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Cacti & Succulents, Garden Blog, Plant Articles

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December 24, 2018 at 9:30 am

Succulents are right at home during the holidays

This is a tradition-rich and family-heavy time of year for many, with Christmas Day less than a week away & New Year’s Day less than two. There are songs about a sleigh ride and a partridge in a pear tree, toy soldiers as tree ornaments, and pie for dessert. And perhaps a big family game of dominoes. We hear about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and for some, there might be a blizzard or snowstorm alive outside. Below are succulents that will remind you of this festive season. 

Get all the succulent cheer you can handle at shopaltmanplants.com (retail) or the Cactus Shop (wholesale).

Crassula lycopodiodes (watch chain), Aloe ‘Christmas Sleigh’, Crassula tetragona (mini pine tree), Sedum Firestorm & Aloe ‘Blizzard’

Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Chocolate Soldier’ in its birch-style wrap

Aloe variegata (partridge breast aloe)

A champagne flute of Sedum adolphi (golden sedum)

Aloe ‘Snowstorm’

Crassula rubricaulis ‘Candy Cane’

 

Adromischus cristatus (key lime pie) & Kalanchoe luciae (flapjacks)

Santa and Crassula tetragona (mini pine tree)

Echinopsis subdenudata ‘Dominoes’ in its festive, Grinch-inspired wrap

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Cacti & Succulents, Garden Blog, Plant Articles

Posted

December 10, 2018 at 5:00 pm

Aloe, Holidays!

 
 
 
Hard up for holiday gift ideas this season? We know how difficult it can be to settle on the right gifts for the very favorite humans in your life. Luckily, we have a handful of unique, colorful and adorable possibilities for you to consider. So sit back, or lean forward, and say “aloe” to our little Altman Plants-hybridized friends that are part of our 2018 Holiday Collection at shopaltmanplants.com.
 
These three following varieties are particularly appropriate for container gardening and windowsill culture. They are all low-maintenance, waterwise plants that give us a reason to look forward to peeking at the nooks and crannies of our homes each day, for a glimpse of new growth or emerging flowers. Through the holidays, the order minimum for free shipping at shopaltmanplants.com is $50, down from the customary $75.
 

Aloe ‘Blizzard’

Aloe ‘Blizzard’

Aloe ‘Blizzard’ is a patented (US PP21,408), one-of-a-kind, perfect storm of variegation, attractive blooms, and compact size. Our breeding team wanted to create a white aloe that grew faster and more upright than one of its parents and with brighter color. Great for a windowsill, Aloe ‘Blizzard’ boasts bright white/deep green tones, tubular coral flowers, frequent flowering periods, and a pleasing penchant for multiplying.

Aloe ‘Christmas Sleigh’

Aloe ‘Christmas Sleigh’

Good ol’ St. Nick can only dream of this clumping hybrid succulent serving as his sleigh. It certainly would require fewer than nine reindeer. Aloe ‘Christmas Sleigh’ abounds with red teeth on the margins of its dark green to blue leaves, which also have red bumps down the middle. Reddens up in bright light and cool temps. Terrific as a small container specimen or as focal point in a dish garden with non-Aloe succulents.

 

Aloe ‘Snowstorm’

Aloe ‘Snowstorm’

Aloe ‘Snowstorm’ features irregular, dense white banding on green leaves, with “flurries” of white teeth on the margins. It’s like wild powder snow on a star-shaped verdant green ground cover. Free flowering with spikes of orange tubular flowers, loved by hummingbirds. Whereas the nominally similar Aloe ‘Blizzard’ is all about upright, tightly clustered growth, the leaves of ‘Snowstorm’ are wider and comparatively flat. Prefers excellent drainage provided by porous soil. Water thoroughly when dry. Can be grown on a patio or in a garden in frost-free temperate areas, or displayed on a windowsill or other brightly lit spot indoors during cold season in less temperate areas. Green coloring takes on chocolate tones in the sun.

View these and the rest of our Holiday Collection succulents at shopaltmanplants.com (retail) or the Cactus Shop (wholesale).

 
 
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Cacti & Succulents, Garden Blog, Plant Articles

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November 30, 2018 at 5:00 pm

Show us your DIY magic for our Holiday Decor Contest

We enjoy sharing our succulent craftiness on social media and the blog, but now we want to see yours! How exactly? Well, we are launching our DIY Holiday Decor Contest. We know there’s an amazingly creative minds and hands out there and we want to highlight and celebrate that talent within our virtual community of plant people.
 
Here’s how to enter. Find us on your favorite social media platform, as long as it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Send us a photo, by Dec. 31, showcasing your holiday-style DIY magic with succulents. It can be pretty much any DIY-style holiday-themed project, just as long as it involves succulents. We will be guided by a fairly broad interpretation of what it means to be holiday-themed.
 
So, for example, if you want to create a table centerpiece that will fit nicely at your family’s holiday feast, it need not incorporate a Santa Claus motif to qualify as a holiday centerpiece.
 
The method for entering will vary slightly, depending on which social media channel you choose. 
  • If you’re a Facebooker, simply post a photo to our page, or you can tag us (@altmanplants) in a photo on yours — in that case, be sure to set the post to public so we can see it. 
  • If you’re an Instagrammer, use the hashtag #altmanholidaycontest.
  • Should you be a master pinner, you can enter via Pinterest by using that same hashtag, #altmanholidaycontest, in your pin. 

There is no limit on entries. 

The grand prize: Altman Plants’ trio of 3.5″ rosette succulents in birch-style wraps

 

The winner will receive our three-pack of 3.5″ rosette succulents in birch-style wraps.

If you’re short on succulents at the moment but have a great DIY decor idea, we’ve lowered the minimum order for free shipping at shopaltmanplants.com to $50.

Whether it’s a wreath, succulent tree or centerpiece, or ornaments — or something completely different — we can’t wait to see it! Don’t hold back! Team Altman member Lee sure didn’t with his succulent Christmas tree. And no #fakesies! Happy DIYing!

 
 

 

 

 

 

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Press Releases

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November 20, 2018 at 1:00 pm

Succulents make super holiday gifts for friends, family, and yourself

As of Nov. 27, Altman Plants has now lowered the threshold for free shipping at shopaltmanplants.com to $50 for the holidays

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Cacti & Succulents, Garden Blog, Plant Articles

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November 16, 2018 at 6:00 pm

Give the gift of succulents

Can you believe the holidays are all but here? Good news for you: Succulents make super gifts for the favorite people in your life. These living treasures add gratifying, dramatic, year-round cheer and they do so without the need for batteries or USB cables or WiFi integration. And they don’t hit you up for attention during the holiday rush.
Our holiday collections (here & here) make gift giving simple, including succulents that arrive with their own cozy display “wrapping paper” — some in birch-style pot wraps, some in Grinch-inspired wraps. They’ll work splendidly as gifts and as living holiday decorations. And when the holidays end, remove the wraps and enjoy the plants all year long.
Begin your shopping for #holidaysucculents at our shop. Merry Succulenting!

The festive, Grinch-inspired holiday wrap & one of the birch-style wraps. View our entire Holiday Wrap Collection.

We sure wouldn’t mind coming downstairs to find succulents such as Aloe ‘Christmas Sleigh’ and Aloe ‘Blizzard’ under the tree. View our Holiday Collection.

Quirky varieties such as Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Chocolate Soldier’, in the birch-style wrap, may delight the youngsters in your life and turn them on to succulents.

Sedeveria ‘Blue Elf’ blushing with excitement. Our collection of three rosette succulents in the birch-style wrap.

 

 

 

 

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