Jeweless

Pachyphytum compactum 'Little Jewel' is one of my favorite photo subjects because of its faceted leaves. I saw this succulent at Home Depot today and was curious what it was. I was confused when I read 'Little Jewel' on the label because, although the leaves are narrow like a 'Little Jewel,' they are not faceted like cut jewels.

Ah, but read the entire description on the label. The species is given as Pachyveria glauca, which is a hybrid between either Pachyphytum compactum OR Pachyphytum hookeri and an unnamed Echeveria. It was developed in Germany in '26, as in 1926. Happy Centennial. Whatever this hybrid is, no doubt it is bigger than my 'Little Jewel,' and it is producing an offset, but where are the faceted jewels? Internet images indicate that the leaves will remain smooth and will not become faceted. The Pachyphytum compactum 'Little Jewel' doesn't look much like Pachyphytum hookeri, which shows smooth, fat leaves in internet images. This is an image of a REAL 'Little Jewel' with its glorious facets:

My question regarding the hybrid is, "Why?" It seems pointless to make a hybrid and lose the defining feature of the (possible) main contributor, and then retain the name of that lost feature. Hard pass.

I still look at the succulents when I go into the stores, but my buying days are probably over for the year. I did buy a Lemon Thyme today, continuing my recent accumulation of hard (not hardy) herbs. Hard herbs generally are perennials with woody stems like rosemary, oregano, sage and thyme. I pot hard herbs the same as succulents, using gritty, well-draining soil and not watering too often. But you can tell from the image that I watered this one in. No more for a while.

Offsets

At the beginning of this month, I tried something new, planting three Sempervivum Chick Charms in a 15-gallon grow bag along with a Demosperma and a hardy Sedum. Frankly I don't know what is special about the Sempervivum 'Strawberry Kiwi' at left in this image. It has gotten a bit darker but hasn't done much else. I want to zero in on the other two Sempervivums, 'Berry Blues' at the top and 'Appletini' at right. I selected them for this bag because their offsets were overflowing their 8-inch pots and they needed room to spread.

Some of the 'Berry Blues' offsets are developing roots but none of them have dug into the soil yet. But a couple of the 'Appletini' offsets are rooting. I want to see the two clusters grow, but I also want to separate a couple of the offsets.

I will use the same technique I use for strawberry runners. Put a pot under the offset/runner, pin it down with a landscape staple so it doesn't wander off, let it root, and at some point cut it loose from the mother plant. This strawberry runner is in a pot precariously perched in a hanging basket (hmmm, looks like I have to spray for aphids), but with the Sempervivums there is plenty of space in that big grow bag just to bury the pot in the soil temporarily.

Speaking of aphids, it has been a constant battle this spring on a lot of non-succulents, peppers for example, but the only time I have seen them on succulents is on flower buds. A few hits of soap and they were purged. The above image is the first I have seen on the strawberries. There are more than 4,000 species of aphids and apparently the ones that go after peppers don't do succulents. Except for powdery mildew on the Crassula 'Campfire' and whatever killed the two Echeveria 'Rainbow' plants I received, I have been fortunate with the succulents this year.

A few months ago I'm fairly certain I saw a mealy bug infestation on succulents at Lowe's, then I started having nightmares when the Canadian dude on Everything Plants said they can get into your house on bananas. Don't store your bananas next to your succulent collection.

June 30: Here are the 4" pots embedded in the grow bag. I didn't use staples. Unlike with strawberries, they don't seem to be necessary.

Time for a new portrait

I have one aeonium, a 'Floresens.' I haven't gotten any more aeoniums because many varieties can get HUGE, and they are summer dormant. I'm not sure how to deal with summer dormancy. But sometimes I look at it and go, "That is a fine-looking plant." Such a moment was today.

Here it is back on March 13. This is about a week after I got it from Ramsey's. It has added more leaves and a couple of offsets. It got browner for a while, and now green again.

Looking back at unboxing photos from that shipment, all of the plants were in pretty good shape compared to some of the carnage I have seen from others. It is the reason I recommend Ramsey's as place to start when ordering online. They are the cheapest I have found and the quality is good, but the selection is not as extensive as Mountain Crest Gardens. Those two bigger pots at top center, Echeverias 'Lilac Mist' and 'Cubic Frost,' are what I expect to get when I pay more for a bigger pot. The 'Blue Curls' in the other larger pot was full of dirt and had some leaf damage. It is doing OK now but is not one of my favorites, to be blunt.

I put one of the 'Lilac Mist' rosettes in a big bowl with other stuff, and potted up the other three together. It is easy to forget that is an Echeveria. Here it is today:

Propagation

My plant propagation bowls were getting to the point where I had to do something. In the image is the bowl (#1) where most of the little plants were, and there is an almost identical bowl (#2) that had some that weren't quite so far along. (Bowl #1 has drainage holes; bowl #2 does not.) My best guess is there were about 70 little plants in these two bowls and scattered around in a couple of other locations.

As much as I dislike 2" plastic pots, I collected all that I could find (45) and filled them with a mix of coir and pumice. I transferred most of the succulents out of bowl #1 and a few from the other locations, gave them a shot of water, and put them under grow lights in the garage.

I consolidated what remained in bowl #2, which leaves bowl #1 available for something else. The current plan is to divide up the plant I believe is a Graptopetalum paraguayense 'Ghost Plant' and put the pieces in bowl #1. I will probably behead the two remaining big rosettes (it started with four) and plant those along with what's left. Here it is a couple days ago. This doesn't show all the little rosettes sprouting out of the stems, but there are at least six of them. I probably won't behead any of the little rosettes right away, but that will happen someday. As I recall there also are two loose leaves that may be sprouting. There were two other big rosettes that made their escape earlier.

June 26 update: I did the 'Ghost Plant' beheadings and planted all the pieces in bowl #1. The original root ball is still mostly intact and was too tall for this bowl, so I put it in the middle and mounded the soil. The two big rosettes are on the flanks, and I removed quite a few leaves which are now scattered around. There are two leaf sprouts on the back side, one of which looks good and the other is a bit iffy. So far I'm pleased, and we'll see how the mounding works. Regarding the two previously-harvested rosettes, one is in a large bowl with other succulents, and the other is in a 4" plastic pot.

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Over at the greenhouse, there are a few stray leaves that are in their original pots with their parent plants so I will know what those are as they develop. But I have little idea what most of them are in the 45 little pots shown above. The big Jade leaves at left are pretty obvious, and the ones with pointy leaves are probably 'Little Jewel,' but the rest are mostly a mystery. I have kept good track of the plants I have purchased, including date acquired and from whom, but tracking dozens of leaves that may or may not sprout is a bit much. I'll try to look at is as part of the adventure as they reveal themselves.

This is the leaf propagation that is furthest along. I believe I stole this leaf from my nephew's back yard in Texas in February and I don't know the variety. I put it in a 4-inch plastic pot three months ago and it is now 1.5 inches wide and 5/8ths of an inch high. It is wider but not any taller than it was a month ago, which is the next image. I counted the leaves, and there are now 19 versus 12 a month ago. It is now in the greenhouse after spending a few months under grow lights, and with all that light it has developed just a bit of color on the tips of the leaves. I considered giving it a terra cotta to mark its promotion to the greenhouse, but it would still be just a 4-inch pot and I decided not to disturb it and will let it ride in the plastic for now. Maybe when it is two inches wide it will move into clay.

June 24

May 23

Moonstone

Checking in on the Pachyphytum 'Pink Moonstone,' which looks completely different from the Pachyphytum 'Little Jewel' often featured here. Here it is today, followed by an image taken outside on a warm day in early February (37 degrees), three days after it was received from Mountain Crest Gardens. I take these images periodically to prove to myself that they are growing.

Aloe Vera myths

There are plenty of gardening myths that get repeated over and over until everyone takes them as gospel truth. "Pebble trays offer a low-maintenance, stress-free alternative, by gently raising the humidity around your indoor plants." Another one: "Miracle-Gro® Water Soluble Bloom Booster® Flower Food promotes more blooms for greater color!"

Robert Pavlis has spent much of his career dealing with such nonsense on his web site Garden Myths, the YouTube channel Garden Fundamentals, and nine plant science books, two specifically about gardening myths.

Pavlis says, "The amount of water added to a room from a pebble tray is so small that it does not change the humidity of the room. The humidity a few inches above the pebble tray is the same as the whole room."

Bloom boosters are higher-phosphorus fertilizers, such as 15-30-15 for the product mentioned above with phosphorus represented by the middle number. Most general fertilizers have a higher first number, nitrogen. Pavlis writes, "It turns out that in North America, few garden soils have a deficiency of phosphorus, which means that in most of these soils bloom booster does nothing to boost blooms." He says the excess phosphorus actually may be toxic.

And so on. Oft-repeated anecdotes often have no basis in science. Pavlis seems to be a reliable, scientific source.

Here's a myth about Aloe Vera: It is deer resistant. The internet says, "While deer generally avoid aloe entirely, ingesting large amounts of the raw plant can be mildly toxic to them. Severe Drought: If natural food sources are scarce, starving deer will occasionally browse on tender young leaves." This one got bitten by SOMETHING in the past 24 hours:

I just want to point out that it is two days into summer and there is lush vegetation everywhere. If the deer were thirsty, there was a downpour yesterday and the plant saucers outside had water in them. But the part about toxicity is encouraging. I left the plants where they were to see if the deer try them again. Worst case, I have five backup aloe in other locations and the deer get a severe tummy ache.

But this aloe chomping is an anecdote, not a scientific observation. Maybe 99.9% of deer avoid aloe and one Red Lodge deer decided to be a rebel and live dangerously. People are stupid and put things in their bodies that they know aren't good for them, why should deer be different?

Most internet sources also say Aloe Vera has shallow roots. Typical advice is, "Select a wide, shallow container rather than a deep, narrow one." But The Next Gardener, a site where I ordered some succulents three months ago, says, "Taller succulents like Aloe Vera, with deeper root systems, need pots 8-10 inches deep to prevent roots from curling upward (a common issue in shallow pots under lights)." Which is the myth, shallow roots or deep roots? Today I potted up my last 4-inch aloe in a tall, narrow pot.

Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. But as Pavlis the plant scientist says, you can't draw any conclusions from one result. Unfortunately the internet is full of statements that are repeated so often that people believe them as fact. Don't get me started on companion planting.

I presume it was the deer that ate the aloe. I haven't checked the trail camera to verify this assumption. I'm pretty sure it was not the hummingbirds. Or should I say hummingbird. There only seems to be one who visits the greenhouse feeders and the adjacent flowers, a male Calliope. A few weeks ago there was another bird, but he flew around with them perhaps to chase them away. At the house, we haven't gotten many visitors yet this spring/summer, just one or two.

By the way, I have what appear to be pebble trays at the greenhouse, but they are outside, which makes no sense for the supposed humidity-raising effect of pebble trays. They serve two purposes: They protect the soil from splashing in the window boxes from water coming off the gable over the door. And perhaps they provide a place for bees and butterflies to get a drink. I've never seen bees or butterflies use them so maybe that is another myth, but they do work as splash guards.

It's not a pebble tray, it's a splash guard!

Outside

While the greenhouse is a great thing to have to get things started in the spring and extend the growing season well into the autumn, with our usual cool weather the soil inside does not dry out very quickly. This despite getting up as high as 96 degrees and as low as 23% humidity, both on June 16 when it was 85 outside. Most days, it barely gets above 70 and I do not have to water most of the plants in the greenhouse. It may be different in August.

Yesterday I finally made the connection between yellow leaves on the Plectranthus 'Velveteen Aromatic'™ and constant sunlight, but I didn't want to move them all back inside. Today I moved most of them and some other succulents to the sides of the greenhouse, where will they avoid the midday sun and also get some dappled light in the morning and evening due to surrounding trees. Here is the west side where I put the six 'Velveteens' I potted up yesterday along with two older ones, three Aloe Vera, and a Greek Oregano cutting. I also moved the two Sedum SunSparkler 'Lime Twister' and 'Wildfire' hanging baskets here from inside.

On the east side, which gets less foot traffic, I put some of the plants that are less, uh, "photogenic." Here are the two Aloe that I call 'Tiger Tooth' even though I don't know if that is accurate, six Plectranthus 'Velveteen Aromatic'™ that haven't been potted up yet, a small Aloe Vera, a yellow Greek Oregano cutting, a damaged 'Velveteen,' and an an older Aloe Vera that needs dividing.

At the house on our west-facing patio, I pulled the 'Velveteens' and Aloe Veras (two each) and the big Greek Oregano plant back under the covered porch. On the table above them, there are nine tender succulents, two Sempervivums, and four non-succulents. The succulents have been on this table for several weeks, getting indirect light most of the day until late afternoon when the sun finally hits them.

I want to get as many plants out of the greenhouse and garage into the great outdoors as I can, including succulents. I see these people on Australian YouTube videos where their succulents live outside all the time and even get rained on. I don't want to get mine rained on, especially those with farina, but I want to take advantage of the summer for the short time it lasts. Then the interesting question will be will it all fit back inside the garage when autumn roll around.

My propagation bowls are going strong, so in four months I may have 150 succulents in various-sized containers. Those get first priority in the garage and inside the house. There currently are 22 'Velveteens,' and I know not all of them will be invited into the garage. Then there are more than a dozen pots of herbs, the ten coleus, and the petunia and geranium cuttings that I want to overwinter.

It will take some of the pressure off it I can leave about 25 cold-hardy succulents in the greenhouse over the winter. I am tempted to heat the greenhouse to +10 all winter, which in theory would make it Zone 8 instead of Zone 5 (-20). That would make it more survivable for the hardy succulents experiencing their first winter and some perennials that are only good to Zone 7. In theory the strawberry plants in the planting beds are hardy enough to make it without help, but I also have strawberries in baskets and grow bags that would benefit from a little heat. Most nights last winter it did not get down to +10 so the heat wouldn't have to come on, but it was a mild winter.

Forget that for now, for the next three months...uh, two and a half months...I'm taking advantage of our all-too-brief summer.

Pruning

I potted up two aloe vera and six Plectranthus 'Velveteen Aromatic'™ at the greenhouse today. Next to the two aloe vera on the left is a little pot of five of their pups. I may not have gotten enough root from all of them so we will see if any of them grow. The larger aloe in terra cotta pots (not pictured) that made it through last winter look better now than I expected, and I am reconsidering my plan to tear them apart and replant the pieces. Counting the two big ones here, I have six or seven semi-presentable aloes.

The Plectranthus 'Velveteen Aromatic'™ is my 30-year continuing propagation of what is probably Plectranthus Amboinicus, known by several inaccurate common names that I'm not going to repeat here. Just call it by my made-up trademarked name; it is much more accurate. It is a semi-succulent, which means it can't store as much water in its leaves as succulents and doesn't need soil as gritty (but it still has to be well-draining).

This plant is so easy to propagate, when one shows signs of getting leggy in late winter, I just take cuttings and start new rather than trying to save the plant. I decided to try something different with this one, which was the best one I had last November. It spent the winter in our bedroom in a west-facing window, and here it is January 30.

It was at that point where it started going from bushy to leggy. One distinguishing feature of this plant was the tall central stalk. I thought maybe it might flower (which I have never seen in 30+ years) but it was not to be.

This plant was the source of most of the cuttings I took this spring, a total of 18. Unlike my petunia cutting success rate, which is about 25%, I was 100% with 'Velveteen' cuttings this year.... Getting back to doing something different with this plant, I pruned it heavily to see what will happen. There are many small sprouts lower down on the stems, so something will happen. Will it become nice and bushy, or remain sparse and weird? Seeing it like this with the tree-like central trunk almost reminds me of a Jade. But it grows much faster than a Jade.

July 5 update: Here is what the prune job looks like after two weeks. It is filling in but is far from presentation quality. If I had to do it over, I would reduce the height more. I have moved it closer to the house where it doesn't get quite as much direct light to reduce the risk of yellowing.

July 31 update: The leaves continue to fill in, particularly around the bottom. It doesn't look quite right yet, but it is getting there. The plant is so ridiculously easy to propagate from cuttings and grows so fast that I don't know if this is worthwhile. I believe I still have 20 of various sizes in pots, and if I can't give them away I need to decide which ones make the cut for winter.

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Here is what I cut off. I could have started 10 more propagations with this, but I have the six I potted up today in 6-inch pots, six more still in 4-inch pots, two in greenhouse window boxes, and maybe eight larger plants in various pots scattered around the two properties.

There are some random yellow leaves hanging off the upper stems of the pruned plant. The interweb attributes yellow leaves to improper watering, lack of nutrients, or too much sun. I think it is the last one. The plant has been sitting outside for a month and developed the yellow leaves on the upper stems, but the leaves lower down that had been shaded until today are green. UV light is about 20% stronger here at 5,588 feet than at sea level, and it can destroy chlorophyll in leaves. It's a balancing act: Too little light and the plant gets leggy, too much light and the leaves turn yellow. The Monardo and the peppermint in the barrel (shown above in the first image) also are sun stressed, which their leaves show by turning reddish-brown. (Other plants in the barrel such as sage and rosemary aren't affected.) The barrel gets full sun from sunrise to late afternoon. The two Monardo I'm going to plant at the house will get some mid-day shade from the shed, so that should be good for them.

Anyway, I need to put most of the 'Velveteens' somewhere where the light isn't as intense. (The two planted in the outside window boxes are being left to their fate.) Sad. The deer don't eat them and I would like to leave them outside for the summer. Here is one of the local residents at the greenhouse. I walk toward them yelling and waving my arms and they just stare at me. They are town deer and have very little fear, and they know there will be no consequences for chewing on my alyssum. (BTW, the interweb says, "According to Rutgers University, alyssum is rated as 'rarely damaged' by browsing deer, making it a reliable plant for your garden." Hah!)

Campfire

A few weeks ago I noticed something that met the description of powdery mildew on my Crassula 'Campfire.' Thursday I hit the plant with Bonide Captain Jack's Liquid Copper Fungicide. All the powdery stuff washed off, revealing the scars underneath. If the plant does survive, it needs to grow some new foliage.

Now the sickly afterthought that was in the same pot in the March 7 Ramsey's order is in the lead. It still isn't very big but it has turned the signature red with exposure to lots of light.

I'll leave the big one in the garage under grow lights to recuperate, if it can, and transport the small one to take its place in the greenhouse.

The Kalanchoe 'Desert Surprise' has been languishing lately and I suspected it also had powdery mildew, but wasn't sure. Out of an abundance of caution, I hit it with the fungicide on Thursday. It does not show the scarring that the 'Campfire' does. I believe it is more likely that the Kalanchoe had some farina that sort of resembled mildew, and the reason it hasn't been that vigorous is due to something else, unknown.

On a happier note, I wanted to get at least one hummingbird image today as I was puttering around the greenhouse. I only had my little Canon M100 camera with the 70-200mm Galapagos lens (so-called because I got this image with this lens in the Galapagos in 2004) attached with a converter. I got this image, and soon when the weather is better I will take better equipment and try to get this fellow on the salvia or butterfly mint. This is a male Calliope and I believe is the one I see 95% of the time. He was one flying around inside the greenhouse today for a minute, and after a few moments of confusion he escaped back through the open door.

It started with Jade

As I wrote in "About this blog," back in January I just wanted a Jade plant. My succulent collection took off from there, and Jade has been at the forefront. The first Jade came home from Walmart January 17, and this is what it looks like today. It has been getting plenty of light so (I'm guessing) that is the reason for the dark burgundy color.

Here is the larger Jade acquired a month later from Ace Hardware. It is much greener than the other one, with just a hint of red on the rims of some of the leaves. The smaller one was a bit darker on Day One, but the difference has become more pronounced in the past four months. I keep saying I need to divide this pot, which has at least five stalks. To be honest, I'm afraid of succeeding and being overwhelmed with Jade plants. I already have a number of propagations going.

The small Jade originally had three stems, but one was rotting so I beheaded it. It is still alive but due to the short stem it is still less than an inch tall almost five months later.

I took several cuttings from the larger plant four months ago, and they are succeeding to various extents. This is one of the better ones and is about ready for its own terra cotta.

When I took the cuttings maybe three months ago, several leaves were stripped off the stems and four of them have been developing in the propagation bowl... VERY slowly. Finally there are little leaves coming out of several of them, with this one the furthest along.

I have acquired nine other Crassulas, some of which are spectacular ('Coastal Coral') and some of which have been blah ('Rosary Plant', the image is from four months ago and it doesn't look that good today). But Jade is the original. It is slow but steady and teaches you patience.

Changes

Spring, almost summer, is the time when most succulents should be showing changes. I looked at everything today and took a few snapshots to show what is going on. First up is Echeveria 'Doris Taylor' aka 'Woolly Rose,' which continues to develop the two stalks that were already evident when it arrived from Mountain Crest Gardens a month ago.

Also continuing to develop is the stalk coming out of Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy.' It was acquired from Nana's Bloomers two months ago.

Sempervivum globiferum 'Budai Mountains' had one of its new offsets roll away. The small purple ones from last winter weren't viable; hopefully this big green one (on the right) is.

There may be a time in the future when half of my plants are Graptopetalum paraguayense 'Ghost Plant.' If I propagated every bud, leaf and stalk, I would have at least 20 plants. These are the two stalks remaining of the original four purchased in a 3-inch pot from Gainan's in Billings April 8. The other two stalks are in other pots, there are two sprouted leaves in this pot and some more in the propagation bowl, and there are small rosettes on the stalks that could be snipped off and rooted. Disclaimer: The ID is tentative. I have a plant from Mountain Crest acquired in February that definitely is a 'Ghost Plant,' but the ID on this one is a guess.

Cotyledon ladismithiensis 'Bear Paw' has definitely grown since it was acquired at Walmart March 12, and is in three distinct clumps.

Finally, here is the coming-out image of Echeveria 'Perle von Nurnberg,' the replacement for the one I sold June 6. This one came from Walmart June 13. It was under grow lights for a week and made the transition to the greenhouse three days ago. It is a bit marked up from its time in the dark, crowded store before I rescued it, but overall I am pleased.

Not a succulent

Hard herbs are not succulents but plant care is much the same. Well-draining coarse soil, minimal watering, minimal fertilizer, lots of sun. Hard herbs include oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, and similar.

I have one rosemary plant that I decided to treat exactly like a succulent, potting it in terra cotta, using succulent potting mix, and even covering the surface of the soil with little stones. I only water it when it is dry. Maybe not quite as dry as the typical succulent, but close. It's doing great.

I have an oregano plant in a 10-inch terra cotta pot that I have had for a few years. Three years, five years, I'm not sure. It has been looking sickly/yellow lately so I decided to try something I have seen Mr. Sheffield do to house plants -- prune the roots. It took some effort to pop it out of its pot, and lo and behold I found a plant tag: Greek Oregano. That was a surprise. Next time I am shopping I will have to get a regular or Italian variety. Anyway....

I used a bread knife that has been in the family for 70 years (no joke) to slice off the bottom third of the root ball, about three inches. I put a mesh screen over the pot's drainage hole, added three inches of fresh garden soil mixed with pumice, and put the top of the plant back in. I did not add any fertilizer because oregano should not need it. I watered it in and that was it, unchanged to the casual observer.

I went through the sliced-off portion to see what there was to see. It was all fine roots and large stones. Everyone now says not to put stones in the bottom of pots because they do not improve drainage and actually may be harmful, but X number of years ago when I originally potted it, putting stones at the bottom was standard. I suppose in five years "they" will say using pumice is a huge mistake and everyone should stop doing it.

The Canadian dude on Everything Plants root prunes his Jades, but many other types of succulents do not have an extensive root system like Jade. A web search for "root prune succulents" reveals a variety of opinions on whether the root ball for other types of succulents should be trimmed when repotting. It's not something I'm going to worry about until the first time I see a root-bound succulent, which hasn't happened yet.

Can't Quit You

My 'Perle von Nurnberg' got sold recently, and I always felt that I would replace it someday. That day came after just one week.

Every time I buy a succulent from the Walmart in Laurel, MT, I feel like I have liberated it from a dark prison. I want to grab whoever is responsible for assigning the unlit, cramped display space. "Succulents want LIGHT!" I would scream, politely, while trying to shake some sense into them. Walmart had three 3.5-inch and one 2-inch from Altman Plants in California on display...if you call a dark lower shelf a "display." I didn't want to start too far back, so I got one of the larger ones and this was the best of the bunch. I checked the label to make sure I didn't accidentally end up with another 'Red Sky.' (Phone photos today, I need a new phone with a better camera.)

The new acquisition immediately went under a grow light in the garage. I'll pot it up in a 6-inch terra cotta tonight and move it to the greenhouse in about a week. The goal for this new plant, of course, is to look like this within a few months.

You get the pastel color by giving the plant lots of light. I'm sure they are unaware of this at the Laurel Walmart, and I'm also sure they don't care. Two days later: I swear, the color is changing and softening already. Just give it some light!

Switching gears, I recently received a Sempervivum 'Hurricane' from Succulents Depot, and the little pot contained a mashup of two major pieces. I planted them together in the same pot. The smaller piece already had an offset growing.

What I have been noticing the past few days is the two show a significant difference: The larger one is webbed, the smaller one is not. But the offset growing out of the smaller one does have some webbing. I don't know what to make of it. The answer, as it is so often with succulents, is "We will see."