I’m on FIRE!! Is anyone familiar with that song by Fallout Boy? It’s an oldie but somehow stuck in my head when I started this blog post. 🙂Â
Well, we have not actually set anything on fire, but it is definitely lit up in the garage. The plants are growing substantially. It is amazing with adding 6 LED’s can do to help the plants grow.
Now, with all the lights set up, we can focus on HEAVILY expanding our propagation stations. I can’t imagine what the nursery is going to be looking like this spring. I hope to have succulents popping out of our ears– the plan to expand into Cactus and Air Plants are underway, and our Orchid/Tenufolia/Dendrobium collection is still surviving and thriving (although these are all living in the upstairs office enjoying the warmth of the house). Next week I will get some posts up showing all of the sprouting Cactus which we started from seed only last week. We are using a heat mat and it is producing incredible results.
2/1 Night Market Set-up
Succies are doing Great!
LED light set-up
Above are only a couple of shots we have captured of our new set-up in the garage of the LED lights and of the last night market we attended on 2/1. At this point, I have fallen behind on getting this blog posted, so I’m just trying to get something out to you all!
As always, let us know if you hav questions or comments about what we are up to. We love to keep in touch and teach as much as we can about succulents!
Love to you all! Thank you for the continued support.
With the new year rang in, we are rolling out new merchandise! We hear you that keeping succulents alive is tough work (see our previous blog posts for examples of our struggles, they are very real) so in response, we are adding non-living merchandise crafted and sourced by yours truly. We will continue to grow and sell small-batch succulents, of course, but our original business model cannot thrive on selling plants alone, especially in this climate and with the limited space we have available.
So with that, we are introducing the following products! Please let us know what you think in the comments. 🙂
Cards – Adriane is really into puns. She has created greeting cards to include with purchases, or to be purchased on their own. We are working on the printing logistics and ink-friendly options. 🙂Â
Stickers – We are in the process of designing stickers for branding purposes on our projects and other designs for sale – waffling between bumper stickers and transfer stickers (for windows and other smooth surfaces). Any succ-scribers have an idea for a succulent sticker? Let us know in the comments. Â
3D printer ideas – Keychains, Earrings, Rings, Stencils, Galore! Brett has set-up the 3D printer and we are finding that what it can make is going to send us to another level of success. We are at the very beginning phases of this, but be on the lookout.
Paper Projects – At the Vancouver Library, we stumbled across a book about making 3D paper plants. Naturally, we had most of the supplies needed to do the craft, so here we are. So far created is a Christmas Cactus. Y’know, it is rather tough to get an Exacto knife to cut exactly how you want it to. Stay tuned to Instagram to see how these turn out.
Aloe You Card
Pricked You Card
Paper Christmas Cactus & 3D printed pink plant pot
We will continue to be at Night Market Vancouver into 2019. With the generous support of our patrons, we can afford the $60 entry fee. Thank you to those of you supporting us!
We have a few new venues in sight for 2019:
Vancouver Farmers Market- hope to be at the weekly Salmon Creek Market starting in May ’19- application in progress.
Wine Fest in May– more details to come as we get them. Going to be a busy May if all things work as planned.
We are preapproved to vend at the Craft Beer & Wine Fest in Vancouver, WA this June. With at least 2500 people expected in attendance, this means BIG things for Suburban Succulents brand exposure. We will keep you updated on this project!
Catch us *monthly* at Night Market!
We will be here June ’19, will you?
Lots of excitment brewing in the world of Suburban Succulents. We will post again in the next couple days to update y’all on the status of the succulents growing in the garage and around the house. *Teaser- more lights are on the way*
As always, let us know what you think! Have a great rest of your day.
Yup, that’s right, we have already filled up the new greenhouse… The rain has been looming over us this past week, so we finally bit the grit and moved all the succulents under cover. With that, we are forced to think about what it means once we acquire more plant inventory… Luckily there is still room in our original greenhouse and we have space to grow in the garage. We will definitely have to utilize the garage to grow our more sensitive succulents– which will open more space outdoors… it will all work out. 🙂
View into the greenhouse!
So far we are noticing the greenhouse is staying relatively warm! There is a lot of condensation that develops on the roof. That is the only issue I see causing problems in the next couple months– issue because when the condensation falls from the roof it waters the succulents with COLD water– that don’t want or need to be watered and probably would prefer to not be given practically freezing water!
Honestly, since moving up here, I have had to let go of anything I thought I knew about raising succulents– I used to just be able to leave my succies outside and water them… that was it… Here, with the less hardy succulents, they require a lot more of my attention so they don’t freeze or rot. We are learning to appreciate Sedums and Sempervivums as they are cold hardy succulents that will do well in the PNW— we are still in testing phase to see if they can handle a freeze and/or snow and lots o’ water.
Our 4 plants in quarantine!
Since we used to keep succulents scattered around the backyard to bask in the sun we became used to looking out of our office window to a beautiful view. Since moving the plants under the greenhouse, the backyard looks so empty! Brett’s mind is running with great ideas to better utilize the yard now. Stay tuned for that…
It’s Brett!
Home-made Soil
Closed house
Inside front view
Inside Right view
far inside view
Randos at the left
Rain is in the forecast for the next week- since the succulents are under cover, I am less concerned about the water- now to make sure the plants are not freezing and root rotting. With its white cover, light is plenty inside of the house- so this is not a concern, yet. Even with the shortening of days, Brett has reminded me that the natural sunlight will increase a bit in the winter over the house because currently, we have cherry tree leaves causing a few areas of light blocking to the greenhouse– once those finish falling (about 1/3 done) we will get to see a whole new perspective of light on that corner of the yard. It is always a challenge to get the most out of available sunlight on your property and we are not immune to that considering we don’t own a property that we can build anywhere we like.
We have been kept busy preparing for our first market on Friday. We have another market next week too! We have our display pieces figured out, our pricing models decided and pieces ALMOST to final products. Please enjoy the behind the scenes pictures of our booth for Night Market.
Pinatas
Prep
So many plants indoors
Even more inside
Growing too fast
We will catch up with y’all next week! Check out the Patreon page for updates on business progress and follow us on Instagram & Facebook- we will be posting various information across all of these platforms.
Our First Market EVER- Night Market Vancouver… Come & see us 11/2 & 12/7!
Here we find ourselves again… announcing our excitement to attend our *first ever* market at the end of next week! We will be at Night Market Vancouver and this is just the start of our growth process! We have been busy purchasing supplies, prepping our products, building displays, making sure our technology integration is set while still running the normal day to day of the business.
Come see us 11/2 and 12/7!
The market theme is Salsa night- and we are going for it. We have set out with the frame of mind that we will design our display to be relatively “themed” for each occasion. I have gone over the top with concepts– thinking of a 6’X6′ booth of colorful fiesta flowers and streamers with salsa dresses and beautifully woven tablecloths. We are giving ourselves until Friday to come up with our booth design, so stay tuned for that. It makes most sense for us to finalize what products we are bringing and design based off the space these products require.
We are nervous about all the details of the market however, I feel with the experience Brett & I bring to the table, we will have no problems getting everything pulled together, planned and prepared ahead of time to do a stellar job at the market.
Brett’s hand-drawn succulent designs
Our office space is taken over by product preparation!
Gift toppers almost ready!
Raffle item for the market
Since moving to the PNW, I was concerned we would not have access to the many supplies needed to operate this business. I have been proven so wrong of that concern *thank goodness*– there are SO many great places in Vancouver alone that are springing our company into action. We have found an even larger jackpot of supply in Portland, OR. It is absolutely amazing and kismet. I’ll post at a later time a list of resource stores we utilize.
We have already begun to prep for our second market in December– we will spare the details that we have already begun to plan. I CAN’T WAIT! We were also informed that there is space that opened up in the 2nd November market that takes place at a new location and has a different theme… we are putting off registering as we don’t really have the money to enter– but if fate allows the space be available in a couple of days, we will be entering.
I keep repeating to myself & Brett- prior planning prevents poor performance… so far it’s working for us. We are running on schedule and getting so many of our tasks crossed off the list– and brainstorming our next lists. I feel ready for this business to take off and leave me busy and satisfied with my life work!
Our greenhouse today!
Greenhouse update: The succulents that have been moved into the greenhouse are doing GREAT! So far we have had two nights of about 40-degree weather- nothing has died or rotted to its death, yet… There is rain in the forecast for the next week, so I am considering it is time to bring the succulents that are still in the exposed yard inside the greenhouse for their winter rest periods– to keep them dry and most importantly, keep them alive.
Hoping everyone is getting into the #toospooky season. We have partially set up decorations at the house, but have left it half-done… let’s just say we have put our motivations to efforts that are screaming their importance for success.
Will we see any of you at the Night Market on 11/2? How about 12/7? Let us know below!
