(calm music) - [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies.

With additional support from the following companies.

The Ball Horticultural Company.

Cal Flowers.

Design Master Color Tool.

Golden Flowers.

Sunshine Bouquet.

And TheRibbonRoll.com.

- On today's Life In Bloom, we'll explore the wonderful world of succulents.

We'll tour a succulent farm, I'll show you how to host a make and take planting party, and we'll visit one of my favorite places for a succulent-inspired cocktail.

(upbeat music) I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to Life In Bloom.

"In all things of nature "there is something of the marvelous."

What is a succulent?

It's not a flower per se, but the shape and form of the succulent makes it look like a flower and many times we use it as one.

Today, we'll be talking about succulents.

The word succulent means juicy and the leaves themselves are juicy.

There's a lot of moisture inside.

So succulents refer to all these different types.

But they can be different.

They can have little tiny leaves or they can have elongated leaves.

You'll notice that most of them have a radial appearance that looks almost like a rose.

And there's all different colors.

Dark green, light green, even ones that look purple.

They thrive in a dry climate so they're very drought tolerant and that makes them easy to care for.

One of the things I like about them is that they represent wealth and prosperity, especially when it comes to feng shui.

So having some succulents in your home in the appropriate spot helps benefit a zen-like atmosphere.

Today, we'll show you some convenient ways to incorporate succulents into your life.

We'll show you how to host a make and take party and we'll make a party favor that guests can take away with them.

(calm music) Are succulents cacti?

Well, I think the best explanation is that all cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti.

In order for a succulent to be considered a cactus, the plant must have aerials.

Aerials are small, round, cushion-like mounds of flesh where spines, hair, leaves, or flowers and more grow from the cactus.

Aerials are only present on cacti, not all succulents.

Succulents are certainly interesting and of course they're beautiful.

If you're not in love with succulents, you will be after we visit Succulent Gardens.

So Robin, what do you grow here at Succulent Gardens?

- I grow about four or 500 varieties of succulent plants.

The plants are mainly chosen according to their form, texture, and color, and that they are functional in terms of container gardening and landscaping.

- [J] How large is Succulent Gardens?

- [Robin] Succulent Gardens is about a three acre nursery.

There's two acres in greenhouse and about an acre outside.

- [J] So how many succulents are on the property?

- Four to 600 varieties.

There's literally tens of thousands of plants.

The thing about succulents is they're kind of micro as opposed to macro, so you have a big Boston Fern that's five foot wide and it hangs down six feet, and that's a big powerful plant.

Well, succulents often aren't that big and kind of occupying.

They're smaller and you look down into the rosettes and you see different things going on with the plant.

And these are cuttings that were taken and prepped and they're all sized and graded.

The lower leaves are taken off, the stem is allowed to form its callous or scab before we stick it, and we actually root them in soil.

And this house here, it's lower light, and so that creates an environment that takes the pressure off the plants while they're growing.

- Oh, okay.

- Okay, and if you look carefully, you can see right here all these leaves are starting to produce plantlets.

- [J] Oh wow.

- You see that?

And so some things produce better than others and we're always learning ways to encourage greater production.

But basically this is how we have our mother stock laid out.

We come and take cuttings off these when the plants reach a mature size that we can take a cutting.

And then we grow them in the pots, two inch and four inch and six inch, et cetera.

- [J] So cactus, succulents?

- [Robin] Okay, yeah.

- [J] What's the difference?

- So what is the difference?

You have this group of plants called succulents and within that are cacti.

And cacti are what we call new world plants.

They originated in the Americas and then succulents in general come from all over the world.

There's succulents from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and it just happens that the cacti originated in the Americas.

Succulent plants, that's not even a scientific term.

It's an adjective that describes these plants that have become kind of thick leaves, thick bodies.

They've adapted to environments where water was withheld from long periods of time.

And so the adaptive process occurred in different regions of the world and in different environments.

So everybody thinks, well, they're all from the desert but the fact is the desert's only one of the environments of three.

The other two environments would be like the tropics, where water is salty.

A typical tropical succulent would be the Christmas Cactus.

And then the other environment is the alpine regions of the world where the water's frozen.

And so you have plants like this over here.

These are all like Sempervivums.

And these are northern European succulents, right.

They're referred to as the houseleek.

And so this is what I call a living picture.

You know, you can stand it up, you could put it upside down if you want.

This is just brought out here not long ago but you can see they're pretty, pretty tough.

And so the idea here is these things grow on cliffs and on roofs and my theory was we could create art in a frame that you can hang up and grow.

- [J] So these wreaths, these are incredible.

- [Robin] Yeah, have you ever had a succulent wreath, J?

- No, but I want 25.

- So here's the thing about the succulents, and this is kind of a floral industry thing.

Where you're taking cuttings and you're putting them into a Sphagnum frame.

And this is a 12 inch wreath.

It's probably got about 160 cuttings in this one wreath.

So what we do is we lay this flat, we plant all the cuttings, no roots, and they're in the greenhouse.

Then they grow out their roots.

And once the roots start to grow, as they get established, we move them outside and we get them to color up where you get these oranges and dark colors and you get pinks and the red edges.

So you're getting all these changes in the plants where you get more variety of color.

- [J] Little blooms.

- You get flowers, you get all kinds of things.

And it's a gift that keeps on growing, it's not just a bouquet that's gonna die away.

- Right.

Those are incredible, they're absolutely gorgeous.

- So what I try to do with Succulent Gardens is really produce really fine quality, good looking, healthy, beautiful plants.

And I mean beautiful from a traditional standpoint, not the cactus look.

But form and color and texture that excites people.

Here, what I want people to do, is leave here with a sense of peace and tranquility.

And if they leave with some plants, that's fabulous, but that's what it's about.

(calm music) - One of the things I love about succulents is the variety.

There's so many different kinds and each one is so interesting.

There's ones that are tubular shaped.

They're living stones that look almost like they're a stone but yet they're a living plant.

Ones that have long leaves.

Different types of succulents, each one interesting.

Besides the variety, they're also super durable.

Planting them in a soil that's mixed with sand is ideal and giving them plenty of space for drainage.

When you water succulents, you want the soil to remain moist for a short period of time and then allow them to dry out.

Succulents are very drought tolerant.

That makes them an ideal choice for many yards today.

A little bit of sunshine, an occasional watering, and you've got a beautiful plant.

Another great thing is that succulents don't necessarily have to have soil.

They can be placed in a tray of rocks with a little bit of water underneath.

We don't want them to sit in water but the succulents will actually have roots that will go down and drink from the water in the bottom of the pan.

The added humidity level of that water also helps keep them fresh.

A succulent can also be a great companion at your desk.

They don't need a lot of care, they just hang out and love to be around.

Succulents have become a hot decorative accessory.

A wreath for the front door or perhaps initials that are planted with succulents.

There's all sorts of different ways we can utilize succulents to decorate our life in bloom.

Here's a great idea.

Host a succulent party.

Succulents are super easy to care for.

With a little drainage in the bottom of the pot, a succulent doesn't need much care, just a little water every once in a while.

It's fun to gather with friends, especially when you have an activity you can do together.

Planting plants is one of those things.

People talk, they visit, they share a laugh or two, all the while creating a little succulent planter they can take home with them.

Having a little plant that you take care of is a great reminder of the wonderful times you've shared.

Get creative with the containers.

It's a great opportunity to reuse or recycle.

Or finding little tiny containers to place small succulents in.

A miniature sized plant is really fun to have around.

It can sit on your desk or on a counter or even in the bathroom.

Spending time with friends and including flowers or plants, it reminds me of a quote from Georgia O'Keeffe.

"Nobody sees a flower really.

"It's so small, it takes time.

"We haven't time, and to see takes time, "like to have a friend takes time."

So take the time.

Invite some friends, include flowers and plants.

It's a great way to enjoy life in bloom.

(upbeat music) So Brad, we are in one of my favorite restaurants in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This is Donkey.

Tell us a little bit about Donkey.

- Well, it's a renovated 1920s service station.

Very authentic Mexican food.

A lot of love goes into the tacos.

There's a lot of time spent for each ingredient that we put into each one.

Some of the most popular are the al pastor, our pescado, our fish taco, among several others.

And then to accompany that, we have a full service bar with a lot of tequila.

- So what people don't know is that tequila is made from agave and agave is a succulent.

So how many types of tequila do you have here?

- We have approximately 130 types of tequila.

- Wow.

- [Brad] Quite a few.

- So and then you have a house tequila.

- We do.

We go through a lot of that.

Currently it's been on the upward of 13 cases, which is about 150 six liter bottles.

- [J] Every week.

- Every week.

- It's summertime.

We want to enjoy the tequila.

- [Brad] People are thirsty.

- (laughs) It's perfect.

So today you're gonna make a drink for us.

- Indeed.

So for this one, we used marigolds.

We infused our house tequila with that.

- [J] So why choose marigolds?

- Well, Day of the Dead's coming up fairly soon and thought it would be a fun thing to play around with and we haven't done it before.

- It's interesting because the fragrance of the marigolds is what they believe draws the spirits out for Day of the Dead.

And so you've taken the flowers to infuse it and the spirits are drawing that great flavor out of those flowers.

- And hopefully out of the people after they drink it.

- Absolutely.

So what else is gonna be in the drink?

- We also have a house-made agua fresco, which is tamarind flavor.

We have aperitif wine and a peach liquor.

- Interesting.

Well, I can't wait.

So you're gonna mix it up for us.

- [Brad] Indeed.

- Alright, let's go.

- Alright, so we have the marigold-infused tequila.

That's an ounce and a half.

And then an ounce and a half of the tamarind agua fresca.

An ounce of the aperitif wine.

And a half ounce of the peach liquor.

This'll be shaken and strained into a coupe glass.

(cup rattling) Top that off.

Got a lime wheel with marigold.

- [J] Sweet.

- A little bit of lime juice on top.

Let's see what you think.

- Okay.

I love that I can smell the marigold.

That's pretty cool.

- [Brad] Pretty key component.

- Oh, that's delicious.

That's amazing.

I like the layering of the flavors.

Yeah, the tamarind.

Tamarind's in there.

That's very cool.

So maybe a new feature cocktail coming.

- Yeah.

- So Brad, we have a fun thing that we do wherever we go and I make flower crowns.

But I felt today it was more appropriate that our flower crown had succulents in it and was good for you.

- This is for me?

- This is for you, yeah.

It's the flower crown thing.

I'm the flower guy.

- Should I put it on?

- You can.

- Okay, so I just wear this the rest of the day.

- You can.

- (laughs) Okay.

- While you're fixing your cocktails, it's perfect.

So cheers, thank you, my friend.

- Thank you.

- Here's a fun idea for your next dinner party.

A napkin ring with a succulent on it.

It's a great party favor that your guests can take home after the party.

Here's how we make it.

We'll start with decorative wire.

This is a craft wire and it's aluminum, so it's very flexible.

We'll need about that much.

I'm using my wire tools.

This one actually holds the wire and allows me to bend it around in a circle.

Just by holding it taut in one place, I'm able to create a spiral.

Then we can bring our wire around and create a coil.

I find that it's easier to do this by hand.

And then we can make another spiral on the opposite end.

We'll turn this one flat and we'll turn this one up.

Now we need to attach our succulent to our coil.

We'll just use a little glue tab.

We'll peel it off and place it on the center and then remove the protective paper.

I cut off our succulent on the back side and we'll just adhere him directly to the glue.

Now he's attached and our napkin goes through the center.

It's a great way for us to make a decoration for the table that people can take home afterwards, a symbol of wealth and prosperity.

Sometimes we want to use a succulent in an arrangement and the stem isn't long enough.

We can simply use a hairpin wiring method, taking the wire and driving it directly through the stem.

Do it from the opposite direction and then pull those wires down.

Use floral tape to attach it.

Now we have a much longer stem that can even be manipulated into different shapes.

It's a great way to put a succulent into an arrangement.

Echeveria, a bigger variety of succulents.

Here's some Echeveria trivia.

Echeveria are native to Central America, Mexico, and northwestern South America.

Echeveria are polycarpic.

They can flower and set seed many times over the life of the plant.

Echeveria can be propagated easily with cuttings and separated offsets, as well as by seed.

Like most succulents, they thrive even with periods of neglect.

Echeveria is a slow-growing plant that generally does not grow higher or wider than 12 inches.

There are 150 cultivated varieties of Echeveria.

Echeveria's considered the most attractive of all succulents.

Echeveria typically flowers in warmer months with white, pink, red, and orange flowers.

Echeveria come in a rainbow of colors and are widely available at most nurseries.

(calm music) As you've seen, succulents are one of the easiest ways to bring year-round beauty to your home and garden space and to share the beauty with others.

These plants require minimal care and offer maximum enjoyment.

For Life In Bloom, I'm J Schwanke.

See you next time.

- This is perfect for someone that doesn't have a green thumb.

You just have to water it once a month or like a college student.

Make it beautiful.

- And talking to it.

And talking to it, that's really true.

I mean, talking to it or great music.

And they used to say like classical.

Like hard rock, acid rock, not good for plants.

- Okay.

It's just the vibration of energy that goes through.

- Yeah, but like you know, other stuff.

And probably like Indian music would probably be really cool and really good for 'em.

- I appreciate that.

- Because that, yeah, all that-- - They'll dance?

- Yeah, the slow, and just that it would be relaxing.

- Right?

- Yeah.

Because otherwise the tension's too strong for 'em.

- Okay.

- Okay, so now we can put 'em in there.

- [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

- [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies.

With additional support from the following companies.

The Ball Horticultural Company.

Cal Flowers.

Design Master Color Tool.

Golden Flowers.

Sunshine Bouquet.

And TheRibbonRoll.com.

(calm music) Closed captioned funding provided by Chrysal.

For everything flowers, recipes, projects, and more information, visit uBloom.com.

(dramatic music)