Well, my guest today is Holly Beaumier
from Florence and she has a business
called Growing Hobby, and it's all about succulents.
That's right, and Amanda, thank you for having me.
>> Oh, I'm just delighted. I'm already so excited
about all of this. So, first of all,
what would be an overall definition of a succulent?
Succulents are plants that store water
for drought periods.
And so what are some examples?
- Your typical cacti are succulents, and also aloe.
Most people are familiar with aloe,
and one of the most common
especially like through generations passing them along
are the hens and chicks.
So, these are really cool because there's a center hen
and then the chicks grow around her.
Sometimes you'll see the hen die away so that the chicks
have more room to grow.
>> And I've seen an old yard some that were
kind of gray and flatter.
You said there are many different
types of hens and chicks.
There are. There are and I feel like every year
there are more different types as they hybridize.
>> And this is unusual in that this one
can survive winters outside, Correct.
The others are a little bit cold
Tender. About 40 degrees? >> About 40
I would start bringing in your plants, the succulents.
All right, well, while we're here, should
we talk some about these? Sure, sure.
Another typical succulent is the
trailing type, string of pearls, string of bananas.
This one is string of dolphins, and I just
wanted to bring this along because of the seeds
that it puts out. This is how it
will propagate on its own. You can also just snip
and leave the piece out for a couple of days
and then stick it in the dirt
and you'll have a new plant.
>> - that's one reason that people love these so much.
They're so simple to propagate.
Yes, >> Yeah. Yes,
(laughing)
>> - so are there some in here
that have some other interesting features?
This Haworthia, it's called
Lawyers Tongue or Ox Tongue.
It has these pups growing out, and as soon as those get
a little bit of traction with some roots,
you can cut those off and propagate from there,
and this type of aloe, it's a tiger tooth aloe.
It grows straight up, and it's a type of climbing aloe,
and it also puts out pups.
So you can cut out the pups, and you can also
just cut it in the middle and let it callus
over a little bit, harden up and then just put it
straight in the dirt, also. Is this like an aloe in
that you could break it off and use it.
This you can also use for medicinal purposes. Yes.
Cool. All right.
- then we've got a teeny little delicate one up here.
Yes, that's a string of turtles,
and that's something newer that they came out with.
It's just, it's a type of Peperomia. It's kind of a
pseudo succulent, treated a little bit
more like... a typical houseplant.
>> So you should there even on people who
are doing this and propagating it.
Some of them are protected under a patent
for a certain amount of time.
Yes, yes. So I need to make sure that I
take care and not pull off a couple of leaves
and start a new plant, because that's not my property.
Yeah, no. That's right. Yeah, a lot to be
aware of, and then let's talk a little bit about
the medium that you have them in.
All of the plants that we have
at Growing Hobby are put into a mix of potting soil,
Coco Coir, which is ground up coconut shells,
and a special clay coming out of California.
- that's because of the pH that you want?
The pH and also for drainage.
>> And so, you said that, while most
plants have that little window, you know in the
upper fives and sixes, these prefer a very low pH?
5.5. That's what we're going for.
That's, probably what you find in a lot
of South Carolina soils. Yeah, okay, and then over here
- so, these are cacti and cacti are succulents,
but not all succulents are cacti.
That's correct. Okay. All right.
Well, these all look like they might not have - they might
have something on them that you wouldn't want
to get your fingers.
This one right here. He's Old Man in the Mountain.
He does have thorns, but you can see he also has a beard.
(laughing)
They grow hair,
and the thorns also in part are to help with
shading the plants whenever it gets really sunny.
So, the thorns of course protect it from predators
and then it also provides - it also collects dew
and cuts down on the wind,
evaporating it. >> Yes.
So, there's such thing as too much sun for them?
Oh, there is Yeah, in fact many
of the plants will keep all of their pores
closed during the day. Oh!
Then, they will do their
Photosynthesizing >> - At night. >>
>> Okay! So, all of these have this kind of glaucous look
to them, for that reason, that sun protection?
It is. It's sun protection.
Gosh, isn't that something?
>> Some look like they are just nice and furry,
but those are prickles.
>> Yeah, I was trying them out earlier. I wouldn't.
You know, sometimes those little prickles are
the worst ones. Yeah, yes. Okay. Now cacti,
I guess, are they, they wouldn't be quite as
easy to propagate maybe as one of these fellows?
You'd be surprised.
These guys, you can just cut them in half.
>> Whoa! >> And just put the other half in the ground.
This one would callus over at the top,
but probably grow too?
>> Uh huh. Well, isn't that something these are -
- and these ones like to stay in a grouping.
Their seeds don't travel very far.
They just drop straight down -
So, in nature, you'd find them, right?
They're really handsome. I like that one.
These will grow to about 30 feet tall.
Oh, goodness, and they're native to
different places in the world?
Those would be mountainous.
>> Mountainous? How interesting because we
think of them as, you know, just out in the desert. >> Yes.
So they're really varied in where they grow?
And we were just talking about seeds
and how far they - how far away they fall.
There is a Haworthia here, and this one is really cool,
because it's seed is at the tip of that inflorescence.
So, its goal is to get the seed out
as far away from it as it can, and drop
those seeds so that those seeds have
a chance to live.
>> Now, most of these have low water requirements.
Is that correct? Yes, that is correct.
- and grow in places that are - have a drier soil,
For the most part. Yes, yes.
Now these ones prefer to have shade over them.
>> My goodness.
>> Well, and this one, you said has
the most interesting thing in the world going on?
What would it look like if you stumbled across
it in its native area?
You might not even see it,
if you were going in its native area,
it actually buries itself in the ground. So all you would
see are these tiny little tips up at the top,
and these tips have, we call them
stained glass windows, and they let the sun in,
and, you know, if it only had this much surface
for the sun to do its photosynthesis,
it would have a hard time, but what it does
is it lets all the sun come in and use the
inside of the surface of the leaves
for photosynthesis,
If you were real close to one,
you can put your finger up and see that
it's somewhat translucent, you can see through
- that is just fascinating, and now these are
There are different ways that times of year that they flower,
depending on where they originate. Correct.
>> So this one is really strange.
Let's talk about that.
These are actually from South Africa,
and normally, any of our house plants,
they will have a dormancy period during the winter,
but these guys never forget that they're from South Africa,
and so I was really lucky to have this,
have a flower at this time,
normally it would be in the fall, and I have to make sure
that during the summer, I don't water them very
much because right now they're sleeping.
Yes. Isn't that something. Just remarkable.
So, now these kind of look like
the color of them is, seems like a succulent color.
Yes. Is there a reason that seems
so familiar to us?
I think that these were probably
whenever we thought succulents 10, 15 years ago,
these are the ones that we saw in the stores,
and they've varied so much now,
but these all have a coating. It's like a wax coating.
It's called farina. >> I can. Yeah.
>> and it protects from the sun,
and all of these have that.
There's a couple of types of sedum
and these are echeveria here.
The echeveria and the sedum, they all do very well
in propagating by leaves. So if a leaf were to
fall off like this one did, then it grows roots,
Look at that. and then it'll grow a plant.
So all you have to do is set it on the soil
and it will just grow and you don't even need to water it
until the leaf is completely dried up
because it has everything it needs in that leaf.
Gracious goodness!
What incredible plants, and you know, we think of
them as being so much full sun,
but you're saying that because of where they are,
they often -there's very little moisture in the soil.
So there's not much going around them.
Right, and so they don't get shade
from anything nearby. So that's why they have to come
up with these ideas of how to cut down on sun.
Exactly. I feel like every one of them
has a different character, and I brought these two,
because a lot of times when we buy
from the store, they are just like perfect,
and you bring them home, and maybe two months later,
you're like, What in the world is happening to this
and it starts to get a little bit lakey maybe,
and typically, I like to leave them as they are.
I want them to do their natural thing,
but during the -
and you said the reason that they do
this is to get to reach for the sun
That's correct. So if they don't have
enough sun, particularly during the winter,
then they will start to do this,
and you'll have this happening in your pots in the spring.
So I was hoping that we could cut this one apart
so I can show people what to do whenever they get
this look and they don't care for it.
>> Well, let's play doctor. >> Okay.
(laughing)
So this echeveria is called topsy turvy,
and you can see from the leaves they're...
kind of turned inside out.
They are. It's really quite lovely.
It really is. This is one of my favorites.
Wouldn't that make a neat boutonniere?
>> It would. >> That would be so much fun. Okay,
So, this one had grown out and lost.
There were leaves all through here, last summer,
and it lost those leaves,
and it started to grow additional plants here,
and there's one extra little pup growing here.
So what we would do... Do I need to turn this?
I think that's really good. You're just gonna cut it.
We're just going to cut it.
This part here will live off of the roots and it will,
the stored reserves, in that little
section there, I guess.
And it will be perfectly fine,
and it'll start growing more of these right on the end.
>> Oh, okay, from the cut in. >> Right. >> Okay. >> right.
And then this little guy, I don't want
to disturb him...So I'm just going to leave
some of that stem on there for him,
and then cut him, I'm going to let you hold on to him.
Okay, so he will need to sit on the ground
for about three or four days for it to callus over,
and then you can just stick it in the ground
a little bit, and he'll start growing
>> Now, is he going to grow from the end here?
Or is this going to continue to grow
Both. Both, you'll have. Okay.
and whichever, whichever end
you put into the dirt is where the roots are
going to grow. >> Okay. All righty. >> - then this is
the same, you would leave it on top of the dirt
for a little while, and then just place it in,
and you have a beautiful looking plant again.
Isn't that something? Now, you said
that you enjoy mixing them at your shop
and having different types together?
I do. I do, but I always try to make
sure that I'm doing
>> similar cultural requirements.
Exactly, exactly. So a lot of times
I do just Haworthia types of arrangements,
and there are so many types of Haworthia.
This is my favorite for terrariums, closed terrariums,
and then I'll also take more of this type here
and have those in a single type of arrangement.
Of course, cacti would go in a different
>> Yeah, and then sometimes you
have workshops and you'll do crazy things like
I have some old shoes that I have a much higher heel,
though I don't wear them anymore.
Tell me some of the fun things y'all
do sometimes when you have workshops,
We actually invite our customers to
bring in their old high heeled shoes, that they can't
wear anymore. We drill holes in the bottom so that it
has some sort of drainage, and we make
little mini gardens. So, it's just our little.
Yeah, and other things as well. Yeah,
and all of these do have good drainage. >> Yes.
>> The soil is also very porous. Yes.
Well, I think that they don't need a whole lot
of water either, even around wintertime,
and not picky about sunlight, don't need a
whole lot of fertilizer. Sounds perfect, huh?
(laughing)
They sound like my kind of plant. Yes.
So if people want to know and you have
your location is where?
It's at the Pee Dee State Farmers' Market.
I have a permanent booth there.
All righty,
- and if people want to find out more
about it, the name again is Growing Hobby.
Growing Hobby.
We have a Facebook page.
You do? All right. Okay.
- And if you just google Growing Hobby in Florence,
you can just give me a call.
Okay, and you put pictures there of fun things
y'all do as well.
Oh, yes, absolutely. Well, I can tell that
you're having a good time with this,
and I want to thank you for sharing this fascinating
information with our viewers today.
Well, thank you. I appreciate it.