A Tour of the Succulents in my Greenhouse
If you like growing plants, but don’t really have the time to care for them properly, perhaps you should consider growing succulents. Succulents require very little maintenance. These plants are able to survive prolonged drought because they store moisture in their fleshy stems, roots, or leaves. Some succulents have spikes on the edges and tips of their leaves, which act as a defense against predators. Succulents can be found in many climates, and offer a great diversity of exotic forms. Some look like smooth stones and others, perfect rosettes. Some resemble strings of beads, and others are more architectural in nature. Succulents make excellent potted plants. Just give them plenty of bright light and very little water. Enjoy this little tour of some of the succulents in my greenhouse.
1 My succulent collection comprises a large part of my greenhouse collection of plants.
2 This is a type of sedum, a large genus of flowering plants, commonly known as stonecrops. They spread rapidly.
3 Sedum morganianum, also known as burro's tail or donkey's tail - It's a spectacular hanging basket plant.
4 The 'tails' grow longer and longer.
5 A lovely chartreuse sedum
6 A delicate sedum
7 A fuzzy variety of sedum
8 Sedum japonica 'gold dots' is prized for its tiny, yellow succulent leaves and tight mound form.
9 This is an aeonium, a fast-growing rosette-shaped succulent. Aeonium is a diverse group that can be stemless or shrublike, small or medium-sized, preferring sun or shade.
10 This aeonium, called arboreum 'Schwartzkopf,' is so dark purple that it appears almost black.
11 Aeonium canariense
12 Aeonium arboreum 'Atropurpureum' - purple rose tree - In the summer sun, the green leaves turn a dark purple-red.
13 Aeonium 'Kiwi' - This succulent forms rosettes of brilliantly colored fleshy, spoon-shaped leaves.
14 Aeoniums are very easy to root. You just cut the rosettes from the 'mother' plant, allow the cut stem end to dry for a day or two, and then place the stem into moist growing medium.
15 This is an echevaria, known as agavoides. This is a large group of Mexican origin that varies in shape, size, and color - from green, to blue, red, purple, or pink.
16 Echeveria agavoides with flower stalk - This species, in full sun, blushes red.
17 Echeveria prolifica - With their silvery-green leaves, these miniature rosettes form an excellent ground cover.
18 This fuzzy echeveria may be 'Doris Taylor' - deep green leaves tipped with red and covered in fine white hairs.
19 Echevaria runyonii 'Topsy turvy' - Its pale blue-gray leaves curve upwards and are strongly inversely keeled on the lower surface with leaf tips pointing inwards towards the center of the plant.
20 Echeveria runyonii 'Topsy Turvy' - Notice all the babies?
21 Another type of topsy turvy
22 This echeveria is the beautiful mauve 'Perle von Nurnberg.'
23 Echeveria 'Blue Curls' - Silvery-blue leaves edged in pink frills - resemble a head of curly cabbage
24 Echeveria 'Frosty' - A compact cultivar with silvery-green foliage that obviously, offsets freely.
25 Echeveria 'Black Prince' - A distinctive plant with dark chocolate to black rosettes.
26 Echeveria 'Paul Bunyon' - This unusual plant has leaves that are covered with warty bumps.
27 This is an agave.
28 The leaves of agave are tipped with a sharp spine.
29 The leaves of agave tend to be blue-green in plants from colder climates.
30 In warmer climates, agave leaves tend to be a soft gray-green. Tequila is made from blue agave, a native of Mexico.
31 A variegated agave
32 Agave Queen Victoria - This elegant, domed plant has deep green leaves that are strikingly edged and patterned in white.
33 These are all agave babies separated from the parent and potted individually.
34 Oscularia deltoides - 'Pink Ice Plant' - With its bright pink stems and green-blue bumpy, irregular foliage, this is an interesting succulent.
35 Haworthia coarctata - This plant forms clumps of tough, leafy columns, which are normally dark green, turning a rich purple in full sun.
36 Senecio, a genus grown for their decorative foliage. Senecio haworthii, or cocoon plant, has cocoon-shaped leaves thickly covered with silvery white hairs.
37 A good look at those incredibly fuzzy leaves
38 This is Senecio radicans or fish hook plant or string of bananas. It is a great plant for trailing over a planter.
39 Kalanchoe vary greatly, from small leafy succulents to huge tree-like plants. They are grown for their decorative, often hairy foliage. This is kalanchoe longiflora with attractive, fleshy green/red leaves.
40 Kalanchoe tomentosa 'Golden Girl' - is a beautiful succulent plant with dense green/gold leaves with white felting and dark-brown notched margins.
41 Kalanchoe tubiflora - It produces a starburst of long tubular leaves, each with a frill of plantlets on the ends.
42 Kalanchoe orgyalis 'Copper Spoons’ - a gorgeous plant whose leaves are gray on the underside, while the tops are covered with felt-like cinnamon-colored hairs.
43 Another look
44 Crassula are commonly cultivated fleshy-leaved succulents. This is crassula ovata, or jade plant.
45 Crassula argentea f. variegata - A spectacular cultivar with cream stripes and red leaf margins in full sun
46 Another crassula
47 Crassula argentea 'Coral' - This looks like living coral.
48 This is a pachyphytum - rosettes of flesh leaves that grow in shades of green, blue, orange, red, or purple.
49 Euphorbia caput-medusae - ‘Medusa’s Head’ - forms short stubby leaves borne by a central caudex and becomes covered with a mass of tiny yellow flowers.
50 There are hundreds of species of aloes and they come in all shapes and sizes. Extracts from the Aloe vera are widely used in cosmetics and alternative medicine.
51 A type of variegated aloe, with flower shoot
52 Variegated aloe
53 A spiny aloe
54 A bushy aloe
55 And another aloe
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Hi Martha, beautiful succulents from your greenhouse love the tour. I want to wish you a wonderful and successful week.
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | March 19th, 2012 at 6:01 am
Thanks for the tour of succulants in your greenhouse Martha. Very interesting. South Texas is perfect for growing succulants as we tend to have hot and dry summers. I've grown an aloe plant for years, good to have on hand for small cooking burns!
Posted by: Cindy F | March 19th, 2012 at 8:17 am
Hi Martha, I love seeing what's growing in your beautiful greenhouse anytime you share it with us and I am so impressed with these awesome succulents! You certainly do have a great variety of them and each one is absolutely gorgeous and I sure wish I had the space to have such a large greenhouse to grow them! I do have a beautiful aloe that I grow in my house and it is about 2 feet tall and keeps growing! These photos are stunning and I would love to have some of every succulent you have shared with us! The different varieties of each type is amazing! My favorites here are #43&48, but I actually love everyone of your succulents! Thanks so much for sharing these-they are so inspiring! Hope you have a tremendous day again today! Best wishes to your beautiful daughter and grand children, also!!!! Off to see what Ghenghis Khan is doing in Pennsylvania! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | March 19th, 2012 at 9:56 am
Hi Martha,
You certainly have a wonderful array of succulents! They are all very nice and I especially like the agavoides in picture #15. What a great shape and I like that it flowers too. I should get a few varieties of succulents to put out on the patio where it stays quite warm all year long. We do have downright cold days too but then I cover everything with plastic drop cloths. Thanks for this tour of your greenhouse and I’m also enjoying your boards on Pinterest, especially the aerial view of your vegetable garden pinned in your Garden Board: http://pinterest.com/marthastewart/ Have a great day! Trish
Posted by: Trish | March 19th, 2012 at 10:48 am
Martha,
Your succulents are beautiful! Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | March 19th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
A very lovely collection of succulents and, i say, every garden needs some. I think they simply 'speak to us'.
Posted by: sherey | March 19th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Those are awesome...can't wait to grow some on my new balcony.
Posted by: Holiday Baker Man | March 19th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
I actually started converting much of my container garden over to succulents and other drought tolerant plants for exactly this reason. I travel somewhat frequently for worm and my husband is a less than diligent waterer, so I needed plants that could take care of themselves for a week. I've been using Debra Baldwin's excellent "Succulent Container Gardens" book as my guide. I can't recommend that book enough. I was just consulting it this past weekend to make sure that I was caring for my sempervivums properly.
Posted by: Fern @ Life on the Balcony | March 19th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
Dear Martha
Your succulents are all beautiful and well taken care of. Thanks for the tour.
Posted by: Thelma | March 19th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
I'd love to send a picture of our aloes, they are gigantic and one is flowering right now. The flower is over four feet from the ground. They're neat plants.
Posted by: Penelope Bartell | March 19th, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Hi Martha....these plants are Beautiful!!! They are my favorite kind of plant.
Posted by: Theresa Stone | March 19th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
Love the photos of your succulents in your greenhouse. Do you you have at least one of every species known?
Would love to see more of your plants! Thanks for posting!
Janet Hopkins
Cleveland, TX
Posted by: Janet Hopkins | March 19th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Hi Martha,
I loved the tour of your greenhouse with such beautiful succulents. Can you recommend a nursery to order a variety of succulents? Happy Gardening this season.
Posted by: Stephanie Major | March 19th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
This succulent wreath would be amazing with clippings from your collection! I want to make one, but don't have access to this many succulents! Maybe Martha can make one.
http://prudentbaby.com/2010/12/prudent-home/diy-simple-stunning-living-succulent-wreath-2/
Posted by: Kim | March 19th, 2012 at 9:32 pm
I recently received a picture of my dad's donkey tail. It is about 5 feet long and 2 ft across, amazing!! He has been growing succulents for 50 plus years. I remember as a kid meticulously picking every string of donkey tail bald, I'm sure he was crazy mad at me but I don't even remember a harsh word. He has a green thumb that compares to yours. His elkhorns are massive, truly something to see. I would love to send you pictures but can't figure how how to on this blog.
Posted by: Cheryl Halloran | March 20th, 2012 at 12:33 am
Hi Martha!
You have to look at Debra Lee Baldwin's book "Succulent Container Gardens". You will fall in love with her beautiful displays and arrangements of gorgeous succulents, information & photos. You won't be able to put it down! It's a must have book for anyone that loves succulents!
PS: I would love to see her on your show!
Posted by: Cindy Bellwood | March 20th, 2012 at 1:51 am
Nice show! What do you do with all the babies? (Number 21 looks like Andromischus cristatus.)
Posted by: Bob Scherer | March 20th, 2012 at 5:55 am
Hi Martha,
succulents have to be one of the mosting interesting plants! There's such a variety of shapes and colors...like little works of art. And..easy to take care of. Your collection is spectacular! All look so healthy and colorful, like so many of your other plants. Thank you for the tour! @Kim..Thanks for the link to the wreath. What a great idea!
Posted by: Judy | March 20th, 2012 at 9:38 am
thanks for sharing, very nice variety... I love succulents
Posted by: Dawn | March 24th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
martha, you were on the today show and planted succulent plants in a hammered container can't find it in my town help.
Posted by: trudy mesko | May 15th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
I noticed that when trying to propagate succulents in soil, sometimes the cuttings would get too dry and shrink, or too moist and rot... I started hanging the cuttings over water using tin foil... the foil kept the leaves out of water so they didn't rot and there was always plenty of water in the cup below. occasionally water level decreased from evaporation. tin foil and cups worked well but it didn't look great, also I had to fold new tin-foil everytime and top up the water. to fix these problems I modeled a holder that could keep the cutting out of water, prevent evaporation from escaping and protect the roots from light.... it was the beginning of rootcup. I've been using rootcup for three months to propagate succulents and it works. looks great on my desktop too!
Posted by: Michael Good | November 17th, 2012 at 11:17 pm