Anigozanthos “Bush Pearl”

These are dazzling, no?

Leucadendron galpinii

South African shrub, related to the protea. Kind of a remarkable twisting of the grey-green leaves. But the ivory cones are also astonishing. Stay tuned.

And they get to 6 ft. tall, if you can believe it.

Sempervivum “Sanford”

We have a whole bunch of new and very colorful sempervivums we’re growing. We’ve really gotten better at growing the parent stock – we now use a square deep tray with very good bottom drainage instead of the traditional 1 gallon cans. For these guys it’s all about the root run. I suppose I shouldn’t be sharing with you our trade secrets. Well, please don’t pass it along to anyone else, okay? shhhh…..

Billbergia nutans

These are a great terrestrial bromeliad, elegantly arching green leaves and these amazing flower clusters on long pink stems that stay open for weeks, at least. They are an early bloomer for gardeners who like to have blooms at all times of the year. That’s you, I’m sure.

Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi

Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi

A bluish leafed shrub with tall bloom stalks and dangling bell shaped flowers. Easy to propagate, but frost sensitive. They’ll get damaged below 30, so take care and cover them, okay?

Ever wonder how hairy the edges of an aeonium leaf are? Well, wonder no more.

Aeonium tabuliforme

It’s been raining recently.

Haworthia turgida

And so we do finally come to the end of our February haworthia feature, just in time for March. I wonder what genus I’ll feature this month?

These H. turgidas are supposedly highly variable, and so I can only presume that this is one of them. They can vary from 2″ to 4″, from green to brown, from open to closed, and so on. So I do the best I can to come up with these names. Please don’t hate me for my imprecision.

Haworthia cuspidata

Yay! A haworthia has a common name! This is one of the larger haworthias, not as big as H. aristata, but the rosettes can get over 4″! Oy, that’s a lot of haworthia. This one is also thicker-leafed and less prone to mushiness. That’s my technical term for the day.

Haworthia outeniquensis

That’s quite a name there.

Here, have some poetry:

While walking along the Western Cape
in South Africa attempting escape
a gardener did flee
from the succulents he’d see
cause the plants had a scarier shape

Haworthia pygmaea

Looks a lot like H. retusa, but then don’t they all.

This little festival of haworthias has been fun. So. Let the fun continue! More haworthias! More!

Haworthia reinwardtii

Finally, a different type of haworthia – no more of those small stemless groundcover rosettes that grow better in shade. Now we have a small stemless vertical rosette that grows better in shade, but can also handle a bit more sun, should you so choose. Also, they get up to about 8″ tall! Big time! Clusters of them!

Haworthia fouchei appears to be an old name no longer in use. Some may group it into H. retusa but I don’t want to. I see subtle differences in our retusas and foucheis, so I shall always think of them as different species. Some may call me stubborn, but I prefer to think of myself as strong-willed. I shall continue to think of myself as strong-willed no matter what some others may call me, to my face or behind my back. As an interesting aside, my hebrew school teacher used to call me Pedro.

Haworthia marumiana is from South Africa. The rosettes are small, only about 3″ across; but in shade, like this one, they’re wide open, and measure up to 3.2″ across. We like growing our haworthias in shade so much we put them in the shade tolerant section of the nursery. Most people don’t know there are shade tolerant succulents.

Haworthia cymbiformis

Man, these are hard to identify. We had this labeled H. caespitosa, which has been renamed H. turgida. But this clearly isn’t H. turgida. It looks a lot more like the plants we have had in the past that we called H. cymbiformis, but now I’m thinking the older ones were really H. cymbiformis variegata, which leads me to think these are in fact H. cymbiformis.

Did you follow that logic? No? Well, just keep in mind that whatever I tell you here, I’m just making it up, and so is everyone else.

Haworthia mucronata v. limpida

Haworthia retusa grows best in shade. The tops of the leaves can bleach out in full sun, which is not good for you or the plant. But with a little sun, there are hints of red, a touch of cinnamon, so to speak. Strange little gray flowers on extremely long stems, like all the haworthias. Why, you can see the flower stalk just starting to poke out.

Haworthia asperula

This name is a contested name. Some would call it H. retusa ssp asperula. Some would say it is an unnamed or unresolved H. retusa. But I like the name asperula so I am not willing to give it up. That’s the thing with haworthias. They interbreed and hybridize readily. They all look alike. The subspecies of one species may look more like another species. Oy, the confusion reigns. Therefore, I photograph what I have for posterity.

Today’s plant has no common name. Will you help me choose one?

Haworthia resendeana

These lovely little plants top out at about 6″, 8 if you’re lucky. Very slow growing, but when they do choose to send out pups, they can send out 6 at a time! That’s good news for you. And for me too – slow to spread, but productive when it does. Do you know what I mean when I use the word “productive”? I mean that I’m propagating this plant and it’s giving me lots of babies to brutally pull off the mother plant and reroot in a new pot and put out for sale. And the pups all have lots of roots already! Woohoo! Productivity-City!

Now all I have to do is wait 2 years for the babies to get big enough and off they go.

So like I was saying, most haworthias don’t have common names. But I figure, if this isn’t the common name, well then it should be.

Haworthia cooperi

The real problem is there are at least 6 subspecies and I just can’t be bothered.

In continuing our series of haworthias in February, I see we come upon this lovely green rosette with see-though tips.

Haworthia retusa, also known as the Subjunctive Plant. Apparently some of these haworthias do have common names if you dig deep enough for them.

I’ve decided to feature Haworthias this month on the Cactus Blog.

Haworthias are a pleasant little succulent because they are the best shade-tolerant succulents around, consistently building a loyal following by eschewing the sunshine.

They are from South Africa, just like their relatives the Aloes.

I’ll bet there are all kinds of local common names for these plants, but I don’t know them. I’m ignorant that way.

Haworthia attenuata

Jatropha integerrima

Most people in the cactus and succulent world know jatrophas from the famed Buddha’s Belly – i.e. the Jatropha berlandieri. Becoming more popular these days is the Jatropha curcas, currently being planted worldwide for the biofuel properties of the oily seeds.

But we like all the different jatrophas. The shrubby ones, the caudiciforms, the oily ones – I mean look at these seed pods – what’s not to like! Just don’t eat them since they’re poisonous.

Delosperma sphalmanthoides

This tiny mesemb is related to those giant iceplants covering the highways and byways of California freeways. But I think it is not quite as invasive. Maybe not even invasive at all. In fact, it is tiny and spreads no more than an inch.

Pereskia grandifolia

I may have already posted this picture, but it’s worth a second look on this joyous occasion.

Is that an offensive common name? It’s the other common name for the same common plant compared to yesterday as the “Mother in Law’s Tongue.” So here’s another cultivar for you to gaze upon, and compare.

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Moonshine’

A silver-leafed master of the low-light home.

Is that an offensive name? Anyway, here’s a smaller, more compact cultivar to the ever-popular houseplant.

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’

Some say this might even be hardy outside here in the Bay Area. Maybe as cold as 30°F. Seems possible, but I haven’t tried it.

Echeveria chihuahuaensis

Small colorful Mexican species, slow to produce offsets.

I can certainly imagine this plant in large clusters in a Luis Barragan landscape.

Maybe here: Or here: