In Praise of Echeverias--First Time Bloomer

I worry a bit about my succulents all winter long. I tend to think of most of them as tender container plants that must spend the winter indoors, rather than as houseplants. (Sansevieria, Crassula ovata, and Euphorbia are the notable exceptions. As long as they aren't in the dark, those plants really do seem just as happy indoors as they do outside.)

Echeveria can be especially problematic. Some of them get quite leggy, even with the best indoor light. So I especially prize those that don't.

Here is my Echeveria chihuahuaensis, in a picture from last September:

Echeveria chihuahuaensis (I believe) nicely colored up from the sun

The same plant, a few days ago. (The excessively blue tint of the photo is the result of the nearby fluorescent lights.)

The tips of the plant aren't as red as they were in the sun, but the plant is staying nice and compact. And it is getting ready to bloom. There are three stalks: The well-developed one on the left, the smaller, reddish one on the right, and a tiny one near the center that can be seen if the picture is opened full-size. (It is in front of the leaf that is near the largest bloom stalk.) I've heard that the more ordinary Echeveria species (as opposed to some of the fancier hybrids and cultivars) are less likely to get leggy in home conditions. I have no idea if this is true across the board, but I've noticed that like E. chihuahuaensis, Echeveria pulidonis, Echeveria purpurea, and Echeveria lilacina seem to stay compact during the winter.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, November 2010

My goodness, I actually remembered this time. Here is what's blooming in my home and garden on this lovely November 15. And yes, it actually is lovely. Sunny and around 50F. Crisp leaves underfoot. I'm learning to appreciate autumn for what it is, rather than imbuing it with a sense of dread and doom as winter approaches.

Indoors first, since this is a houseplant blog:

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, unidentified cultivar

Aloe greenii x lineata

Crassula lactea

Three views of Echeveria 'Black Prince.' First the whole plant with bloom stalk, then a closeup of the blooming rosette, then the flowers themselves.

Now for the outdoors. We've had a mild November for the most part, but we've had our frosts at night. Most of the garden has gone to sleep, but there are a couple of things hanging on, and one thing, at least, freshly emerged for the season.

Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Dazzler.' This late planting is still hanging on, well past its usual blooming season.

Mums among the leaves. These Chrysanthemums are past their prime, and a touch frostbitten, but still pretty.

Newly emerged Autumn Crocus. (Crocus pulchellus, I think.) I planted a few earlier this season, and amazingly, the squirrels didn't get them all.

Happy Bloom Day, every day.

Monday Macro: Yet another Echeveria

Echeveria pulvinata 'Frosty'

I thought that I had posted a version of this picture at some point, but a check back through the blog archives suggests not. Echeveria pulvinata 'Frosty' has been a very easy plant to care for, though it has been through a few mishaps, such as falling off shelves and having its soil washed almost completely away during heavy rainstorms. These have left the plant looking not as pretty as it once did. But when looking at each rosette of leaves up close, the contrast between those frosty white "hairs" and the shiny green leaf surface is striking. Click twice for the full effect.

A picture of the whole plant can be seen in this post.

Bringing In, Bringing On the Blooms

Maybe they are feeling a bit stressed by the change in the environment, since they've been brought indoors where it is warmer and less sunny. Maybe it is just the right time of year. But anyway, several of my succulents have decided that now is the time for producing flowers.

Aloe 'Doran Black'

Aloe greenii x lineata with bloom stalk. This will be the first time this plant has flowered in the four years I've owned it.

Unidentified Euphorbia. This is the third round of buds since early spring for this plant.

I meant to cut the rosette of this Echeveria runyonii from its leggy stem to re-root, but never got around to it. Small offsets are forming at the base of the stem.

E. runyonii blooms up close. It is hard to get a good picture because of the reflective nature of the plant's glaucous coating, which is why the flowers seem washed out in both pictures. They are much more orange in person. Also your blogger needs hand lotion, since her fingertips appear to have developed a glaucous coating of their own.

Echeveria 'Black Prince' just getting started. Its flowers will be red-orange, if I recall correctly.

Unidentified Echeveria. The "rosette" to the left is actually atop a bloom stalk, which is hard to see at this angle. I think this will be the first time for flowers from this plant.

One thing that makes me think that it just happens to be blooming season, for the Aloes at least, is a recent trip to the Chicago Botanic Gardens, where their grouping of Aloe thraskii either in bud or in flower.

Aloe thraskii group at the CBG earlier this year

Plants in bud yesterday, with a blooming Yucca (I think) in the background

Closer pictures of an A. thraskii in bud

Plant in bloom

Finally, at least one cat's curiosity got the better of him during today's photo session:

Luke says "Hi!"

Monday Macro, Indoors and Outdoors

Last night, we had our first frost warning. I'm not sure yet if we did have an actual frost, but I wouldn't be surprised. All my cacti and succulents had made it indoors, or at least into the garage, by Saturday, as did the few leafy tropicals which were spending time outdoors. So for the next several days, there will be chaos among the leaves, while I find a place for everything, and then put everything in its place.

Meanwhile here are the Monday macros. Click once to open and a second time for full-size.

An Echeveria cultivar that might be E. 'Afterglow'

Unidentified Hemerocallis flower

I have posted both of these before in compressed form, because they are among my favorites of the plant photos I've taken. But they really are much better, and far more detailed, in their larger versions.

Something New Among the Leaves--Monday Macro

One of my favorite things about blogging is being able to share photographs of my plants. Taking the pictures allows me to view my plants in a new way, and, sometimes, to explore my my creative potential. So, today I'm introducing a new feature: Every Monday, I will post an extreme close-up photo of a plant, or part of a plant, that will fill the screen when opened to full size. Usually, I compress my pictures quite a bit for posting, so there are times when details are lost.

Here is this week's offering. (Click once to open, then a second time for full size.)

Echeveria chihuahuaensis, (tentative ID) after a rain shower

I've owned this Echeveria for about eight or nine months. It has been outdoors since June, and the color of the leaf tips has really intensified in the sun. It seemed to do pretty well indoors, too, in a south window.

The Good, The Bad, and The Birthday Present

Somewhat surprisingly, summer is proving to be almost as quiet a season for houseplants as winter. There is a fair amount of growth going on, I suppose, but nothing to write home (or in a blog) about. My repotting is done, nothing needs pruning, nothing much is blooming. It seems that to a large degree, spring and autumn are where the indoor plant action is.

Nonetheless, I have had a couple of things happen recently that pleased me, a couple of things that have me dismayed, and a birthday present that will wind up doing one or the other. I'm not sure yet.

The Good

My Aglaonema 'Siam Aurora' is putting out new growth, not just from the existing crowns, but from the roots and stems. The pink shoot in the center is easily seen, but the bumpy areas on the stem to its left are also developing shoots.

Previously posted picture of the whole plant.

This unidentified Euphorbia is sprouting leaves for the first time in the three or four years that I've owned it. It has flowered regularly in the past, however. I didn't even like this plant at first--I only own it because it was part of a dish garden along with plants that I did want. It has won me over though.

A picture of the same Euphorbia showing more of the plant.

The Bad

Even though I took care to introduce it to sun gradually, my Echeveria purposorum has developed an unsightly case of sunburn. I should have trusted my instincts, and left it indoors with the Haworthias it so resembles.

This is what my Aloe variegata looked like this past winter:

Previously posted picture of Aloe variegata

I pruned out the center plant in the clump late this spring, because the stem was weak, and would have broken off without support. (It is actually propped up against the door in the picture.) It is now rooting in a pot on my porch. The rest of the offsets were doing fine out in the sunshine until this week. Monday, after some heavy rain over the weekend, I was examining the outdoor succulents, and noticed that several of this plant's offsets were rotting. This surprised me, because this was this plant's seventh summer outdoors, completely exposed to the elements, and at least two of those summers were far, far rainier than this one has been. I'm wondering if pruning "Mom" away without removing the base of her stem introduced rot to the pot.

Seven offsets. I've pruned away all traces of rot, (though I think that small one on the far left might need another look) and now that cut ends are calloused over, I will pot each of them, and hope they root. (I've had luck rooting stem cuttings of Aloe ramoisissima, and Aloe ciliaris before.)

The Birthday Present

My stepson bought me a Bonsai:

Juniperus procumbens 'Nana'

I know absolutely nothing about Bonsai culture. But I do know that this plant was purchased a decent nursery, is planted in fairly high quality bonsai medium, including bark and Turface, and is wired in place in its pot. So it is a plant of some quality, and not a so called "mall-sai." I hope I can learn its needs and keep my reputation as the Crazy Plant lady intact. I've got some work to do.

In Praise of Succulents: Echeveria Edition 3; The Rest of Them

In previous posts, I've written about my Echeverias by assigning them to (fairly loose) categories. This post highlights those that didn't fit with the others, or that I just didn't think to mention at the time.

But first, the promised update on Echeveria ramilette, mentioned in part 2, when it was about to bloom. Here it is with the flowers open:

Echeveria ramilette with its yellow and orange flowers open. I'm also pleased to see the small offsets to the right and left.

Here is another of my favorite Echeverias: E. pulvinata. This plant was once considerably better looking. One of my cats knocked it off its shelf a couple of years ago, breaking what was once a single, multi-branched plant into several pieces. I was able to root the parts that broke off, and replanted them in the same pot, but it is not quite the same.

Echeveria pulvinata

Close up of a single rosette, showing the texture of the leaves. Click the picture for more detail

Another hairy one. I think this is Echeveria setosa. The center of the photo looks blurred, but it is not, the leaves are just that fuzzy.

Here is one I've shown before, and two I haven't:

Echeveria 'Black Prince'

Echeveria nodulosa and Echeveria runyonii 'Topsy Turvy'

'Black Prince' is an easy one, but I'm very surprised that the latter two are doing as well as they are. I've had at least two of each before, and they were rather temperamental. 'Topsy Turvy' seemed to become etiolated if we'd had so much as a cloudy day, and I never knew what to do to keep E. nodulosa happy. It even seemed to decline while outdoors in summer, which is usually everything that a succulent could want, and more. But for now, they seem happy enough in my basement under lights.

In Praise of Succulents: Echeveria Edition 2; The Easygoing Ones

As I've said before, it took me a while before I learned to overwinter most Echeverias without having them look unhealthy and unhappy for the duration. In part 1 of this series, I mentioned that I have had better success by growing under fluorescent lights in my cool basement. Well, there are some exceptions to that, and I'd like to show off a few of them. These are the plants that grow more or less contentedly in my south-facing kitchen window during the winter, in normal house temperatures.

Echeveria purpusorum. When I first saw one of these, I thought it resembled a Haworthia.

Same plant, in a shot that shows the purple coloration better.

Side view

I think this Noid Echeveria resembles E. purpusorum somewhat, in the shape and thickness of the leaves, as well as the dark outlines on the sides and undersides. While E. purpusorum has never bloomed for me, this plant has bloomed three years in a row. I'd love to know its name.

The Noid Echeveria's yellow flowers

Echeveria pulidonis. It hasn't produced a stalk yet, but this Echeveria also has yellow flowers, but without even the hint of orange seen in the NoId. I have posted this plant before. The red edges do fade somewhat during winter, but the plant doesn't get leggy.

Echeveria ramillette, at least according to the label that came with it. I'll try to post another picture when the flowers open.

I haven't pictured it here, but I have an Echeveria agavoides variety which also does well in winter without fluorescent lights or cooler temperatures.