The shattering echeveria

Continuing  my aim to get you all growing echeverias, this is one of my favourites and one I would recommend to everyone.  What is not to love about e. difractens.  It is relatively small staying under 10cm in most cases (smaller if you keep it pot bound) and while not hardy (although a couple I have in the cold frame seem to have coped with -7 this winter) it is small enough to be kept in a pot bringing it inside over winter.

It's a good lilac colour all year, and this strengthens depending on how much you water it and the intensity of the light. This means no matter the time of year it always looks good sat out on display.  Then at this time of year it flowers.  There are three plants in this little pot but most of the flowers are off the main plant. In a week or so the flowers will open as yellow / pink and it will stay flowering for a couple of months. Even my OH approves and little pots regularly appear on tables instead of cut flowers.

Then there's its other name, the shattering echeveria, given for its habit of dropping leaves off the flowering stems at the slightest touch. These fall onto the compost or into other pots and a few months later you have new plants. (If you look closely at yesterdays post  you can see a leaf in one of the pots that must have been knocked off as I took the plant out to photograph.)  This means you have a never ending supply of plants to give to friends or other collectors, you don't have to tell them straight away that you have hundreds of the things. Although if anyone reads this that has been presented with one by me, yours was different and was grown especially for you!

So now you know, go out  find yourself one and pot it into a pretty or fun little pot and keep it somewhere you can enjoy it all year long.