Exploring Succulent Propagation

As you know, I'm interested in propagating plants, especially some of my favorite succulent plants. I have a few plants that are actively reproducing themselves via fallen leaves and through offshoots.

My favorite "Blue Bird" Echeveria has a few little offshoots coming out, and I noticed little plants growing on the diagonal of it's lower base on two sides, where the leaves have fallen off. It was a happy surprise, as this plant is gorgeous and I would love to share it with my succulent collecting friends. I haven't seen this on any of my other plants. Here's a picture of the babies that are growing. Click on it to get a good close up of them.

You can see tiny little plants growing on the side, right? You can also see the little offshoot that is growing on the side too. Below is a bigger picture of it, which you can click to enlarge too. This plant is making it very easy for me to propagate new plants by simply cutting offshoots once they have matured a little more.

Below are some Kalanchoe leaves that are producing new plants. Because this is representative of asexual reproduction, the new plants will be exactly like the original plant. This makes it nice when you want to reproduce a plant that you really love.

Offshoots and taking cuttings from plants represents asexual reproduction too; The plant is basically cloning itself. Only with seeds do you see a change in the DNA of the plant, a new mixing or blending of genetic material/coding that gives you a unique and one-of-a-kind plant, not a clone from it's parent. It's amazing that succulents have come up with a variety of ways to reproduce themselves in order to insure their survival.

In the pot below are the following Kalanchoe common names: "Panda," "Chocolate Soldier," and "Lambs Ear." I found the chocolate soldier leaves laying at the bottom of the pot and they were already cloning themselves, however, I pulled off the Panda Kalanchoe leaf (big leaf on the left)and experimented with it, hoping for a new plant, and boy was I successful! The Lamb's Ear, however, hasn't done anything yet.

You know what's funny though? The Chocolate Soldier is growing as slowly as the original plant. In fact, the growth on the parent plant has been very minimal. The Panda is doing great, and has really only been growing for a short period of time, at least a couple of months less than the Chocolate Soldier. It goes to show you that they are definitely exact copies of their parents, mimicking even the growth patterns of their parents, and subject to the same diseases as the parents also. It's something to keep in mind when choosing plants and methods to propagate.

Kalanchoes are extremely easy to propagate from leaves. I've got all sorts of neat plants growing, some I started myself by pulling off leaves from the plant, and some just reproduced themselves via fallen leaves in their pots. Below are some leaves from Guinevere and Sir Lancelot with little plantlets growing on them. You can click on the picture to get a good closeup of them. I love these two plants (Guinevere and Sir Lancelot). They are growing beautifully, so I'm happy to have more of them. I pulled a leaf off of one and the rest started on their own. They are really beginning to take off!

Here's another nice picture to see how they propagate from leaves:

Here are some Echeverias growing from leaflets. Do you see the little plant with the wrinkled up dry leaf? I found it at the bottom of it's pot. I was happily surprised. I think that might be a tiny little Kalanchoe growing in the back towards the right. I decided to pull another leaf off (on the left) and see what would happen. It seems to be rooting nicely. I'm curious if those are little plants though or roots? Click on the picture to enlarge, so you can see what I mean. There's a lot of roots or plantlets growing on the edge that lies on the soil.

Below are two favorites that I'm propagating via cuttings: Sedum clavatum and "Kiwi" an Aeonium. I cut them from the plant, let them dry a few days and then put them in a pot. I check them here and there by gently pulling at them to see if they are rooted. If the plant gives away easily, I know it hasn't rooted. I wait a few more days and then try again. It's fun to create new plants from ones that you love.
Above is the Sedum clavatum I propagated from cuttings from the mother plant.

Above is the Aeonium "Kiwi" that I propagated via cuttings from the mother plant.

Frogs, Frogs and more FROGS!

My Mom LOVES frogs. And when I say she LOVES frogs, I'm not exaggerating one bit. My daughter Micaela took pictures of all her frogs, and boy were there a lot of pictures of frogs. She lost count when she tried counting them all, but we will make a valiant attempt to count them all the next time we visit during the summer. It all started over me buying her one little toad. I know, it's not a frog, but that's what kicked off her HUGE frog addiction. Anyway, I found some GREAT frogs at the 99 Cent store. I was sure to pick up a couple for my Mommy, and a couple for myself, of course. So here they are along with some of my plants I haven't blogged yet (Click on them to enlarge if you like!):

And here's a close-up:

And here's another little friend. Ain't he cute?

And we can't forget this little guy either:

Cuttings From Donna's Garden

Okay Donna, I'm ready for some more clippings! Check out how good they are doing, especially the Echeveria and the String of Buttons, or whatever it's called, (please correct me Donna). The Echeveria that you gave me is doing better than any that I bought. These sit in my kitchen window sill, which happens to be a happy place for my plants. They really thrive there. To bad it's not bigger!

Mom's New Succulent Garden

I'm so bad...now I got my Mom into succulents and then she told her Mom, my Nanny, and she wants to start growing them too! We got these when I was up there visiting. They don't have them at too many garden centers, as it gets very C-O-L-D up there, so you'd have to bring them inside during the winter/spring. We picked up 5 of these at Lowes in Carson City, Nevada, and they come from The Cactus Collection too, same as our local Lowes. I brought my Mom the Bear Paw plant for Easter, and then we picked up Elephant Bush, two Echeverias, a Split-Rock, and Blushing Beauty. My Mom bought the green-blue pot on the left with the three plants in it for herself and I, then we found the rest of the pots around her house. I took a picture of her plants with another one of her new gnomes. I really like this one! She wanted to get me one, but they were out of them at Raleys. She was really bummed out.

My Mom and my Nanny are amazing plant growers, always have been. Our house was always filled with lots of plants. I think that's why I love them so much, but I really haven't had too many plants in my house, only one, since having kids. They were enough to take care of when they were little, but now that they are bigger, I'm getting back into them. My Mom gave me some Creeping Charlie/Swedish Ivy plants and these other very common green ones, but the name fails me. I'm pretty sure it begins with a "P." I'll post some pics of them.

I really love collecting glazed pots. I love the tall yellow-blue-green pot that houses my Mom's echeveria above. I am still thinking it would be fun to attempt making some in a pottery class. I stunk at it in high school, but I'd be more interested in it now.

PLUSH PLANT: Echeveria Harmsii

And here's the last plant that I got today. It's commonly called a "Plush Plant." It's so pretty. Actually, my friend Donna gave me a cutting from her Plush Plant, so this would make three. I lucked out and this came with two plants growing in the pot! I'm trying to decide whether or not I should go pick up a bag of perlite to make the soil a little bit better for my plants. I bought a bag of soil specifically for cactus and succulents, but it doesn't look all that much different from regular planting soil! It still has some pieces of wood in it and there isn't that much perlite. My friend Donna had the same problem; her soil was from a different maker, but it looked much like regular potting soil too! Go figure.

Anyway, here's the details on my plant:

Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Echeveria (ech-eh-VER-ee-a)
Species Variety: Harmsii
Common Name: Plush Plant

Exposure: Bright Light/Sun
Height: To 12" Tall
Bloom: Winter/Summer
Hardy to: 32 Degrees
Water: When dry

Here is a description of my plant:

"Shrubby Echeveria. Native habitat Mexico. Called the "plush plant" because of soft, fuzzy leaves that are covered with silvery hairs. Requires bright light. Leaves blush beautiful rose in cold weather or in drought. Humming birds love bell-shaped orange flowers. Water thoroughly when soil is dry. Protect from frost."

By the way, this plant is related to my Green Goddess, which is a hybrid of this plant, and that I bought at the same time as this. I didn't know this until I got home and did this Blog. Pretty neat!