Sometimes experiments just don't work.

I like my experiments; hybrids, bonsai and pushing plants to the limits of their cold tolerance. It is usually the poor echeverias that seem to take the brunt of me playing the mad scientist as they are very quick growing for succulents. Most of the time I have a good reason for the experiment, but every now and then I will just try something to see what happens.

One such trial was using echeveria flower stems. On many varieties new plants form on the flower stems once the flowers themselves have died.  I showed this picture of echeveria carnicolor flower stems before.

Normally you just gently twist the new plants off and lay them on soil and they will root and give you lots of new plants.  As I have plenty of plants I thought it would be fun to plant one of the stems vertically to see what happens. A couple of months later and the flower stem now has flower stems of its own.

The flowers a quite pretty, but overall I have to admit that the plant is fairly ugly.  It seems that some experiments are better on paper than in reality.