Hypertufa project - FINISHED!

Since I got this hypertufa+sempervivums+hardy+succulents idea in my little head, I kept thinking about it. And how cool such a thing would look at my kitchen window, outside, on the 8th Floor.
Crazy?
Nope!
Here it is!
First, I searched online for how-to, recipes, ideas, etc.
Then I tried to find the ingredients.
Not easy...like a recipe from a cookbook, it's hard to find all ingredients here.
Finally the recipe was something like cement+perlite+sand+dried&sifted peat based mix.
Then, the problem was with the mold. I used wood boards etc.
Then I mixed the mix, then carefully made the troughs... a small problem was the walls kinda separating from the mold and leaning inside.
Well, the final result was OK... I am pleased!

After patiently waiting for a few weeks I got them out of the molds, filled them up with a mix rich in gravel and some perlite and then skillfully and artistically planted the sempervivums.

Thinking I still have some space left, I added some Thlapsi stylosum and some cute Sedum. And of course pebbles, rocks, stones :)

Hypertufa troughs

Here's the metal bad my brother gave me for... support.
He also helped me drill the holes for the screws.

Here's the BEFORE pic, with the potted Sempervivums.... waiting for a nicer, cozier home.

Here's the view from my kitchen with the troughs already fixed.

And the AFTER pics!

I spotted a spotted surprise

Indeed. I spotted it, but it was already spotted :)
This Tricyrtis (maybe hirta?) proved to be a really nice, although very belated surprise.
I got it in a trade, not sure by what means, and I said to myself, whatever, let's see what it can do.
I have (well, HAD - it didn't come back this spring, and I really have no idea why) this Tricyrtis latifolia with brownish/yellowish blooms. Didn't really fancy it. So when I got another Tricyrtis I wasn't too excited about it.
Planted it in a really shady place, under a plum tree, in poor soil and I let it be.
And here it is, a few days ago... full of buds&blooms!

A bit too late...

Has it ever happened to you that a particular plant, new to you and your garden, made up it's blooming mind a bit too late? Exactly when cold weather sets in and kills everything?
Well, it's not really that cold now, but we've already had a couple of nights in the below zero degrees.

Here's two that I really wanted to see what they bloom like.

A hardy Hibiscus (which was a bit too small this summer, so there's another chance next year).
I knew the bud wouldn't open, so I gave it a hand. 

And a Calotropis gigantea - grown from seed, in premiere. The buds formed quite a few weeks before the cold spell, but they were just stubborn and never opened.
Each time I would visit the garden, I would first go to check behind the thick and large leaves.
Nothing!

I was curious anyway to see what the crown inside looks like.

I may not be a Lady, but I've got a slipper

I've been checking on the biggest one (I got 4 in total) for over as month, since I saw the tiny flower bud.
I am not an orchid fan, but I just think this Paphiopedilum is just gorgeous.
And the fact that I had (and still don't have, for the other 3) a clue about pattern or color.... I was pleasantly surprised to see it's a real dark one.
Kinda hard to take good pics.
But here's some!

 

The set

My green thumb has turned black

Let me explain.

There's a new plant on my not-too-long "finicky plants" list.
It was one of my loved plants, a succulent, producing a spiraling rosette, great blooms - what more could I ask for? Well... for good-behavior.

This Aloe polyphylla has driven me mad. I just can't keep it alive in a pot - the only environment it could ever survive in). If ever!

I think I always over-water. But then, it can't be (only) me! I got other succulents, watered just about in the same fashion, and they seem to thrive.

This particular one, is not the first casualty but definitely the last! The succulent world is immense so I am sure I can find another candidate for the empty pot.

A thorny one

Yes, a thorny one, but a nice performer nonetheless.
It is the second year I've grown this - although this year it was just one single volunteer from scattered seeds.

I'm talking about Solanum sisymbriifolium.

OK. Wikipedia says "prickles" (erroneously called thorns).

English has got so many words. Spikes, thorns, prickles, spines...

Well. Like I said, I got one plant, a volunteer (probably I wasn't too excited about it's performance last year). But I'm happy one little seed was stubborn and tried to impress me once more. Glad it did.

The specimen is quite tall, well over 1.5 m and full of blooms, even now, this late in the fall, when most plants are thinking about the long winter sleep.

And PRICKLES. All over it. Stems, leaves, fruit. Ahhh, the fruit. I don't think it tastes much like a "Litchi tomato".