Sordid Tales of the String of Pearls

January 22, 2021January 22, 20211 Comment

When I first started this plant blog nearly three years ago I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. Three year ago me and now me still have that in common. But I know now that I don’t want to do what I did then. One of my early posts here was about Sting of Pearls. Well kind of. There’s a lot of babble about my favorite purse, polka dots, and Jackie Kennedy in that post. I’m not really sure, looking back, what I was going for with all that. But I digress.

I’d been caring for this particular plant for a bout a month and I really thought I had everything figured out. I gave some care tips in between moments of pontification about bourbon and Kate Spade and polka dots. And those care tips are not… inaccurate. If you read about how to care for a Sting of Pearls most places on the internet you will probably read something very similar to what I said.

Care tips to remember?

They love light. Yay light. But it shouldn’t be beating down on them.
Don’t over water. Those little pearls? They soak it up and store it for later.
Those strings? They’re like stems and they’re delicate so be careful with them, but…

And then I went on to explain how easy they are to propagate. Which is actually true.

But what I didn’t spend enough time on is how incredibly fickle this plant is and how easy it is to kill. I’ve said it before, I’m awful with succulents. TRULY terrible with them. But somehow I’m even worse at this particular variety. And so of course I’ve decided to try again. In my late Friday night plant ordering spree I decided to order one each of the plants from my most killed list and document how they’re doing.

New String of Pearls, I shall call you Lucy…

Enter the new Sting of Pearls and what I have not yet verified as the best advice ever, but what came in as a comment on Facebook in a thread in which the plant murder of succulents in general and String of Pearls in specific was being discussed. Emily F. says you have to water these little divas FROM THE BOTTOM UP. Yep. You read that right. So this new lil devil will be cared for using ONLY the bottom up watering method.

Never put water on the top soil. Let them sit in a little bowl of water and it will soak it up from the bottom. But wait until it’s totally dried out before you water it. Like no moisture at all. If it’s say a 6 inch pot that would be around once a month
Emily F plant genius

Will it make a difference? Well I sure hope so.

But wait… there’s more. This String of Pearls and a few other plants we’ll discuss later were delivered by Hammer + Vine yesterday afternoon. They were the second of the orders I made late Friday evening last week. And totally the last plants I’m allowing myself to buy this month. Though I should note that I have a special planter and succulent on order from a cute creepy Etsy shop that has still yet to arrive so look for that good news soon. But that was actually the first plant I bought this year so, it doesn’t count?

Back to the String of Pearls and this plant delivery. Before the order arrived I received an email:

I packed your order myself, the pearls and spider plant have been freshly watered. String of pearls are more prone to rotting than other succulents, at the shop we always hang them right in the window or keep them directly under our grow lights.
Janelle from Hammer + Vine

Now what is this? I had always thought they shouldn’t have the direct light shining right at them. Because, you know, I read it on the internet. But according to Janelle who I am suddenly willing to trust with my plant’s life and perhaps my own direct light is exactly what these fickle high-maintenance little suckers need to keep them from rotting and dying.

So armed with new information from two women who seem to know what they’re talking about I feel like I’m read to start this String of Pearls adventure again with some hope of keeping it alive for the long haul this time.

I mean given my track record here it’s not terribly likely, but anything is possible. Right?

Featured image by Kara Eads on Unsplash

Top three plants most killed by Cami…

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021Leave a comment

I’m not always the best with my plants. The other day as I was sitting at my desk doing some work task or another my partner pointed out that one of my plants wasn’t doing so well. And then… well. He said a thing that will make you gasp.

He asked if I just brought plants home to give them a safe place to die or if I had other ambitions for them.

I’ll give you a moment to recover from the sting of that. It probably feels like you stuck your paw in a prickly cactus. But you know, I’m sure, that sometimes we really do bring plants home just to give them a safe space to die. There are plants that no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to find a way to keep alive. I keep trying, logic be damned. Again and again I kill these poor plants and then, once again, I try.

So to kick off my renewed attempt at plant blogging I present to you the top 3 plants most killed by Cami…

^{Photo by Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash}

Three

The third most murdered plant, thanks to yours truly, is the Alocasia Poly, otherwise known as the African Mask Plant. I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing to kill this cutie, but I’ve had three of them. Before their ultimate demise they always sprout a gorgeous tiny new leaf or two. But then they yellow and wilt and sag and then they ultimately mold a little even though I KNOW I am not overwatering them. I seriously have no idea how but I’ve murdered three.

Two

Sigh. I love love love a Sting of Pearls, also called Senecio Rowleyanus. They’re so precious. Somehow both cute and sophisticated at the same time. I’ve killed them large and small. I should note that this is to be expected because I really have the worst time keeping succulents alive in general. I fuss too much. I worry. I water. I move them around if I think they aren’t happy and then I wind up with string of shriveled peas. Sigh. It’s not a pretty sight. I can propagate a single string of pearls like nobody’s business though.

One

And the number one most murdered plant in Cami plant history… the challenging… the hard to manage… the very very delicate and rare… Spider Plant.

um… can someone check this content please. I think she said Spider Plant but those are literally impossible to kill. You can do anything to them and they thrive.

Yes. Yes I know. But my name is Cami and I kill Spider Plants. It’s shameful. But for some reason they hate me despite the fact that I love them so. Don’t believe me? In September I had this beauty delivered from a local store that sources really good plants. Every other plant they’ve ever sold me is thriving. I love them. Seriously if you’re in Portland please shop from Ecovibe... they’re the best.

I bought this gorgeous piece of plant goodness. In September. It had babies popping out of it when it got here. It was bright and beautiful and healthy. Take a peek:

Big fat bushy cutie. They brought it right to my door with several other plants that are happy and thriving and now that plant… I hesitate to even show you… But, you know. Transparency is good right? Are you sure you’re okay seeing this? It’s really bad. Grisly.

Yeah. Same plant four months later. See…. it’s real bad. It’s dead dead. Not like Dread Pirate Roberts almost done in Princess Bride. It’s like for real a dead lil plant and I killed it.

And even if I wanted to place the blame elsewhere I can’t. I can’t do that. I also can’t tell you how many spider plants I’ve had over the years. I can keep a lot of things alive for a reasonable amount of time. We once had a Betta fish that lived like way longer than its 3 year life expectancy. I think it was like twice as long. But it’s not a spider plant.

I don’t know what else to say here. It’s dead and sad. And I have to be honest and admit I’m getting ready to try again. I’ve been killing the same plant since like 1987. But try try again.

It’s like Groundhog Day and I’m Bill Murray but the only thing I have to do is keep a fucking spider plant alive and I’m still failing. It’s a work in progress and so am I.

This little post is part of my attempt to blog on weekdays for a month. You can read about that right here if you’d like…

(string of) pearls are always appropriate…

June 22, 20181 Comment

In my spare time when I’m not working, or parenting, or partnering, or being completely obsessed with plants, or thinking about how incredibly perfect a nice bourbon can be I spend a fair amount of time appreciating polka dots.

The polka dot is, in my reckoning, the perfect pattern. It’s versatile, clean, sophisticated, and whimsical all at the same time. And when I found that appreciation for polka dots and detached a bit from my goth-girl roots to realize that it’s okay to love polka dots I also invested in one of my first really nice purses. A black and white Kate Spade structured handbag with a pattern of tiny little polka dots. It was the perfect combination of fun and fashionable and every time I picked it up I thought of two things:

First “Wow this is a really nice purse… am I really responsible enough to have this?”

Second for some reason it made me think about Jackie Kennedy who seemed to wear pearls quite often and was famously quoted as saying “Pearls are always appropriate.”

Why am I rambling about polka dots and pearls you ask? Well because the plant I’m going on about today not only looks like a delicate string of green pearls, but is aptly named String of Pearls. Well that’s its common name because it’s a little easier to remember than Senecio Rowleyanus.

Now I tell you the little technical things… at least the little technical things I’ve picked up from the back alley plant dealers. And, you know, internet research and caring for my plant for a whole month.

String of Pearls is a succulent which means that they’re super easy to care for and super simple to propagate. They tend to grow in long dangling strands. Not up, not out. They hang and trail. Beautifully I think. As I said, I’ve only had mine for about a month but so far, so good. I’ve read a few folks complaining about how hard they are to keep alive but mine is as happy as can be.

Care tips to remember?

They love light. Yay light. But it shouldn’t be beating down on them.
Don’t over water. Those little pearls? They soak it up and store it for later.
Those strings? They’re like stems and they’re delicate so be careful with them, but…

If one of those strings happens to pop off it’s time to help that little string be a plant all its own. Gently pop off a few of those pearls and plant the end of the string from which the pearls have been removed into the soil of a new little pot, give it a good first time water, and wait for plant magic to happen.