A Succulent Obsession

Rhipsalis

2010-02-08T07:40:00.001+11:00

I don't know this fellow's full name. He's not cereuscula, which I have a specimen of. This fellow is much darker, with a definite red tinge to his leaves. Any clues?

Graptopetalum superbum

2010-01-28T07:45:00.001+11:00

Aeonium decorum 'Sunburst'

2010-01-23T10:17:00.001+11:00

I found this guy at the hardware store. I love my hardware store. I really shouldn't visit around Christmas time, though - they really pack in the succulents for the holiday trade.

Aeonium arboreum 'Green Lady'

2010-01-19T07:39:00.001+11:00

I have a special weakness for Aeoniums. I'm always on the lookout for a new species. Most of mine grow underneath a huge pine in my back yard. They're like elf trees.

Sempervivum 'Oddity'

2010-01-04T07:41:00.001+11:00

I really like this guy. He's a little mutated fellow, with his leaves all curled up on themselves.

Christmas Flowers

2010-01-02T17:30:00.001+11:00

I always think of these flowers as a Christmas thing. Growing up, we had Echeveria Imbricata growing around the yard, and come November-December they would start producing stems of these delicate long-lasting blooms. These two are Echeveria 'Emerald Ripple' and Crassula tetragona 'Miniature Pine Tree'.

Crassula marnierana

2009-12-29T09:45:00.001+11:00

Another recent purchase, from the hardware store (sad that they have a better range than my local plant shop). I've had this fellow on my wish list for a little while, so I was very pleased to come across one in such an unassuming place!

Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii 'Silver Swan'

2009-12-27T09:24:00.001+11:00

I have a heap of Euphorbias growing in my front yard. They love the harsh conditions out there, and I don't have to worry about my cats nibbling on them.

Crassula muscosa

2009-12-24T13:15:00.001+11:00

Another salvage from the hardware store. Packed into a tiny 8cm pot, this plant was severely pot-bound and more than 30cm tall! He has room to stretch his legs now.

Pachyphytum compactum

2009-12-22T06:56:00.001+11:00

Somebody told me this guy was a slow grower. My arse. He is very delicate, and if you so much as breath on him he'll drop a leaf. As a result I have about six individual plants now. The oldest of which are flowering again.

Crassula dubia

2009-12-21T07:41:00.001+11:00

I've had this guy for a few years now. Never had any problems with him. I recently gave a cutting to my mother (admittedly, by the time I gave it to her the 'cutting' was a thriving plant some 20cms across). Every year he seems to put out more flowers. Go the guy!

Crassula perforata

2009-12-20T14:38:00.001+11:00

An old favourite, and a bit of a trooper. He's growing in my garden, on the edge of the rock wall in full sun, and sometimes I remember to water him. No wonder he's never flowered.

Cotyledon ladismithiensis

2009-12-18T08:04:00.001+11:00

My little bear claw plant. My mother's is much bigger, and has better colour than mine. Must be the aspect.

Cotyledon orbiculata

2009-12-17T07:37:00.001+11:00

He's flowering! This has got to be the most prolific succulent in my collection. I gave a stalk to the next-door neighbour to stick in her garden, and that's flowering now too. I can't wait to see them open.

Crassula tetragona 'Miniature Pine Tree'

2009-12-14T07:26:00.001+11:00

My mother also has one of these guys, about the same size as mine, and during one of my visits to her garden she pointed out the tiny little buds forming on the tips of each branch. I had a good stare at mine when I got home, and it was doing the same thing!

Aeonium canariense

2009-12-13T07:58:00.001+11:00

I know I've posted a lot of this guy lately. It's just that it's the first time any of my Aeoniums have flowered, and he is quite spectacular!

Echeveria, maybe

2009-12-12T09:33:00.001+11:00

I picked this guy up at my local hardware store, and as is usual for hardware stores, it had a very helpful tag on it - "succulent species". Thanks, guys.

He has the basic habit of an Echeveria, but his leaves are sort of 'sticky' and covered in fine hairs. The flower doesn't look much like my other Echeverias. Andromischus, maybe? Anybody have any clues?

Delosperma pruinosum

2009-12-11T07:05:00.001+11:00

This is another one from the hardware store. I have two Delospermas now, and the other one doesn't look much like his cousin here. I love the hairy leaves, and the little flower hiding away in there.

Senecio longiflorus

2009-12-10T17:37:00.002+11:00

When I got this guy, he was just a sad little brown-green stick. Now he's producing leaves like a mad thing.

Monanthes polyphylla

2009-12-09T06:47:00.001+11:00

Adorable, yes? These are (I think) flower heads, launching up from compact Echeveria-like florettes barely 2cm across.

Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnierii

2009-12-08T06:49:00.001+11:00

Also known as "Donkey's Ears". Apparently these get quite huge. I look forward to seeing him grow - currently he's just starting to stretch over the edges of a 15cm pot.

Hylotelephium spectabile

2009-12-07T07:42:00.001+11:00

They're sleeper agents, these guys. In winter they vanish, and you'd never know they were there. But as soon as the temperature starts ascending, you see a carpet of tiny green curls appear above the soil, and not long after that there's a massive bush where there was only bare soil a few weeks before. Then they get smothered in flowers. Awesome.

Euphorbia tirucalli

2009-12-06T08:03:00.001+11:00

This little fellow was a gift from a friend who's now living in Portland. My last birthday before she and her hubby left for the US, she presented me with four little succulents - she'd passed through some little town on the coast and came across a market selling plants. She thought they were weird enough that I wouldn't have them already. There was this guy, a thing called a 'dancing bones' cactus, a plump little hawarthia and a lovely silver andromischus. I think of her every time I see them.

Cotyledon orbiculata var. oblonga 'Macrantha'

2009-12-05T12:41:00.001+11:00

Aloe aristata

2009-12-03T16:21:00.001+11:00

Aeonium arboreum

2009-12-01T18:23:00.001+11:00

Aeonium canariense

2009-11-29T07:14:00.001+11:00

Echeveria (unknown)

2009-11-19T07:46:00.001+11:00

Aeonium canariense

2009-11-12T22:30:00.001+11:00

Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow'

2009-11-11T18:14:00.001+11:00

Crassula ovata ‘hummel’s sunset’

2009-03-15T21:21:00.001+11:00

Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow'

2009-03-13T06:56:00.001+11:00

Echeveria 'Emerald Ripple'

2009-03-12T07:11:00.001+11:00

Graptoveria 'Debbie'

2009-03-11T07:02:00.001+11:00

Echeveria agavoides 'lipstick'

2009-03-06T07:35:00.001+11:00

Crassula argentea f. variegata

2009-03-04T07:07:00.001+11:00

Hylotelephium spectabile

2009-03-02T19:02:00.001+11:00

These guys have finally started flowering... The top one is "Mini Joy", and the one below is "Autumn Joy", who hasn't quite opened his petals yet. These are fantastic plants - they die off after flowering and you'd think they were annuals, until sometime in Spring when little tight-curled nubules of green appear above the soil.

Cotyledon orbiculata

2009-02-28T09:16:00.001+11:00

In April last year, this was a pair of leaves which had been sitting in a pot forever doing nothing. Now, he's filled out his little bit of garden and is heading for his first metre in height. Needless to say, I love this plant, and shall be propagating him further. This is then:

Echeveria 'Ginger'

2009-02-26T19:32:00.001+11:00

I wonder if she's lonely without Fred?

Echeveria 'Blue Curl'

2009-02-25T08:24:00.001+11:00

Graptoveria x Graptosedum 'Vera Higgins'

2009-02-23T18:26:00.001+11:00

Graptoveria 'Silver Star'

2009-02-22T19:34:00.001+11:00

Crassula (unknown)

2009-02-19T21:34:00.001+11:00

I bought this guy from a local garden store, untagged. He was cute and a bit different. No idea what he is, though. Probably a crassula.

Rhipsalis cereuscula

2009-02-17T18:22:00.001+11:00

Echeveria imbricata

2009-02-14T17:01:00.001+11:00

Echeveria (unknown)

2009-02-08T16:26:00.001+11:00

Echeveria 'Blue Curl'

2009-02-07T07:52:00.001+11:00

Cotyledon Papillaris

2009-02-05T07:05:00.001+11:00

This little guy got hit really hard by the recent heat and lack of water. Rather than killing him though, it made him flower. Go figure.

Sempervivum calcareum

2009-02-04T18:06:00.001+11:00

Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii 'Silver Swan'

2009-02-01T12:54:00.001+11:00

Sedum brevifolium

2009-01-24T12:43:00.001+11:00

See? Not missing... I've been off-line for a month, not because I've been on holiday or anything interesting like that; I've been waiting for my new camera to arrive. It arrived on Tuesday, and I'm in love. So much so that very little succulent-photography has actually happened yet!

This little guy is a darling compact grower, which hangs nicely off the edges of pots and, in my garden at least, never, ever flowers. This specimen is growing in my mother's garden. She's obviously giving it more love than I give mine...

Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco'

2008-12-28T10:07:00.001+11:00

Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco'

2008-12-27T11:21:00.001+11:00

Pachyphytum compactum

2008-12-12T20:16:00.001+11:00

Echeveria 'Black Prince'

2008-12-09T17:45:00.001+11:00

Aeonium smithii

2008-12-07T15:46:00.001+11:00

Aeonium 'starburst'

2008-12-04T19:14:00.001+11:00

Echeveria 'Doris Taylor'

2008-10-31T20:02:00.001+11:00

Not quite a succulent...

2008-10-25T19:21:00.001+11:00

Euphorbia myrsinites

2008-10-18T08:35:00.001+11:00

Cotyledon undulata 'Silver Ruffles'

2008-10-16T19:18:00.001+11:00

Aeonium arboreum

2008-10-15T12:51:00.001+11:00

Euphorbia myrsinites

2008-09-17T14:36:00.001+10:00

Echeveria 'Tippy'

2008-09-08T19:04:00.001+10:00

Echeveria 'Blue Curl'

2008-09-07T18:02:00.001+10:00

Kalanchoe marmorata 'penwiper plant'

2008-08-29T20:05:00.001+10:00

Crassula erosula 'campfire'

2008-08-25T17:43:00.001+10:00

Aeonium urbicum

2008-08-24T09:59:00.001+10:00

Echeveria (unknown variety)

2008-08-23T13:48:00.001+10:00

Sedum rubrotinctum 'Aurora'

2008-08-22T06:47:00.001+10:00

Euphorbia myrsinites

2008-08-18T18:57:00.001+10:00

Senecio serpens

2008-08-14T09:34:00.001+10:00

I'd recommend this plant to anybody. Frost hardy, reasonably fast grower, and very striking foliage. The flowers are a bit nothing, but then you're not planting him for the blooms.

Crassula argentea 'Coral'

2008-08-07T19:03:00.001+10:00

Gollum, Gollum...

Kalanchoe beharensis 'oak leaf'

2008-08-05T18:34:00.001+10:00

This is a recent addition: I've been very impressed by his cousin 'fang' that I added him to the collection. He has wonderfully dramatic leaves, covered in a fine fur. Very pretty...

In other news, my huge Aeonium manriqueorum 'Zwartkop', he of the three feet of lovely black rosettes, has been struggling recently with an infestation of mites, and yesterday gave up entirely. The frost must have got him, and his stalk went soft and just folded over in the middle. A shame, but I salvaged all his heads and now I have half a dozen little babies to plant out. I gave a couple to friends, because there are far too many for my purposes!

Echeveria derenbergii

2008-07-31T18:57:00.001+10:00

I got this guy recently (another Magnet Mart rescuee), and in the last few weeks he's started pushing out a flower head and lots of baby rosettes. He has such lovely colouring, I can't wait to see him all massed up!

And, because yesterday's Kalanchoe marmorata was such a close-up, here he is in all his glory, from an old post. His markings were not as bold then as they are now, but you get the idea.

Kalanchoe marmorata 'penwiper plant'

2008-07-30T07:10:00.001+10:00

Crassula tetragona 'Miniature Pine Tree'

2008-07-28T18:19:00.001+10:00

I've got several of these little guys now, salvaged from Magnet Mart cheap bins. Apparently they can get over a metre high, so I'm wishing them lots of growth spurts. Interestingly, the harsh frosts we've had lately have damaged one of my tetragonas, but not his friend planted a foot away. It's very odd...

Cotyledon orbiculata var. oblonga 'Macrantha'

2008-07-27T08:20:00.001+10:00

When I bought this guy in March this year, he had half a dozen leaves. Three months later, he's three times the size. He's growing at the corner of the front bed, so I walk past him every morning. He never complains about the frost — this week it's been hard to tell that he's green under all the ice.

Senecio mandraliscae

2008-07-26T21:59:00.001+10:00

It's been bitterly cold here the last week. Heavy frosts. Fog. Short, dark days. I hibernate through winter. The morning alarm goes off, and I lie in bed savouring the warmth, dozing until I hear my husband finish his breakfast and starting the shower. Only then, with the promise of a hot shower to greet me, do I venture out of my warm little nook.

The world is blue and grey this time of year. I'm waiting for the warm colours to come back.

Bryophyllum fedtschenkoi

2008-06-29T19:00:00.001+10:00

I have one of these growing in my yard — a friend in Sydney gave me a cutting and it's been growing very well, though mine hasn't flowered yet. My Sydney friend has masses of these guys in a planter box at the front of her house, all covered in masses of flowers. They're just buds at the moment, but I'll be back in Sydney in three weeks and hopefully I'll get a photo of them in full bloom!

Pachyphytum oviferum 'moonstones'

2008-06-24T16:14:00.001+10:00

This little guy is starting to think about flowering. I'm so in love with my succulents right now — it's Winter here, everything is in hibernation and everything's drab in my garden except for the succulents. The succulents are growing like mad, and flowering.

Pachyphytum compactum

2008-06-21T18:03:00.001+10:00

I do believe this is the beginning of a flower spike. I hope the flower is as lovely a colour as the bud is hinting at. He is a slow-growing creature this one, so I expect that like my black prince, it'll be months before I see the bloom.

Echeveria (unknown variety)

2008-06-20T17:21:00.001+10:00

I got this chap on the cheap shelf at the hardware store. He's a bit banged up, but looks otherwise very healthy.

Echeveria 'Black Prince'

2008-06-19T16:55:00.001+10:00

He's almost in bloom! And he's a lovely dark colour...

The growing horde

2008-06-18T18:59:00.001+10:00

This is a bit of my pot garden to one side of my patio. The pots are slowly accreting...

Bonsai!

2008-06-17T18:49:00.001+10:00

Well, not bonsai at all, really. I went shopping a few weeks back with Mum (before I vanished into long-weekend madness) and found these lovely bonsai pots. Cheap, and pretty, and they look perfect with tiny hanging succulents in them! The first is a sedum "Little Missy", the second is an unknown sedum, and I have no idea what the third one is.

Rutherglen gardens 3

2008-05-22T07:00:00.001+10:00

Another Echeveria from the gardens of the House at Mt Prior

Rutherglen gardens 2

2008-05-21T07:23:00.001+10:00

The flower spike of a beautiful Echeveria from the gardens at the House at Mt Prior.

Rutherglen gardens 1

2008-05-19T13:23:00.001+10:00

We stayed in Rutherglen at a Bed'n'Breakfast called the House at Mt Prior, which is a magnificent old house with views over the vineyard. The owners had several succulents tucked around the house and garden, which I found on a morning constitutional (why a morning constitutional should involve my camera probably tells you more about me than a bio could). There were pots along the verandah; a pair of rusty old wheelbarrows; and some specimens tucked away in the garden itself.

Our lovely hosts even let me take some cuttings of their succulents. Bless...

Not dead, just missing

2008-05-18T18:22:00.001+10:00

I've just come home from a marvellous trip to Rutherglen! For those of you not from Eastern Australia, Rutherglen is a winegrowing region famous for its fortifieds (Tokay and Muscat especially). We spent time touring a couple of the smaller vineyards we didn't catch on our last visit, and spent a full day at Pfeiffer Wines, which is by far my favourite Rutherglen Winery. Robyn Pfeiffer showed us around the winery, talking about its history and how they make their various wines, and then took us through their tasting notes (nearly 30 wines!). We had to break for lunch before we could finish the tastings. It was a glorious day, and I can't wait to go back (probably in November, to watch the turtles cavorting under their bridge).

In the Pfeiffer garden, I found this lovely Aeonium, partially shaded by a big tree.

Echeveria 'Black Prince'

2008-05-09T07:38:00.001+10:00

For slowness of flowers this guy takes the prize. I first noticed a flower spike forming at the beginning of March. eight weeks later, he's almost in bloom.

Crassula erosula 'campfire'

2008-05-07T21:34:00.001+10:00

One thing about succulents (and something my mother keeps asking about) is the speed of their flowering. They produce buds over a period of weeks, and sometimes don't blooms for more than six weeks since they started producing buds. This guy started thinking about flowering two weeks ago, and is probably still a week away from blooming.

Senecio serpens

2008-05-06T18:03:00.001+10:00

I finally got out in the sunshine today, and this little guy has put on more flowers! There was a little jumping spider perching on the blooms, and I just couldn't resist!

Kalanchoe marmorata 'penwiper plant'

2008-05-04T16:28:00.001+10:00

Growing like mad, bless him...

Sempervivum calcareum

2008-05-02T19:02:00.001+10:00

A brand new little guy! From this angle, he makes me think of a lotus flower. I should note that the darkness of the shot isn't deliberate—the one day this week I got home early enough to take photos in daylight, and it rained. So this is full manual with my fingers crossed. There was only barely enough light.

Crassula ovata 'Gollum'

2008-05-01T16:51:00.001+10:00

Like the rest of my succulents, this little guy is putting out masses of new growth.

It's getting into proper Winter weather in Canberra now (we've passed ANZAC Day, which is the traditional breakpoint). It's damp and dark here, and the hours available for photography have dwindled. It's dark by the time I get home from work. I'll just have to put in more hours on the weekend!

Crassula muscosa 'Watch Chain'

2008-04-30T06:58:00.001+10:00

This is such an interesting little guy... He's like coral, waving gently in wind instead of seawater.

Crassula argentea f. variegata

2008-04-28T12:13:00.001+10:00

I have such a weakness for Crassulas... I love their tree-like shapes and their segmented trunks. I picked this guy up in a $3 tube, and he's now stretching his legs in a big pot.

Sedum spathulifolium 'Purpureum'

2008-04-24T08:54:00.001+10:00

This is a cute little groundcover I picked up about six months ago. I like the contrast between his dark grey leaves and his bright red stems.

Cotyledon orbiculata

2008-04-23T07:14:00.001+10:00

I carried this little guy from Rutherglen all the way home to Canberra, and potted him up expecting him to start growing into the massive bush I'd nicked the cutting off. Nothing. Sat in his pot and stared at me. Eventually, one leaf curled over. Figuring I had nothing to lose, he got planted out in the garden when I cleared the front bed. Now, he's got shoots, and the curled-over leaf is acting as a sunshade.