They require minimal water & they love sunlight.
They propagate & do so more efficiently when left alone.
When they're unhappy with their environment they begin to grow spaced out.
That is all. Or at least that was all until I fell in love with them.
Never did I enjoy gardening. Then one day, after a stressful week I decided I needed to give myself something to keep busy. I went to Home Depot, bought a few regular houseplants and went home and planted them. Knowing of my new hobby, my mom begin telling me about this plant she has. She doesn't know what it's called, just that it can reproduce very easily. I bring a small one home and plant it. Then I learn that this plant is a succulent- a Kalanchoe Gastonis or Donkey Ears, more specifically. Quickly the internet makes me want more of these intriguing plants. So I go to the store and the next thing I know I'm taking leaves from planters in shopping plazas and trying to propagate each and every one I find. Fast forward a year and a half or so and here I am; with fourteen different varieties of succulents & cacti and two regular old houseplants (two of the original four!). Seems like a lot to cram into the small space now come to think of it...
I have yet to master the propagation technique where you cut the stem in two, plant the rooted piece and then wait for roots to grow from the old top piece. The rooted piece always works, but the top never grows... Maybe I just failed a few times so I'm afraid to waste a succulent trying again, I don't know.
Let's go over a few of my favorites...
Kalanchoe Luciae
This plant may just be the epitome of why I like succulents so so much. All I did was pluck a little pair of leaves from the middle of a large, clustered pot at my moms house and it grew its roots then I planted it. Unlike the mother plant, it doesn't have any red around the edges, but as far as I know that's not an issue so I'm not worried about it. In case that picture isn't a good scale, the plant on the left could easily fit on the lowest leaf on the plant on the right... One year. The past few days I've noticed a small baby plant poking out from under one of the leaves of it, I'm pretty excited to see where that goes.
Neoregelia Fireball
This is another plant I received from my mom. She had gotten a large cluster of them from a friend and just broke off two for me. She told me that it didn't need planted, I could hang it or sit it somewhere and it would do fine, I only needed to water it down the center. She was calling in an air plant (although it looks strikingly similar to a bromeliad). When I got home I searched for types of air plants. I exhausted all of my resources and came up with nothing. So I ended up installing an app on my phone where you take a picture of the plant and an expert responds with the name. My picture was returned as "Neoregelia 'Fireball' of the Bromeliad family." This surprised me seeing that while it is very similar in looks to a bromeliad it is very different in how it grows. I was pleased in knowing what exactly it was but I still had another question- "how does it grow?" So I waited. A few weeks passed and I noticed the little stem sprouting out from the side. I was so joyed to see the growth! In the past two weeks the stem has doubled in size.
Echeveria Cante
I think this one is my favorite of all only because after so much stress it's finally doing well. When I bought this succulent it was on the clearance rack; dying and unwanted. I brought it home, broke off the bottom spaced out leaves and planted it. The leaves withered and didn't propagate (my first attempt) and the plant still grew lanky and spaced out. So I unearthed it and repeated the process minus the attempt at propagation. Nothing. Still happened. Then I resorted to a new planter and bought the one in the pictures above. That worked! It grew happily in this planter and then I found a leaf hiding on the ground that had fallen off and grew a tiny little plant all on its own (this is the only succulent I have had issues with that with). So I took the baby pant and placed it in the planter where it began to slowly root itself. Then Stella happened. One day I go out to the porch and notice that my dog has uprooted my most temper-mental succulent. I was devastated. I knew that was the end. I knew it was dead. Done. The plant and its only "child." Alas I saved it but I lost tons of leaves in the process (the ones pictured in the planter and then some). After I finished potting it I tossed the leaves here and there on the porch, testing out lighting and moisture to see what worked best, not hoping for much except for the main plant to survive. And survive it did. Let me add that under that soil the stem of the plant is about a foot long from all the stress this poor thing has gone through... But stress no more because not only is the plant doing well but so are the, not one, but seventeen babies that have grown from its leaves! Yes, each and every leaf laying on the soil has new growth. I've never been happier with it.
I'll post an update when new things happen with these plants, I think the changes are exciting.
Also, if anyone has any information on these succulents (even if you're only fixing my mistakes) I would love to hear it- so please feel free to leave a comment below!
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