Episode 253: Succulents and staghorn ferns

Transcript

Episode 253

[music]

Jane: Hello and welcome to On The Ledge podcast. Serious question now: do your succulents suck!? Fear not! We have the perfect interview for you today. I'm your host, Jane Perrone, this is On The Ledge podcast; the houseplant podcast for all your houseplant needs.

[music]

Jane: In this week's show, I chat to Andrea Galbreath, of Just Succ It, to talk all things succulent, including what I'm calling "Hot Glue Gate"! Find out more in my chat with Andrea. A heads-up about an upcoming episode that I want some of you to get involved in. Next month is LGBT+ History Month here in the UK, that's the month of February, and I want to celebrate that community on On The Ledge because houseplants are part of that community, part of the interests of many people in that community, so I really want to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ plus community on this show because I know that that includes quite a few of you and I'd like you to take part if you consider yourself part of that community. How do you take part? Well, it's quite simple, I just want to hear from you in the form, ideally, of a voice memo, roughly about 30 seconds to two minutes long, where you take up the theme "What houseplants mean to me". You can interpret that in whatever way you like. If you are unable to contribute with a voice memo, then you can write down your thoughts and send them to me and either Kelly, my assistant, or I will voice them for you. You can either introduce yourself in whatever way you choose to do so, or you can keep it anonymous, but I want to hear from as wide a range of people in every sense for this episode, so please, please consider putting together a voice memo or a little note for me because, I know, I know, I know you lot; I know you've got something interesting to say about this and I want to hear what it is! So it's time for me to shut up and you to talk!

Thank you to all of you who got in touch about last week's pot hacks episode. Clearly many of you are very on the ball with these wonderful fixes. Bass got in touch to tell me about the people at his parents' church who crochet covers for 500 gram yoghurt pots which are then used for potting up spider plants. I'll put a picture of these in the show notes. They're rather lovely actually! I wish I could crochet. This is the summary of this comment: I wish I could crochet because you can make some amazing things with crochet! So that's one brilliant solution, a crocheted pot, something to fill the long winter evenings with. I also had a lovely audio message from Alice, who is planning to get some upholstery trim, the kind of thing you pick up in a haberdashers, and use that to adorn small plastic nursery pots and make them look better temporarily while that plant is still in the small pot. Again, great idea! I know I've got a whole box full of ribbon and all that kind of stuff that could certainly be pressed into service. Thanks to everyone who got in touch about the episode and shared their cool solutions to the pot problem that we all face, and keep them coming - love to hear some more suggestions.

Leslie, Christine and Dorothy all became Ledge-ends this week and they will have the privilege of listening to an extra chunk of chat with my guest today, Andrea Galbreath, where we get into the nuts and bolts of running a succulent business, including Andrea's incredible battle with a major global corporation. Fascinating stuff. So that's one of the bonuses of becoming a Patreon at the Ledge-end or Superfan level: you get access to extra stuff, plus ad-free episodes of the main show and, of course, the warm, fuzzy feeling of supporting a planty podcast!

[music]

Jane: When you look at Andrew Galbreath's social media presence, you cannot fail to be uplifted by her wonderful sense of humour, top tips and just general brilliance. Andrea is based in Southern California and her business, Just Succ, brings succulents to places where no succulents have been before, which is the kind of thing I love. Let's bring succulents into everybody's life because we all need them, whether we know it or not!

Jane: Andrea, thanks for joining me, talking about one of my favourite topics: succulents! You live in Southern California, so, succulent central, I imagine!? Is that why you decided to make succulents the focus of your planty business?

Andrea: Well, it was an accident that I became obsessed with succulents. Like you said, I'm in Southern California and we are always in a drought, so I decided I was going to transform my front yard into a drought tolerant oasis and that's when I started learning about succulents. Initially, it was primarily the landscaping succulents, like Agaves and Aloes, but when I went to a specific nursery not too far from my home, that's when I discovered Echeverias and Graptopetalum and Sedums and different cacti, and I just became obsessed. Succulents are actually the only plant, up until then, that I could keep alive, so that was the bonus!

Jane: I don't blame you. I think succulents are amazing for lots of reasons I'm sure we're going to go into in this interview. I think a lot of people have this misconception from the start that they either don't need any water at all, or you just give them a little tiny dribble, a little pipette full of water and that'll do, but that's not how to water a succulent, as you and I know! What's your watering regime and how do you make sure they've had a really good drink?

Andrea: There is this myth that succulents don't need water because people think that they're all desert plants and there's never any rain in the desert, so they think they can just get their succulent and then not give it water. But firstly, there are over 10,000 different kinds of succulents and they grow in many different climates and, yes, succulents do store water somewhere in their tissue, but they need water to thrive. So the best way to water any succulent is to give it lots of water, all at once, and then let the soil dry out completely. That's it. There are some succulents that can go longer than others, but the rule of thumb is to give it lots of water. Check the soil and if it's still a little bit moist, wait a little bit longer, and if it's bone dry, soak it.

Jane: The thing that goes really wrong also with succulents, in the winter, is that moment where somebody proudly shows you their succulent and it's clearly, I'm going to turn it into a verb, 'fireworked' to some amazing shape that really it shouldn't be in because of not enough light. This is such a common problem, I'm sure even in Southern California you get this issue. How do you recommend people proceed if they do get a succulent that's gone a bit 'explodey'!?

Andrea: Yes. So what you're describing is a succulent that has not received enough light. So, when a succulent is not getting enough light, it starts to stretch, and a lot of times, people who are not familiar with succulents will think their succulent is growing, which is mind-boggling to me, especially for a plant like an Echeveria or any of those cute little rosette plants. It's like people forget what their plant looked like when they got it! There's actually nothing that can be done to fix a stretched-out succulent. So there are two options. One is to just throw the whole plant away and get a new one and either get grow lights to help it if you're keeping it indoors, or put it some place else, where it gets more light. Or, you can take the plant that's stretched out and try to propagate it because propagating is fun! So a plant like an Echeveria, you can take the leaves off and see if the new plant will grow from the leaf, or the stem can be cut in a lot of different places and then placed on some soil and roots will grow and buds will grow from the stem. So it is possible to get many new plants from one stretched-out succulent.

Jane: Yes. It's just an excuse, I guess, to make some more! They are so generous with the way they reproduce that you can have loads of fun with that too. One of the other things I love looking at on your social media, is your styling of succulents. I am extremely boring! My idea of excitement is having a pot that's a slightly different shade of terracotta from the other pots! So I'm taking inspiration from you here! I particularly liked your sneaker - or as we say here in the UK, 'trainer' - that you spray-painted gold and filled with succulents, so I'm interested in how you come up with these ideas and if you've got any other sorts of gems to share on that front?

Andrea: Well, my toxic trait is that I think I can use anything as a planter! I just see something really cool and I think, "Okay, I can plant succulents in that!" But mostly that's because succulents can thrive anywhere if they have soil, light and water. So I'll just see something that I think is really cool and I will make an arrangement out of it. The cleat that you're talking about was an old cleat and I thought this would be a really good way to take a memento from a child's life and to and turn it into something with meaning. So I took that cleat, I had some random gold metallic spray paint and I decided to spray the shoe to see how it turned out and it looked beautiful and then I just put succulents in it! I think it'd be a great way for parents, or aunts, or even kids who want to give a gift to their parents - they can plant their shoes! It's also upcycling, when you think about it, so we're keeping things out of the landfill when we use them as planters.

Jane: Yes and probably good drainage too, if it's a holey old pair of trainers! I'm sure I've got a few pairs like that that I could press into service as plant containers - definitely! The other thing that you seem to do very beautifully, are these succulent arrangements where you're turning succulents into different shapes, making them into a wreath, or other shapes, but I think this has caused a bit of controversy on your social media? Can we talk about Hot Glue Gate please, Andrea!?

Andrea: Yes! It's amazing to me that people will see cut flowers that will die in ten to fourteen days and they don't think anything of it, but then when they see me cutting the roots off a succulent and then gluing it to a moth topiary, they get up in arms. The beauty of succulents is that you can cut the roots off them and they will grow back and I like to create art out of them. Succulents will live for months and even years on moss. One of my most popular designs is a succulent Christmas tree and I use Cobweb sempervivum with green plants and it looks like they have cobwebs on them. To me, it reminds me of snow. So I glue them to a moss topiary and they can be on that tree for a year or two with the right lighting and with some water. Then the thing about using moss, is that the succulent can be removed from the moss and then planted the same way that you would plant any other succulent because the roots grow back. So it's a really fun way to increase your succulent collection, to buy a wreath, or some kind of design where succulents are glued to the moss, and then you can enjoy the beauty of succulent art, living art, and then when you're tired of looking at it, take it off and plant it.

Jane: Yes, that is very true. They really are, unlike a bouquet of flowers, they're something that you can then keep alive and enjoy in lots of different ways. That's really cool. I think one of the other things I saw on your website, was wedding-type offerings? I imagine that's a popular one because people spend a lot of money on wedding flowers but, again, you're getting something that lives on, which is great.

Andrea: Unlike cut flowers you don't have to worry about them wilting the day of, which I've seen happen at weddings. I've used succulents in boutonnieres, I made some for two grooms that got married and they had a superhero theme. So I glued a little Lego Batman and Lego Superman to their boutonnieres and two years later they're still sending me photos of their succulents that are alive and have tripled in size because it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Jane: That's really sweet that you can have that memory living on. That's really great. I'm trying to bring back the buttonhole because, in the writing of my book, I discovered that Hoyas, which are kind of a member of the succulents, were actually quite popular in Victorian times. The flowers were quite popular in buttonholes, so I'm trying to revive the idea of Hoya flowers in buttonholes. I have actually bought myself a silver buttonhole brooch thing, so when my Hoyas next flower, I'm waiting to be able to enjoy that!

Andrea: I'm going to need a picture!

Jane: Yes, we need more buttonholes! I think it's a great thing. They're not just for weddings, right? You could spruce up any kind of outfit with a beautiful succulent boutonniere! That would be lovely.

Andrea: Yes! I've not made one myself, but I've seen headbands with succulents and necklaces. Actually I was going to be on a game show that required a costume and I was going to make a succulent headpiece - and I was gluing succulents on burlap - and make it like one of those pageant sashes and have succulents all down. There's so much that you can do to wear succulents, but maybe next time, my next opportunity to be on a game show!

[music]

Jane: We'll be back for more chat with Andrea shortly, but now it's time for Question of the Week and, as sometimes happens, a question came in and it was outside my realm of expertise. So I called on fern expert, Peter Blake, to help. Peter is the Treasurer of the British Pteridological Society, the big fern society here in the UK. He's also the leader of the East Anglia group within that society and a tropical fern grower and expert and a grower of Staghorn Fern, so he was perfectly positioned to answer this question. If you are interested in indoor ferns, do check the show notes, where I'll put a link in to get signed up for the indoor tropical ferns newsletter of the BPS, which is well worth subscribing to. Anyway, let's start my chat with Peter and find out the question and his answer.

Jane: Well, thanks so much for joining me and I do get a fair few Staghorn Fern questions on the show and this one intrigued me because it really made me think about how these plants grow. The question comes from Sally and Sally found that a Staghorn Fern that she had mounted on a piece of wood fell off and then she came to remount it and had a sudden thought: "Gosh, which way up does it go?" because it had grown fronds and obviously went off the mount, it'd changed shape, so she wasn't quite sure how to deal with this. I guess the question is, is there an up-side and a down-side to the alignment of a Staghorn Fern, obviously bearing in mind that this is something that's not growing on the ground but on a tree or similar?

Peter: Yes, I think that's the most important thing to remember because nowadays they've become quite commonly sold in garden centres and almost always as potted plants and they do not really like growing as potted plants. So Sally was absolutely right to have it mounted. My own preferred method of growing them is actually in wire baskets and then, to some degree, they can sort themselves out. But, as Sally pointed out there, they grow these large circular shield fronds at the back, which don't have an obvious top and bottom to them, and the dangly fronds that come out that look like the Staghorn Fern are actually the fertile fronds that can bear spores. Although they don't look like they creep, these ferns actually have what's called a creeping rhizome, so there is a top and a bottom to them and the rhizome usually grows upwards, in other words, towards the sky. They're generally fixed on trees and so they're used to a lot of light and drying winds and the purpose of the shield fronds and the purpose also of the grey, sort of felt-like material on the fronds, is to protect them from sun and from drying out. So they do have a top and a bottom. If you look very carefully where the fertile fronds come out of the shield fronds, you can sometimes see the next emerging fronds. It's just a little grey blob perhaps only 3 mm or 4 mm across and that is effectively the top of the plant, that is the bit that should be most skyward when you come to remount it or mount it on a basket or something like that. So yes, they do have a top and the bottom. I've never tried planting one upside down myself, so I don't actually know what happens, but I suspect they will adapt because I have a couple that have been growing for 15 years in baskets, who have gone completely round the basket and underneath it and yet they still continue to produce fronds very happily. So I think they're very adaptable and in nature they will grow under a branch on a tree just as much as they will grow on top of it, or on the trunk of the tree.

Jane: Yes, I suppose in nature there's the possibility that a branch might shift or might end up going from being the "right way up" to upside down just through the nature of their existence, so they probably, as you say, have to be quite adaptable. It's interesting about the creeping rhizome. We're used to seeing relatively small specimens grown as houseplants, but I'm guessing, in the wild, that these Platyceriums can get absolutely enormous?

Peter: Oh yes. Mine - I generally got them around the end of the noughties, so they'll mainly be 12/15 years old - I would say the smallest is about a metre across and the largest is probably a metre-and-a-half across. That is because as they have grown, they've multiplied and there's not just one growing point, but several. So you end up with perhaps three or four plants on your board, or three or four plants growing on the size of the baskets you're using to hang them in and then they make a big spread. So they're not something to be approached without thought as to where you're going to put it. Also, they can get very heavy, so you need to have a good think of where your board can be securely hung up or your basket securely hung, because when they're watered these things can become really quite weighty plants.

Jane: Is that why you prefer to have yours in wire baskets because it's easier to secure them safely without worrying about getting knocked on the head by one?

Peter: It is. Also, they drain better. What Platyceriums like is moisture, but complete, free drainage and, preferably, they like to pretty well dry out between waterings. So something that's in a basket is more likely to do that and if you use a handful of ordinary compost with a handful of chipped bark and some chopped up sphagnum moss, that will be the right sort of compost for them because that will hold moisture but not actually be sodden and it will drain through quite well. In the winter you don't need to water them so much, perhaps only every three or four weeks. In the summer I generally water them once a week. The point Sally made about hers dropping off is quite common. That is a way that Staghorn move themselves around, as it were. They have what they call pups, which detach from the main plant and then you find them on the floor the next day. Rather alarmingly, you might find them and look inside the cut shield ferns and not see any roots and yet the plant continues to exist. Recently I have found one of these, potted it up, on the outside of a perforated pot that you use for plants in a pond, they're black plastic jobs, and that has now taken, grown into the compost on the inside of the pot by going through the holes and the perforations in the pot itself, so it is a method of them spreading themselves around.

Jane: Well, I'm really glad that you've cleared up this problem for Sally. Is there anything else about Platyceriums that you want to tell us about before I let you go?

Peter: If you do grow them, keep your eye open for scale insect. It's about the only disease that is really bad for them and it is a natural host of one of the scale insects called Pinnaspis aspidistrae, which looks like little grains of sugar on the fronds of the fern. They're white and its common name in Australia where it comes from is the coconut scale because it looks like desiccated coconut. That scale insect can cause a lot of damage and, if you do get it, then you need to water your plant or indeed soak the whole plant briefly in a vine weevil killer, Imidacloprid.

Jane: That's fascinating to know and something, maybe, that you're not probably looking for - scale that look like pieces of coconut. You're looking for the sort of traditional, brown scale that you get on other houseplants. Quite easy to miss, I can imagine, until you've got a bad infestation?

Peter: That's right and, in fact, the white scales of the males and the females are brown and pretty invisible but it's the males that you see.

Jane: Yes, that's a good warning for anyone with a Platycerium that needs some extra attention. But at least we know which way around to hang them now! That's brilliant. Thank you so much, Peter, for joining me!

Peter: Okay, thank you!

Jane: If you've got a question for On The Ledge podcast, you probably know what to do but I'll tell you anyway! Drop an email to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com with all the salient info and I'll do my best to get an answer, give an answer and solve all your problems. Well, maybe not all of them!

Now it's time to head back to my interview with Andrea Galbreath, talking about the wonderful, wonderful world of succulents!

Jane: I have often wanted to dress as a String of Pearls for Halloween! That's the ultimate horror Halloween costume, as far as I'm concerned, because, quite frankly, the number of those plants that I see being tortured by people, that's a true horror for me, so I want to dress as a String of Pearls!

Andrea: String of Pearls are so beautiful but they are not a good plant for people who don't have a lot of experience with succulents. They're just going to get their heart broken. People usually lose around three or four String of Pearls before they figure out how to keep them alive.

Jane: So true. It's heartbreaking to watch because you look at it and you go: "It isn't going anywhere! It's just going to die!" and they have some idea that it's because light is falling on the wrong part of the plant and you're just, like: "No, it's because it's got no drainage and it's in a plastic pot and it's in the wrong substrate," and, oh, it's torture! It's real torture. What would you recommend for people who have killed a lot of String of Pearls and they need something else that's a bit more straightforward? What would you recommend?

Andrea: For a first-time succulent parent, I always recommend Snake Plants, Haworthias, Gasteraloes or Gasterias because they can handle a healthy amount of neglect, they can handle lower-light conditions and they're really good at building confidence for people who've never taken care of a succulent, or if they have a history of killing plants. Then, once they get a handle on that, then there are succulents like Echeverias that are easier to care for than others, especially if they can keep them outside, like the Echeveria lola, that one can handle a lot. Then, my other favourite one for people to start with is called an Agavoides Lipstick and it can handle lower light. It still needs a lot of light, and they may not have the colour that it would get if it was in a lot of light, but it doesn't stretch the same way. So those are the two Echeverias that I recommend starting with.

Jane: Yes, they're really beautiful ones. I say that - I've just lost my Lipstick in the cold snap, so I'm a little bit bitter about that!

Andrea: Oh, you did?

Jane: Yes. It's okay. They're pretty easy to get hold of. I can start again, but it's just one of those plants that I should have really brought inside and didn't bring inside and severely regretting it being out in my greenhouse, but there we go! We live and learn! Even though I keep String of Pearls alive, we all make mistakes.

Andrea: We do.

Jane: That was a particularly bad one, but we've had a really cold winter this winter here, so it hasn't been pleasant. I'm guessing in Southern California you have some pretty amazing outdoor succulent gardens to enjoy?

Andrea: We do. We have beautiful succulent gardens. We also have award-winning growers here, who create hybrids. So I feel really lucky that I can just go down the road and see so many cool-looking plants. Then, because they grow in abundance here, we have a newspaper called Craigslist and it's basically this place where people put ads for free and people are always giving away succulent cuttings. So I can find some really cool Euphorbias, or fun cacti that have just grown out of control and people cut them and say, "Come pick them up, for free!"

Jane: Oh my gosh! I want to live in Southern California! That sounds amazing! That's just so up my street, although I'd have so many succulents I'd be literally, like, weighed down and overcome and covered in plants, I think, if I lived there! It just sounds amazing. Are there any particulars that are your absolute favourites?

Andrea: Well, I can't choose just one, but my top three are the Echeveria lola and here it's a pretty common succulent, but there's just something about the leaves and the colour that, whenever I see one at a nursery, I buy it, even when I don't need it! I'll either keep it for a little bit and then give it away, but they're absolutely beautiful. Then there's an Aeonian nobile and, it might be FOMO, but they're not very common, so I just try to collect them and I actually have a goal of having one of the biggest Aeonium nobile collections in the area. I go to nurseries all the time, but I've actually only ever seen them at a nursery three times, so I always snatch those up. They're just big and beautiful and just incredible plants. Then the other one is another Aeonium called an Aeonium Sunburst, but I love it because it's just a happy-looking plant! It's yellow and green with a little bit of pink and it gets big. Succulents can come in a lot of different colours, but landscaping succulents are usually like the greens and the blue/greens. Of course there's some Kalenchoe with colour, but an Aeonium in an Aeonium garden just adds so much fun colour and just looking at it makes me happy!

Jane: Yes, they are really cool plants. Those Nobile ones, I'm obviously not suggesting for a moment that anyone eats one, but they look kind of scrummy! I just want to go, "Hmm, yes, it's so nice!" I just love them. The other one that makes me react in the same way to that, and maybe is one of my favourite succulents, is the Pachyphytum, the kind of moon glow, pebbly type, silvery-pinkish succulents. I think they are gorgeous too, although mine, I like them when they're small, when they get mature and you lose... Well, I suppose they're characterful once they've got stems on them but I like them when they're little babies. That's when I think they're really particularly cute and adorable. Those ones I did bring inside, so I've still got those, I'm glad to say. I do love Gasterias as well, I have to say. Good tip for, as you say, for beginners. I have a really nice Gasteria which is very slow-growing but really nice, called Mount Fuji, which is a variegated one. I really like that plant actually. It doesn't seem to grow. I don't know if it's just my care, but it puts out half-a-leaf every year and just sits there looking majestic, but that's another one of my real favourites. I guess it's probably because it's variegated it's a bit slower, but that's a really good one. I also wanted to bring up something else that I saw on your Instagram that involved, I guess I might call it the mega-succulent; the Agave! There's some pretty large Agaves in Southern California, I bet, but one of the things that I saw was this technique of 'pineappling'? Can you explain to listeners like me who have no idea what that means? What do you do when you "pineapple" an Agave?

Andrea: Well, here in California, of course, succulents are really popular and Agaves are low-maintenance plants, so people like to use them in their yard. Unfortunately, they don't always know what kind of Agave they're getting, or they'll buy one when it's small, not realising that it grows to ten feet wide sometimes, like a Century Plant! They'll plant it way too close to a sidewalk, or where there's a lot of people traffic. So, to mitigate the possibility of somebody being impaled by one of those very dangerous spikes at the end, they will chop off the leaves and over time the base starts to look like a pineapple, so it's called 'pineappling'. Sometimes people will do it intentionally because, when it's cut right and they're not just chopping off all the leaves, it actually does look kind of cool, but most of the time, people do it because they didn't plan properly and they just put it way too close to where people walk.

Jane: There must be a number of admissions to hospital every year from people falling onto Agaves in California? They are so lethal! Here in the UK, in the milder areas where some of these plants can grow outside, I'm thinking of specifically visiting the Isle of Wight, which is off the South Coast. They had a load of these Agaves in this children's theme park and I was thinking, "Wow, that's brave!" What they'd done, was all of them had corks on those spikes, which is great, but I'm thinking they must have to be a bit quick with the corks for the next set of leaves, especially kids who are perhaps at eye-level with the spike, but that was their solution - they just stuck a cork on it!

Andrea: They are really painful. I do help people plan succulents for their yard and if they tell me they have kids, I don't suggest Agaves, especially if the kids are going to be in the areas because they trip, they fall, or they think it looks really cool and they go to touch it and the next thing you know, they're screaming and crying.

Jane: Oh my gosh! When I was researching my book, I found a whole series of papers on removing Opuntia spines from the Bunny Ears Cactus. There was a whole, like, set of papers about statistics on how many people would come in with this injury and what methods they use. I'm sure it's the same for Agave spiking incidents as well?

Andrea: Yes, but actually Opuntia is more common in people because some of them look like they don't have spines but they do, they have glochids. I think that's how you pronounce it. I actually use tape. We'll use tape and put it on and then rip it off and it takes them out. A lot of people do that here.

Jane: Yes, tape is very good. Do you call them band aids? Plasters is the other thing. You know the old-school ones? Not these plastic ones, the old school plasters that were, like, really strong, but duct tape works really well as well. I think that's another good solution. There's just nothing worse than that. I always find, throughout the year, most of the year, I will have at least one or two spines in my fingers that are gradually working their way out. When you work with succulents, it's just the nature of the job!

Andrea: I'm impressed that it only happens to you one or two times a year. I think, for me, it happens one or two times a week!

Jane: Exactly! I think what I mean is there's, at any one time, I have one or two spikes throughout. It's a constant presence. They're gradually working their way out and then I'll have another one by the time it comes out! We deal with that because these are such cool plants, there's so much else going for them and, of course, there are lots of totally non-spiney ones to enjoy, which is exciting: some that look kind of spiney, but aren't, like a lot of the Sempervivums, I think, don't really cause you any damage at all. Some that look spiney that are actually quite tactile. I do like to have a stroke of my Rat Tail Cactus which is really soft and nice to touch, so they can be quite tactile. You have to be a bit careful with that flowery surface that some of the grey succulents have, right?

Andrea: Yes, the Farina, because it acts as a protectant for them, then, once you touch it, it takes years for it to come back.

Jane: Absolutely. That's kind of annoying if you've got an absolutely perfect plant and it's got a big thumb print on it. I've done that one before.

Andrea: I know. So annoying!

Jane: Well, it's been a delight to meet you, Andrea, and to hear all about your succulent adventures! I hope the glue gun controversy dies down and people just let you get on with making your fantastic displays! Thanks so much for joining me today.

Andrea: Thanks for having me. This was fun!

[music]

Jane: Thank you so much to Andrea. Do remember, if you're a Ledge-end or Superfan, you can go and listen to our planty business chat over on Patreon now. That is all for this week's show. I will turn up next Friday like the proverbial 'bad penny' to bring you more houseplanty joy. In the meantime, have a fantastic week. See you, bye, bye, see you, bye, bye, love you, bye, see ya, goodbye, bye!

[music]

Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll, by The Joy Drops, The Road We Used To Travel When We Were Kids, by Komiku and Whistle, by Benjamin Banger. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons. Visit the show notes for details.

Subscribe to On The Ledge via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Stitcher, Overcast, RadioPublic and YouTube.

---

Become a Patron!

Support Me on Ko-fi

I talk succulents with Andrea Galbreath of succulent gift and design company @justsuccit, and I’m joined by fern expert Peter Blake to answer a question about a staghorn fern.

Patreon subscribers at the Ledge End and Superfan tiers can listen to An Extra Leaf 105 now, where I talk about the ups and downs of running a planty business.

Celebrating the LGBTQIA+ houseplant community

February is LGBT+ history month, so I’ll be devoting an episode on February 27 to celebrating the incredible houseplant community among LGBTQIA+ people - and I want to hear from you! Record a voice memo 30 seconds to 2 minutes long, taking up the theme ‘what houseplants mean to me’. Send your recording (or a written message if you don’t want to talk) to me at ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com by February 16.

This week’s guest

Andrea Galbreath ships succulents across the US from her business Just Succ It in southern California. She’s on Insta, Twitter and TikTok.

Andrea’s succulent shoe arrangement. Photograph: Just Succ It

Check out the shownotes as you listen…

• For first time succulent parent, Andrea recommends snake plants (Sansevieria), Haworthia, Gasteria and Gasteraloe.

• She recommends Echeveria for slightly more experienced parents - such as Echeveria 'Lola' and Echeveria agavoides, aka the lipstick Echeveria.

• When it comes to watering succulents, it’s better to give them a deep soak once they have dried out, than occasional dribbles. Use a hose, put them in a sink or bucket, making sure that the substrate gets completely soaked, then drain.

• Andrea says anything at all can be turned into a succulent planter - like this sneaker/trainer - pictured left - which Andrea spraypainted gold.

• Andrea creates succulent arrangements by cutting roots off succulents and sticking them to topiary shapes using hot glue - like her succulent Christmas tree (pictured below).

• This succulent living art has sparked some controversy, but Andrea points out that this display will last for months or years, and the succulent can be removed and replanted and the roots will grow back.

• If you want to see my Hoya flower boutonnière/buttonhole, it’s on my Instagram here.

• Andrea talks about ‘pineappling’ agaves - see a picture of this technique here.

Andrea’s Christmas tree succulent. Photograph: Just Succ It.

---

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Sally got in touch about her staghorn fern (Platycerium) which had fallen off its mount: she wanted to check which way up it should be mounted. I turned to Peter Blake, the treasurer of the British Pteridological Society and an expert on indoor ferns, for an answer. He owns a number of magnificent staghorn fern specimens.

Peter explains that staghorns can grow any way up on trees as they grow in nature, but there is an up and and down - it’s a case of identifying the round, convex ‘shield’ frond at the base (which is sterile) and looking for the point where the new staghorn-shaped, dangly fertile fronds are emerging - this is the top of the plant, that should be skyward when mounting.

Staghorn ferns have creeping rhizomes which become apparent as they age - the rhizome grows upwards towards the sky. Platyceriums are often sold as potted plants, but they prefer to be mounted - Peter grows his in wire baskets, which gives them extra support as they mature. They can get very large as the number of growing points increases.

Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue.

---

---

HOW TO SUPPORT ON THE LEDGE

Contributions from On The Ledge listeners help to pay for all the things that have made the show possible over the last few years: equipment, travel expenses, editing, admin support and transcription.

Want to make a one-off donation? You can do that through my ko-fi.com page, or via Paypal.

Want to make a regular donation? Join the On The Ledge community on Patreon! Whether you can only spare a dollar or a pound, or want to make a bigger commitment, there’s something for you: see all the tiers and sign up for Patreon here.

• The Crazy Plant Person tier just gives you a warm fuzzy feeling of supporting the show you love.

• The Ledge End tier gives you access to two extra episodes a month, known as An Extra Leaf, as well as ad-free versions of the main podcast on weeks where there’s a paid advertising spot, and access to occasional patron-only Zoom sessions.

• My Superfan tier earns you a personal greeting from me in the mail including a limited edition postcard, as well as ad-free episodes.

If you like the idea of supporting On The Ledge on a regular basis but don't know what Patreon's all about, check out the FAQ here: if you still have questions, leave a comment or email me - ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. If you're already supporting others via Patreon, just click here to set up your rewards!

If you prefer to support the show in other ways, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also tweet or post about the show on social media - use #OnTheLedgePodcast so I’ll pick up on it!

CREDITS

This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, The Road We Use To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku and Whistle by BenJamin Banger (@benjaminbanger on Insta; website benjaminbanger.com).