FINGER ALOE: Cotyledon orbiculata var oblonga/flanaganii

I posted about this cool succulent plant earlier, thinking it was from the Senecio genus, but it's not. Usually, when the Cactus Collection mislabels their plants, the genus is correct, but the common name is wrong. I should have thought about this, well I guess I did, or I wouldn't have kept researching it. After researching for what seems like forever, I came across what I believe is the true name and classification for this plant: It is from the Crassulaceae (krass-yoo-LAY-see-ay) family, and is from the Cotyledon (kot-EE-lee-don) genus. It is a "orbiculata (or-bee-kul-AY-tuh) var oblonga," which I believe simply means that is is round and oblong. (Please correct me if I'm wrong). I found a fabulous website that has great articles regarding African plants including paintings and sometimes actual clippings of plants. You need to sign up to see the articles. The site is called "Aluka" and you can reach it at: http://www.aluka.org/. I downloaded a PDF file that included the following image:

Aluka calls this plant a Cotyledon Flanaganii.

I found an article from San Marcos Growers that confirmed that this was from the Cotyledon genus. Here's a picture from their article of this plant, which looks just like both images above.

MOTHER OF THOUSANDS: Bryophyllum daigremontianum

Donna, do you remember this little guy? He was a "bonus" when I bought my varigated Bear Paw plant, a tiny little seedling that I was sure to pot with the very same Bear Paw plant. Anyway, at first we thought that he was going to be a baby Bear Paw, because of the jiggy-jaggy edges, but he always seemed to look a little like something else. And where was his fur? I've noticed on my lastest "freebies," i.e. the baby Chocolate Soldiers, that they are fuzzy from conception, so I'm certain this is an entirely different plant all together.

What's interesting, is the plant that I think it's going to be is one that is on my wish list, and one that I'll be able to share with everyone, commonly known as the "Mother of Thousands." What made me think that this was it was something I noticed on the edge of two of the inside leaves; there appears to be something growing on the tips of them, like a little baby plant. This really surprised me, and so knowing that my camera is a great magnifying glass of sorts, I took a ton of pictures until I got the perfect one to show you. Please click the picture above to enlarge and take a good look at the "bump" growing on the middle top leaf. Doesn't it look like a little plant starting to grow? There's one growing on the leaf exactly across from it too! Okay, so I poked around a bit, and here's a picture of the plant, a Bryophyllum daigremontianum, plus a link to the website, in a language I do not understand, but the pictures are worth a thousand words:

Doesn't it look a lot like my plant??? It's really tripping me out! I believe mine is a varigated version also. I will keep my eye on this little baby and keep you posted as to it's growth. Here's a couple more pictures including one of it next to my dirty little varigated Bear Paw that it came with.
Rats, I just read this article, and realize that maybe I should rid myself of this poisonous plant. Darn it, and it's so cool looking. It explains a lot that it landed in another planter and made it's way to my home, sneaky little devil. Is there a way to maintain it without having millions of babies?

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!

WOW! Look at the growth on our Staplia:

I cannot believe how much the new arms have grown on our Staplia plant since I last wrote about it on March 15th! When I came back from my Mom's I was surprised by the changes since only a week since I left. This guy should have three good size arms by the end of the growing season. I wonder if we'll be blessed with a stinky flower too? Remember these are the plants whose flowers attract flys...ewww!

Here's a picture of the growth from two weeks ago:

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.

NEW GROWTH!! On Our Asclepiadaceae Stapelia Hirsuta

Here's my hubbies Stapelia! (That sounds sort of nasty, doesn't it?) He picked it out when we went to the California Cactus Center a month or so ago. Anyway, I should give you all the details, but I'm so short on time any more, so I'll just give you it's scientific name: Asclepiadaceae (ass-kle-pee-ad-AY-see-ay) Stapelia (sta-PEL-ee-uh) Hirsuta (her-SOO-tuh), and if you want more info you can visit Dave's Garden, to find out more about it. (Why reinvent the wheel?) Do you see the three arms growing from the side of the arm? I'm so excited! Click on the pic above for a great closeup of the new baby arms, that I noticed just the other day. Here's a pic of the whole plant: