Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Aloinopsis, Frithia, and some Sedum blooms

Aloinopsis luckhoffii, a native South African succulent forms these little rosettes and stays on the small side. Perfect for growing here. Everywhere I read says it's supposed to bloom in the spring. It did bloom in April, with only one flower. The end of June here is most certainly considered summer, but I won't complain about another three blooms along with a decent amount of new growth.

A little rained on by the time I got to try and take a decent picture.
I like how the buds are camouflaged to look like the leaves when closed, neat!
x3

I was surprised to find a Frithia pulchra locally in the very beginning of spring. Normally it would be buried a bit deeper in soil and use the "windows" at it's leaf tips to collect light. However, I potted it a bit high because I can get away with that here. Rot is my main worry, not burning or dehydration. Plus one of this plant's redeeming values is that the leaves turn purple in high light.


Frithia pulchra this spring
Cute!

These Sedums aren't mine, but I did grow up with them. I was at my father's house recently and was just in time for the start of the blooms. They've been growing on a rock wall on his property (zone 6b) for almost as long as I can remember. Sedums make excellent ground-cover plants. These stay green in winter, are hardy enough to freeze (for much longer periods of time than most succulents,) can live in full sun to part shade, and they bloom easily. There are so many Sedum species, hybrids, and cultivars that I couldn't hope to tell you the ID's of these, just wanted to share some pretty pictures.


Pink Sedum flowers
Yellow Sedum flowers
Now I'm off to a barbeque, hope you have a Happy 4th USA readers, and hope you have an awesome day to readers everywhere else.

3 comments:

  1. Lovely plants - I have a great affinity for Aloinopsis & Titanopsis. They do flower out of season at times, certainly happened to my A. malherbei and A. rubrolineata also early flower (less so than malherbei). Who cares, some get worried, but maybe I am just naive! Congrats.

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    1. Thanks! Many things bloom out of season here, especially if we have a short spring, so I'm not worried. I need to add some more of these types of succulents, they look too cool, flowers are just a bonus!

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    2. Called tortoise feet! LOL! Actually more Titanopis, but many called both genus's the same. Thanks for the link, I hope you saw the same with mine and I hope some will visit here! LT

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