18: succulents

Dear Friend,

Happy Solstice, (first day of Summer & Winter), and we wish each and every Dad an all-time wonderful day!

Remember the question from last week’s blog/letter: ‘In your opinion, what is the most important thing to have?’

So many answers, each depending on the journey of the answerer: Water, self-esteem, air, peace, friends, time, health, hope, self-awareness … so much to be grateful for.

YOU, for instance. Since every today is celebrate-able, what will you do to celebrate today in your world? Perhaps you are remembering your Dad and his favorite thing to laugh about. Or you could be pulling out your skis (depending on your location, you could be choosing water or snow), or, hey… maybe today’s a good day to adopt a dog or cat or some other little friend. What a great idea!  

If you cannot adopt a furry, feathered, finned or scaled friend, perhaps you’d like to bring home a cute little fuzzy succulent?

As you know, succulents come in many shapes and sizes. They are found growing naturally in well drained soil like in a desert or along the ocean.

They often have beautiful flowers for all to enjoy.

Succulents very rarely bother anyone. They don’t require a lot of fussing.

As long as they are getting plenty of sunshine, succulents can grow outside or in the house. Their leaves absorb moisture and like most plants inside your home, they help filter the air just by being there. (Aloe, one of our favorite succulents, is like growing a fresh and natural first aid kit. The gel in the leaves is a quick balm for cuts, stings and burns).

All cactus are succulents but not all succulents are cactus. Two differences are that cactus produce fruit and also, they typically have prickly leaves (spines) growing out of rows of buds (areoles). Succulents that aren’t cactus might have lots of sharp points but they’ll be growing directly out of the fleshy leaf.

Many succulents have smooth skin, but if you only have one pot or windowsill, you don’t have to choose just one kind, and you don’t have to segregate them, they do ok growing in groups or alone.  (Links to two informative succulent videos follow this blog/letter).

We are grateful that you are here to read Tracks by the Post. Please write if you’d like, tell us what you did today, show us pics of your newly adopted friend and/or succulent garden, let us know how you’re doing, we always enjoy hearing from you!

Frank’s photos are a sweet reminder of the beauty in our natural world. Your smile is, too!

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank

ps: If you are wondering what to do next, maybe you could go hug a dad.

pps: In case you’ve always wanted to grow your own succulent garden, I found a YouTube video that shows how easy it can be. Propagate succulents from leaves and cuttings.

And here’s another video that explains 5 common Succulent mistakes to avoid.