Potting Plants

The plants on the top floor are in desperate need of help. On the deck, there's a completely dead manzanita that needed replacing and the succulents have been taken over by weeds. Inside, my dracaena tree would no longer stand up on its own.

So first things first, I went down to home depot to pick up a bag of soil and a replacement tree/bush for the manzanita.  I chose a mexican key lime, which can get from 4 to 6 feet in height. 

Once home, I started with the dracaena. This poor tree has seen better days.  It will never be the majestic beauty that it was before it blew over and the top snapped off but it is doing its best, all things considered.

This is really a two part fix.  Today I just focused on the tree itself, later I am going to rebuild the case that it goes in. As you can see it needs to be propped up to stand.

The soil that I used last time I transplanted (when it went in the box) was too light and mulchy and wouldn't pack down enough to hold the tree in place.

I had not watered recently, knowing that I had this project on the horizon. The soil easily fell away from the roots. 

I replanted with this soil and it now stands up on its own. Somehow I forgot to take a picture but I will show you how it looks when I finish the top of the box rebuild.

Next up was this classy specimen. Nothing says "home" like dead plants...

This, btw, is its companion that survived the transplant. It is the happiest it has ever been because it loves sun and no water. Perfect, nothing to screw up here.

The succulent pot had been taken over by oxalis, the bane of all gardeners.

These things keep sinking lower and lower in the pot.  Over the summer I'll probably replant these with more soil and add some new ones.