An Ensemble of Echeveria 'Lola'

One of my favorites, this Dick Wright hybrid doesn't readily offset, so most propagation is from leaves. A bit slow, but worth the wait.

Interesting Companions

Sometimes when you have a cutting which needs a place to be rooted, any open spot in a pot near you is the prime candidate. But of course, the plants grow...which sometimes makes for strange bedfellows. In this case, it's echeverias and Mammillaria hahniana.

Another random image

This is a shot taken a couple of days ago in the Aloe and Echeveria section. It can be quite colorful this time of year.

Enjoy your plants!

Succulent Cupcakes

The Pixel Whisk blog has a really cool recipe for succulent cupcakes. I don't have time to do these - and, besides, I have tried making fancy cupcakes without much success - but perhaps someone out there does have the time...I'd be glad to serve as the judge! You just have to be careful to eat the cake and not the Echeveria.

A Convention of Echeverias

OK. Not really a "convention". Just a gathering on our deck. They've now been moved to allow us room to enjoy the deck...when it's not raining!
We've had to cove the pond to the left with netting to protect the fish from a very interested Great Blue Heron which has been visiting our yard on a very regular basis. I think they must have a rookery just over the hill from us and we must look like an easy food source.It hasn't been back for a few days, so maybe... We also haven't been able to get a good photo so I'm including one from another source. Since they don't mind nesting within a short distance of the downtown core of Portland, they're the official city bird!

Image by mikebaird via Flick

Greenhouse views

I've been inundated with a lot of "stuff" to do and haven't had a chance to post much lately. Sorry. So today I'm just posting some photos I took today in one of the greenhouses. As these photos illustrate, it isn't all about flowers!

An Echeveria leaf

I just couldn't pass by this Echeveria leaf without a quick photo. Yes, I added the black background, but the afternoon sun was just making it glow. Almost like something from another world.

Echeveria 'Topsy-Turvy' and Echeveria 'Lola'

Recently there have been a lot of plants being distributed at home and garden shows and through respected nurseries that aren't what they are labeled to be.

Yes, I know. Why am I surprised? We all know it happens all the time. It's just that in this case they're so persistent. The top photo here is E. 'Topsy-Turvy'. This is widely being sold as E. 'Lola', which is the second plant pictured. Significantly different plants. I understand labels being switched or lost and it isn't that we haven't misidentified a plant at times, but this is intentional. I've personally told vendors on several occasions and they either look perplexed as to why I care or they say "really?...we'll have to take care of that." Then, a year later, they're still selling them with the wrong name. I know some people don't care about the correct name; so be it. But these are grower/vendors, and they should care.

Top: Echeveria 'Topsy-Turvy'; Bottom: Echeveria 'Lola'