Calling it

Today is the last update for a while for "Death of a Sempervivum part I," Unknown #5. I chopped off the flower stalk, which was mostly dried up. I put the seed head in a plastic bag and at some point will see if there are any viable seeds, and that would be the only reason for further updates. I cleaned up what remained in the pot, which consists of two offsets close together, as is usual with a heuffelii.

I also recently clipped one of the two flower stalks off of Echeveria 'Doris Taylor' and will preserve it for any seeds. Others Echeverias that have flower stalks that have not been clipped yet are 'Neon Breakers' and 'Topsy Turvy.' I don't really want to propagate a bunch of echeverias from seed, but I am interested to see if it is possible and whether they would breed true. That experiment would take a while.

"Death of a Sempervivum part II continues to play out with 'Powdered Pastry.' The flower stalk has five distinct branches, with the newest buds at the tips.

Cosmic

I am going to re-organize my "Death of a Sempervivum" pages now that a third Sempervivum, 'Cosmic Candy,' has begun its death spiral. Here is today's image.

I have started the process of moving the various succulents to their wintering grounds. It is still August so may seem early, but here at an altitude of 5,588 feet our average first frost date is September 12. The tender succulents are being moved to our garage which is heated to 50 degrees in the winter, and the hardy succulents are going to the greenhouse. I plant to heat the greenhouse to 50 degrees until mid-November, then reduce it to 10 until April. Zone 5a implies a seasonal low of -15 to -20. The lowest temperatures from last winter were -9 outside and +2 inside. It will be the first winter for most of the Sempervivums and all of the other hardy succulents and herbs (and strawberries), so I'm hoping that +10 will mean survival for all.

Exchange

I managed to give away 11 plants today, which should make it easier to put everything else back in the garage. But my sister promised to give me more in exchange when I visit in about a month. I gave her nine duplicates, but I also let go of my only copies of Echeveria 'Blue Curls' and Sempervivum 'Hurricane.' To be honest, 'Blue Curls' has not been one of my favorites because it has not thrived. I don't have a duplicate of 'Hurricane,' but it is one of three similar webbed Semps. It is smaller than Unknown #7 and I was less attached to it than Unknown #1, the Survivor.

Four of the duplicates were Plectranthus 'Velveteen Aromatic' (Cuban Oregano), which I originally got from her more than 30 years ago. She doesn't remember how she lost hers, but they survive just about everything except freezing. Anyway, full circle on that. I had 20 copies of this plant and will overwinter only about five of them, so I told her to take as many as she wanted.

Echeveria 'Blue Curls' does not look as good now as it did in this image from April 10, three days after unboxing a Ramsey's order.

Number Three

Ten days ago, I commented that Sempervivum 'Cosmic Candy' was standing tall. I didn't see any evidence it was flowering at that time, but now I do. Sempervivums do not flower very often, perhaps because they die after doing so. This is the third one this summer out of 17 plants, which I guess isn't an unusual number with that sample size. That's about 18%, if no one else bolts this year.

August 26: Six days later.

I took a phone snapshot of the two Sempervivums that have bloomed already. 'Powdered Pastry' in the big pot is still flowering, but a couple of the first blooms are fading. It is being photobombed by Unknown #5. Its flower stalk is mostly dried up, and I'll chop it off soon and see if there are viable seeds.

Vacation

One great thing about succulents is being gone for a week doesn't cause any anxiety about watering. But I do regret missing the continued blooming of the Sempervivum 'Powdered Pastry' over the past week. Upon my return today, I tried getting a handheld focus bracketing of this but the wind caused too much variation in the background. The result was not sharp, so this is just a single image.

I was able to use focus bracketing on 'Strawberry Kiwi' because it doesn't have a flower stalk waving around in the wind. This is obviously a Sempervivum heuffelii with the offsets close to the stalk. The burgundy has intensified in the past month.

The only other significant change I noticed was the Echeveria pulvinata 'Frosty' is getting taller. It doesn't appear to be a flower stalk or an offset, it's just getting taller. I didn't get a good image of it; maybe tomorrow. So to cap off today, here is another image of my favorite Aeonium, the 'Floresens.' It seems like the color is changing all the time with a bit more orange than a couple weeks ago.

Birds

I've been fighting a battle against the local deer this year to protect my petunias and sunflowers, but for the most part the deer have not been interested in succulents, except two. At the greenhouse, they chewed up a Demosperma and several aloe. But at both the greenhouse and the back patio, they have ignored the others, including all of the Sempervivums. As the internet says of Sempervivums, "Their thick, fleshy leaves and tough, low-growing rosettes make them an unappealing snack for deer under normal conditions."

So imagine my surprise when today I saw four of the 'Budai Mountains' rollers out of their pot and scattered about, including one roller that had a couple inches of root. It did not look like a deer attack, and we have not had any high winds lately, so the clue I zeroed in on was the bird poop on the fire pit deck where I have most of the Semps. We have had large (100+), creepy flights of magpies lately, and I would not put it past them to do something like this. The first image shows a hole where one of the rollers used to reside. But none of the rollers were really damaged, so I put them all in a 4-inch pot and we will see what develops.

Before it clouded over with the arrival of some rain and cooler weather for a few days, I got a few shots for the color comparisons I mentioned yesterday. First is the larger 'Gold Nugget' today versus just nine days ago. The information I have says it will not get its golden color until winter, but for now it is turning a pastel shade of burgundy.

I'm not going to include a "Before" image of the smaller 'Gold Nugget,' but it is showing the same color change. I'm not as careful with the water spots as I am with the larger one.

Next is the much-maligned 'Strawberry Kiwi,' which got demoted from the big grow bag July 27. As a Heuffelii, it just didn't spread out enough to keep its position in the bag. It has thrived since getting a much-smaller pot, turning very deep burgundy. The "Before" image is a crop of a 6/30 image when it was failing to thrive in the grow bag.

This comparison is of size. On the left is Little Survivor Unknown #1, and to the right is what came identified as 'Hurricane' by Succulents Depot on April 30, both in 6-inch pots. I have no doubt the webbed rosette is 'Hurricane.' I thought for a moment the other two rosettes were a couple stray offsets from 'Powdered Pastry,' but that was purchased locally April 8 and there was no opportunity something like that to happen. I should call the two smaller rosettes Unknown #8 and give them their own pot, but I have no spare terra cotta at the moment. I did find one image on the internet where the plant identified as 'Hurricane' looked more like the two mystery guests rather than the thickly-webbed rosette, so I don't know what is true and I guess it is not that important. Anyway, the purpose of this image is to show the Survivor is getting to be a substantial plant and now is bigger than 'Hurricane.' Either of them.

Sunset

This summer my usual practice is to give the succulents on the back patio a once-over in the evening, just to see if something interesting has happened. Today was jackpot day. The first flower bud on the Sempervivum Chick Charms 'Powdered Pastry' has opened.

These images also are posted on the static page "Death of a Sempervivum, part II" where you can read more about how we got to this point.

There was a time in the spring when the Sempervivums weren't doing much when I wondered if it was worth it. But when I see what has happened this summer, it is worth it. 'Powdered Pastry' is the superstar, but 'Lotus Blossom' is an offsetting machine, and the Little Survivor #1 is not so little any more (it's bigger than the main 'Hurricane' rosette). 'Gold Nugget' (both of them), Unknown #6, and even 'Strawberry Kiwi' (which recently I demoted from the big grow bag) have turned amazing shades of burgundy just in the past couple weeks. And of course Unknown #5 was the first to flower, although not as spectacularly as 'Powdered Pastry.' I'm lazy and just took a group photo today of the patio Semps mixed in with a few Echeveria. I won't be able to take more portraits for a week, but I'm hoping the deep burgundy colors will hold through August.

This image from not even two weeks ago, July 30, shows plants that are a lot more green. Just compare the 'Gold Nugget' in the ribbed pot at the top of both images.

Standing Tall

I've said before that Sempervivums stay low to the ground to better survive the winter cold. But it is the dead of summer now with greenhouse temperatures in the 90s and outside temperatures in the 80s, which is hot for our part of the world, and quite a few of the Semps are standing tall. (And not just the ones that are starting to flower and getting ready to die.) This is the 'Cosmic Candy' that I put into the big ceramic in the greenhouse July 30 and it seems to be more upright than it was when the change was made. Phone photo, I'll get this with a real camera in the next day or so.

Highlights from watering day

I watered most of the succulents at the greenhouse today. Handling each plant gives me the chance to spot something new or revisit something interesting. First we have Echeveria 'Neon Breakers' which has been flowering for months now and shows no sign of fading away. I know a lot of people clip these flower stalks, but I'm new enough to this that I want to see what will happen.

Next is a two-tone Echeveria in one of my large bowls. This unknown probably came out of a Home Depot variety bowl a few months ago. The bottom is an old-looking green, but the new growth on top is a brighter blueish-green.

I mentioned yesterday that some plants arrive looking rather rugged but are able to recover. That was the case with Graptoveria 'Debbie,' like yesterday's Echeveria 'Atlantis' an April 30 arrival from Succulents Depot. Here it is today, followed by what it looked like two days after unboxing. 'Debbie' has a large offset that dominates the bottom of this image and is at left in the next image.

Yes, it recovered, but am I wrong for not wanting my new plants to look like this?

Aeonium

The Aeonium 'Floresens' is my only aeonium. I have been reluctant to get more because they can get big, and they are summer dormant, opposite of most other succulents. But I am a fan of the one I have. I put it in a large ceramic pot a few months ago, and today transported it from inside the greenhouse to outside on our back patio. It has not gone dormant this summer and is still growing. It has had two offsets for a while, and I just noticed that a third one is starting to peek through. It is visible in the first image below the main bud.

Here are some previous images. In June the darker green in the middle of the leaves and the reddish rims were not as pronounced as they are now. The plant spent some of the time since then under a grow light to supplement the daylight it got in the greenhouse.

The plant came from Ramsey's March 7. The image is from March 26 and one of the offsets is already visible. I rely on Mountain Crest Gardens for descriptions even on plants I don't order from them, and they describe 'Floresens' as, "A variegated Aeonium with leaves that shift from forest green to lime to creamy yellow. The leaves can also blush at their edges and develop a purple mid-stripe if grown in bright sunlight." You can see a hint of the purple mid-stripe on several of these leaves, so I'm interested to see how the colors change as the calendar rolls on.

August 8: Here it is a few days later. Either the color has changed in a short time, or there is some variation in the lighting. There is a lot of smoke in the air and it can make a difference. If nothing else, now I can claim that I have a reason why I scatter broken pottery on the surface.

Impatience

On June 24, I put 44 succulent leaf sprouts and one small Jade cutting in 2-inch pots and placed the tray under grow lights. It seems like forever ago but it is not quite six weeks. Three of the cells were lost along the way but the remaining 42 have been growing. Not fast enough for me, but growing. I decided it was time today to move a couple of them to 4-inch plastic pots. Here is that Jade cutting, which was just two leaves six weeks ago. It probably was a cutting from Jade #2.

With dozens of random leaves to start with, I don't know what most of these little plants are. This one is reddish-purple and has thick leaves, so I'm thinking grapto-something. It probably is still too small for a 4-inch pot, but I thought it was the best candidate among the leaf propagations. It gets the promotion, ready or not.

Here are the two plants (I believe) in the tray June 24. I'm 100% sure of the Jade, maybe 98% sure of the other one. It was in the right spot in the tray and looks correct except for the color, which of course can change as a plant grows.

Leaf cuttings work, but the process is slow. I probably won't pot up any more for another month.

Portraits

My usual practice when getting a new succulent is to take a portrait and pot it up within the first three days. Sometimes they look a bit rugged coming out of the box and I wait a few days for the imaging. The Echeveria 'Atlantis' received from Succulents Depot April 30 was REALLY rugged at unboxing. The plant eventually came around, and here it is, finally.

This image from May 2 shows why I didn't post something earlier. Yes, it is nice that the plant has recovered as well as it has in three months, but I think the mail order companies sometimes send you plants that looked like crap BEFORE they went into the box. Succulents Depot says, "Plants may look slightly dull or stressed from being in a dark box — that's normal." Uh, sure. Maybe the Postal Service did this, maybe not. In this case it worked out, in others it does not. (I'm looking at you The Next Gardener / Echeveria 'Rainbow.') My advice always is to shop locally so you can see what you are buying, and only resort to the mail order companies for something you can't find elsewhere. Here in rural Montana 60 miles from Billings, I'm stuck with what Home Depot, Walmart and a couple of expensive local shops have on hand, then Mountain Crest Gardens is the first online alternative. The only other online shop I recommend is Ramsey's, which has the lowest prices and good quality but not a vast selection like Mountain Crest. Succulents Depot and some others will not have me as a repeat customer.

There some other plants that I didn't have images posted on my Succulent List (see right-hand menu). These include another Echeveria and four Sedums. First up is Echeveria 'Red Beauty,' which I got from Mountain Crest Gardens May 16. It was just something to fill out an order to get free shipping and I stuck it in one of the big bowls, where it has done fine. If the rosette was a little bigger I would consider giving it its own pot.

Next are two SunSparkler hardy Sedums, 'Wildfire' and 'Lime Twister,' purchased at Nana's Bloomers in Laurel, MT April 14. (I got five succulents from Nana's this year, but the problem with them is they get enough in the spring for one display table, and that's it. By the time they close for the season in early July, what little they have left is overgrown.) I keep thinking I will plant 'Wildfire' in the border of my front yard but haven't done it yet. Both of them are in small hanging baskets in the greenhouse. I took them outside to get these shots. The 'Wildfire' looks like it is about to bloom.

Another SunSparkler Sedum is 'Blue Pearl,' obtained in that infamous Succulents Depot image of April 30. Compared to the other two Sedums, it came in a very small pot and still isn't that big.

The final Sedum, unlike the SunSparklers, is not hardy. It is 'Shooting Stars,' acquired at Home Depot February 27. I have divided it and use it in two large bowls.

Focus

First, I have moved the two "Death of a Sempervivum" posts from the chronological blog to the static pages, which appear on the right-hand menu. They are:

• Death of a Sempervivum, part I, Sempervivum heuffelii Unknown #5.
• Death of a Sempervivum, part II, Chick Charms 'Powdered Pastry.'

Second, I'll carry the Sempervivum theme for at least one more day. Even with a camera aperture of f/11, only a portion of the image is in focus with a single macro image, so I use focus bracketing and stacking when I have time. With a tripod and the focus bracketing capability built into the World's Most Powerful Mirrorless Camera (Canon R5 Mark II) and 100mm macro lens, I take up to 36 images at different focus points, front to back. The camera will do the stacking if you want, but it uses all of the images. Since I try to leave a cushion at the back end, I would rather select which images I want included, which I do in a program called Zerene Stacker.¹ My photography origins were in journalism, so I'm always trying to get realistic-looking photographs. The thing about Sempervivums and other succulents is they sometimes don't look real. Here is an unreal Semp, one of my favorites now, Chick Charms 'Lotus Blossom.' It is cold and windy here today, so I did the photography inside in my studio, aka the kitchen.

As I posted a few days ago, this is what it looked like four months ago when I received it from Mountain Crest Gardens. It has changed so much so that I questioned whether I got it mixed up with something else. Upon further review, no, I didn't, both of these images are the same 'Lotus Blossom.'

Calcareum (no variety name) also has an abudance of offsets.

I didn't think this one had changed much since I brought it home from Home Depot April 8. But my memory is far from perfect, so the reason I take pictures of the plants is to make sure they are growing. This one and its offsets have gotten a lot plumper. The purple tips are the same, but the green has become more muted.

The first Chick Charms 'Gold Nugget' I got was in one pot with larger 'Appletini' and 'Cosmic Candy' plants. It came from Mountain Crest March 31. Why Chick Charms jams these trios into a small pot, I don't understand, but it was the cheapest way to get three plants. That 'Gold Nugget' was the runt of the litter, so I got a bigger one from Mountain Crest May 16. That is what you see here. Barely visible are two of the three offsets. I bought this 6-inch ribbed terra cotta pot for the original 'Gold Nugget,' which was way too small for it. I won't bother getting any more of these pots. I'm now a believer in ordinary, short terra cotta pots for succulents.

I also added two focus-stacked images to the 'Powdered Pastry' page.

¹ For the 'Lotus Blossom' image from a relatively flat angle, I used all 30 images that I took, and still the back of the pot is not in focus. For Calcareum, it was an overhead shot and I used the only the first seven out of 18. The 'Gold Nugget' image also is from a higher angle and I used 10 of 18.