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.
