Ted's Greenshouse: Cactus and Succulents

One of the main reasons I was looking forward to the 2010 Chicagoland Flower and Garden Show was access to Ted's Greenhouse, the mother of all cheap awesome Cactus and Succulents in the Chicago area. 

This past Sunday, it seemed like MrBrownThumb, Diane and I spent more time on our first go round at Ted's than we did at most of the display gardens. Then, after we made completed our purchase at Ted's and made our way around the rest of the marketplace, we seemed to keep drifting back there over and over again for another look.

I bought $18 worth of plants.  The smaller ones were $2.00 and the slightly larger ones were $3.00.  Bargain!

If you're visiting the Chicagoland Flower and Garden show this week, be sure to stop by Ted's.  They are friendly, helpful and cheap!

Cosmic Flowers

I have no idea why I can't just let the flowers be. 

Are these the coolest flowers ever?  I'm pretty sure if flowers grew on the moon these two would be in there somewhere. 

 Eryngium Blue Sea Holly

 

A creeping Sedum whose name I cannot recall.

Technorati Tags: sea holly,sedum,succulents,gardening,cool flowers

New Plants: Trees and Succulents

I've seen varying reviews of buying plants on Ebay but as of today I'd like to say I'm all for it. I've ordered other stuff from E and all of my buying experiences have been positive but I've only browsed plants for auction, never having the nerve to actually buy one. These 2 pictured below were bought way back in December of 2007. What I loved was the fact that these 2 sellers offered to hold the plants until whatever date that I wanted them shipped. I picked March 15th. In hindsight, I should have waited longer. So, ever since December, I've been sitting around wondering if I just gave away money. I mean of course they wanted their money right away. But just as they promised, these 2 sellers shipped right on time and the plants arrived looking pretty healthy. The one on the left is Purple Smoke Tree and the one on the right is Tamarisk. I fell in love with both these last summer on the garden walk. I ordered one each for GB and myself. I know they are tiny and lord knows how long it will take for them to grow to anything that looks like an actual tree, but they were very affordable and I'm hoping to be able to show them off one day bragging that "these were only a few inches when I planted them."

You may remember me saying I don't like succulents. Well, I changed my mind. These little darlings came from the Chicagoland Flower and Garden show and I think they are just adorable. The one above is Echeveria peocockii. I have no idea what to do with these things so for now they are just hanging out in the kitchen window trying not to die.

Is this the cutest thing you've ever seen? It's called Haworthia reinwartii and I love it.

Echeveria gibbiflora is not happy at my house. I loved the way it looked at the show but it seems to be deteriorating pretty quickly. See how the leaf on the right is sorta shriveling up? I don't know what I did to it but now I'm scared to go near these things. Maybe I'm watering them too much? Maybe I'm not watering them enough?

This is a Jade Tree and I admit I only got one because GB did and I'm a copycat. (good grief my kitchen window is disgusting)