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.

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?

BEAR PAW: Cotyledon tomentosa

I found it!!!! I'm so excited. I found the succulent plant called "Bear Paw" and it looks just like a little bear paw; plump, soft and furry, and complete with pointy "nails." I looked all over for a second one for my friend across the street, but couldn't find one. I was so bummed. I found it at Armstrong Nursery in Glendale, CA. Here's their info:

Armstrong Garden Center
5816 San Fernando Road
Glendale, CA 91202
(818) 243-4227

http://www.armstronggarden.com/

Ironically, I had no plans of buying anything from them, as their prices are real high, but there is no way I could have passed on him. Oh, and he wasn't labeled real well either. The label info was smeared. I couldn't make it out too well, but the store clerk was sounding out the word "cotyledon" and I exuberantly exclaimed, "That's it! It's a Bear Paw!" I had thought other plants were like it confusing a Kalanchoe for it, but it really is one-of-a-kind, and the plump curved leaves really set it apart.

Okay, well now for some of the official information. I gathered this from The Cactus Center webpage.

Family: Crassulaceae (krass-yoo-LAY-see-ay)
Genus: Cotyledon (kot-EE-lee-don)
Species: tomentosa (toh-men-TOH-suh) meaning covered in fine, matted hairs.
Common Name: Bear Paw
Min. Temp to: 32°F
Origin: Cape Province (South Africa)

USDA Zone: 10
Exposure: Bright Light

I'm not sure if it blooms or not. It didn't say one way or the other on the website. I'll research it and update this post if it does bloom.

Here's a little write up on it:

"Cotyledon tomentosa, native to Africa, has large chunky ovate fuzzy green leaves with prominent "teeth" at tips that give the impression of bear's paws. Large orange bell-shaped flower in spring. Porous soil with adequate drainage. Bright light and ample airflow. Water thoroughly when soil is dry to the touch. Protect from frost."