to My Little Corner of the World

Family, friends, and acquaintances are now free to stroll my gardens at their leisure. So grab a glass of sweet tea and sit a spell.

Questions, comments, and suggestions are appreciated and welcomed as you stroll through the gardens. Sure hope you enjoy your visit as much as I enjoy your company.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates!!

Ogon is a small succulent plant that can be used as a house plant or as a ground cover.  It's winter hardy and will thrive almost anywhere, but like all succulents, prefers a sandy, dry soil.

If used outside, it will tolerate almost any type lighting - full or part sun as well as shade. But as a houseplant, it should be placed in a sunny window. As with most all succulents it requires less water in the cooler months.

Several years ago, BS gave me a few sprigs off her Ogon. From those few sprigs I had these two pots in a matter of a few weeks. It eventually trailed (can't find those photos) to about halfway down the table and the bottom plant trailed to the floor. Both containers did great for several years and suddenly it began to deteriorate. I have no what caused the deterioration, but I struggled to keep it going - to no avail.

She had told me that wherever you dropped a leaf, a new plant would begin. So I took a few leaves and sprinkled around my elephant ears (one of many gardening mistakes I've made). Sure enough, after a short period, the area around the elephant ears was covered with Ogon, but then it was GONE - quite suddently!!!

But at least I know why I lost that - I was just NOT thinking! The elephant ears require a ton of water and fertilizer on a regular basis and the Ogon requires very little of either .. . . . .how 'duh' can a gardener get????   .therefore, that Ogon gave up the ghost as well . . .so here I was with no Ogon!

Until . . . I went out to my flower pit yesterday and guess what I found? (drum roll please) Yep, a small sprig of Ogon. How it got there, I have no idea. . did the wind take it there? Did a bird take it there? Who knows? And how it's survived with no care, I have no idea . .think maybe this should tell me how to 'care' for it?

Now I'll just enjoy the little "Box of Chocolates" the plant gods gave me . . .and try to propagate more. And much to my chagrin, I have to say BS was right again!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just love being right :-) But I must admit that I learned the hard way that in our Georgia winters you just ignore the stuff. I watered mine one winter and it died. But if you ignore it all winter, it will look a bit straggly but the next spring it bounces back as if it never missed a beat. Actually, I just ignore mine all the time and let it get whatever rain it gets. That's why it's one of my favorite plants.

Norma said...

Thanks for this tidbit about ignoring it . .but I think I realized that I should do that when I saw that twig growing at the flower pit.