Sunday, February 3, 2008

MORE ON BEAR PAWS: A.K.A. "Kitten Paws"

I was surfing last night, while "enjoying" my neighbor's fabulous music, and I stumbled across a really great photograph of the Bear Paw plant that my friend Donna and I picked up yesterday! (She found two at Lowe's)! Anyway, this came from a website called: Daylily Hill, which I will add to my links on the lower-left of this page. Please check out their article on Bear Paws:

http://www.daylilyhill.com/subsublevel.php?id=411&lid=12

It's a great website! Lots of information on plants. I've included the link to this page, so please stop on over and check out what they have to say about what they call "Kitten Paws!" I guess it sort of looks like kitten paws, but if I had to choose one over the other, I would definitely lean towards calling them "bear" paws. I'm super impressed with the dark brown tips! I'm really hoping mine grows up to look just like this! It's pretty short and stubby. You know, I think I know why some plants have less leaves that are spread out and some are short and closely clustered like the one above; I think it's what I read about how when succulents do not receive enough light, they sort of spread out to draw in as much as they can. It makes sense that a plant receiving the perfect amount of sunlight and nutrients would be much more lush, robust and healthy, while others have to work harder to get what they need. I'm hoping for what I see above.

I stumbled upon the following government website:

http://www.usbg.gov/plant-collections/conservation/Cotyledon-tomentosa-subspecies-ladismithiensis.cfm.

Apparently, our beloved Bear Paw scientifically called "Cotyledon tomentosa ssp. ladismithiensis" is on the "rare and endangered plant" list. I need to check and see if any of the others that Donna and I are collecting are on it too!

The photo above belongs to the government conservation website mentioned above. It tells us that our Bear Paw does indeed flower. I can't make out the color of the flowers from this photo, but I read on one website that they come out as bronze/brown, and I know I read some where that the flowers weren't very showy. They bloom during mid-Fall.

Then I started digging around and I found the following picture of a Bear Paw succulent:

Okay, so does this look anything like my plant??? Not really! You can see the somewhat similar shape, but the color is competely different. It does, however, give a good example of the bronze colored flowers though. I did read that the color of the plant leaves can be blue-green, but my plants leans more towards looking like the government photo in the middle rather than this one which I found here:

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Crassulaceae/Cotyledon_tomentosa.html.

What do you think?

9 comments:

Donna said...

I love those pics. Bears Paws are so adorable. Check this out, this guy sells 2 different types of Bear Paws. I emailed him, asking when he'd accept online orders again. Hopefully, I'll get a response.

http://www.highsierranursery.com/

Kelly said...

Oh my gosh! I think that this is where my plant came from, because the pots look familiar and they add lava rock on top, which was sort of cool. Which one is yours more like? The Cotyledon ladysmithensis variegata or the other one; the one I have? He has a lot of plants I would really like to get a hold off...Really cool!

Donna said...

I think mine look more like the "Cotyledon ladismithensis." I've noticed that mine aren't as chubby as yours. The color is a bit darker as well. If he emails me back regarding his plants, I'll get us some. If they are endangered, we should try to propagate as many as we can.

Kelly said...

That sounds GREAT! If you find out you can order online, let me know. I really like some of the specimens he has. BTW...did you know you can blow up some of the photos on my Blogger? Check out the Bear Paw and the Green Goddess up close. I can't believe how furry the my Green Goddess looks!

Donna said...

I was just playing around with the pictures. I messed up my blog in the process, but I think I fixed everything. My friend Colin sent me a link to another nursery that sells rare plants. They currently have 10 specimens of Bear Paws available. The link is on my blog page. It's called "Accents For Home And Garden." Your Green Goddess is really fuzzy. I want one. I found a hybrid of a fuzzy Echeveria at Osh, but it wasn't a Green Goddess. I'm kicking myself for not getting it.

Mermaid said...

Hi Kelly! This is Iris. Nice plants but is a rainbow bush like a elephant bush? Check out my website this is the address pinkiepie.blogspot.com

Julie said...

This is what drives me nuts...too many similarities between completely different species, and too many names for the same plant also!!! I made my fairy garden today...posted on my blog this evening!

Joyce Liou said...

Hi Kelly,
I stomped your blog as I was searching bear paws plant hoping to find info on where to purchase. And thanks to you, i found my bear paws pot at La Canada Armstrong garden center also and we two are so close. I live in La Crescent. One question though my bear paws didn't look too healthy when i bought them. I know they don't like water but how about sun? full sun or light shade? thank you!

Unknown said...

I love my bear paw, it's cool to know that it's endangered and I have a gorgeous specimen on my kitchen window ledge!! My flowers are very small and yellow rather than orange. They are a gorgeous simple flower that stays for a very long time. I found mine likes to be root bound.