Echeveria planter update

It is strange to think that this time last year it was the last couple of days in the old house, where did that go! A big part of the move was digging up the dry bed, deciding which plants to bring and how to plant them up until the new bed could be built.  A few of each kind of echeveria were placed in a long  planter, here it was after planting up

Most of these had been planted out for at least one winter so they did not get any protection at all.  Thankfully the majority coped without problems

This photo was taken in April and shows the e. rosea in full spring flowering colours. The ones back left both went on to flower, with the two smaller ones in front being to small for this years flower.  There was some damage to the e. black prince (right of the e. rosea), and to the e. agavoides red edge (next along).  The other one that was not happy was the e. perle von nernberg. Here they are today.

The hot summer is really helping them put on some good growth after the winter.  Everything has really filled out, except the  e. perle von nernberg, which is slowly recovering. Unless it puts on some growth soon, it will most likely be killed off next winter.

Normally I would prune the e . rosea at this time of year; a close up shows how the plant has continued to grow above each flower stem.  While there is no problem with this, it doesn't look great.  A good trim forces new plants form the base ensuring the clump stays compact and look good. Another advantage to treating them this way, is you can manage it so there is one plant/group in flower each year and one resting.

There are a couple of my own hybrids in there, the poor little e.deresina x agavoides is being a bit obscured by the black princes. I am really pleased this one came through and is now bulking up nicely.

Then there were two of the e. adonis blues.  These have no trouble with the cold, it is always a bit of an uncertainty how they will grow; either getting really big or offsetting like mad. This set seem to have decided to offset.

 

I don't like it when they madly offset; too messy. As a comparison here is a large bowl full, planted at the same time.

 

It's great to actually be having some summer heat for once. Apart from the growth, it means plants are much more likely to cope with the next winter, if they've had a good long summer to stock up.