I have been wanting to show this little succulent miracle for a while. I finally got all the photos together to show you the transition of Aeonium to the Aeonium bloom stalk flower. The plant needs to be mature before it will bloom. I planted this big blue pot in 2008. The first bloom started to appeared in the winter of 2011. It's been so cold here that the Aeonium's in my big blue pot got cold burned. It looks pretty bad. It did try to bloom in two places. But it got too cold and the flower stalks are coming out deformed. I think I will be cutting off every Aeonium stalk, dig out the old roots, put in new dirt and replant. That would be a good idea for another post wouldn't it.
This first photo shows the Aeonium starting to extend from the apex (or growing point) of the plant. This started at the beginning of December 2011. The fifth to be exact. But as you can see it had started a few days before but I didn't catch it.
See the Aeonium on the right hand side starting to extend in the middle. If you look at the center closely you can see that the plant produced a bunch of leaves right at the center. It needs the plant material because you won't believe how far the bloom will extend.
And it continues to push out as the days go by. December 18, 2011 and it is going strong.
It's January 29th and the bloom stalk completely extended. It now has to complete it's internal growing so that it can bloom.
I wanted to show you a close up of the bloom stalk with all the buds. As you can see all the little flowers are going to be yellow.
Even more flowers open up on February 11, 2012.
February 15, 2012 and a few more are opened.
So now it's March 1st and they are almost all open. It takes a long time for it to bloom.
I wanted to show you a close up of the blooms. Aren't they beautiful!
All but a couple are open now and it's March 12, 2012. It still goes on for another few weeks before looking shabby. When it really starts looking bad I cut it off way down near the dirt in the pot. Yes they are monocarpic which means the plant dies after blooming. But with this pot another Aeonium was ready to take it's place. Don't you love the red color the plant has at this time of year?
So if you have been keeping track this has been going on for about 3 months. It was glorious and can't wait for it to happen again. Looks like I will have to wait till next year though.
Have a great week everyone and remember:
It's Another Beautiful Day!
See the Aeonium on the right hand side starting to extend in the middle. If you look at the center closely you can see that the plant produced a bunch of leaves right at the center. It needs the plant material because you won't believe how far the bloom will extend.
And it continues to push out as the days go by. December 18, 2011 and it is going strong.
It's January 29th and the bloom stalk completely extended. It now has to complete it's internal growing so that it can bloom.
I wanted to show you a close up of the bloom stalk with all the buds. As you can see all the little flowers are going to be yellow.
Even more flowers open up on February 11, 2012.
February 15, 2012 and a few more are opened.
So now it's March 1st and they are almost all open. It takes a long time for it to bloom.
I wanted to show you a close up of the blooms. Aren't they beautiful!
All but a couple are open now and it's March 12, 2012. It still goes on for another few weeks before looking shabby. When it really starts looking bad I cut it off way down near the dirt in the pot. Yes they are monocarpic which means the plant dies after blooming. But with this pot another Aeonium was ready to take it's place. Don't you love the red color the plant has at this time of year?
So if you have been keeping track this has been going on for about 3 months. It was glorious and can't wait for it to happen again. Looks like I will have to wait till next year though.
Have a great week everyone and remember:
It's Another Beautiful Day!
7 comments:
Love your Aeonium blooming photologue Candice! It's quite dramatic and beautiful eventhough they are monocarpic :)
Beautiful! I'm so glad you posted this because I have one starting to bloom.
Thank you so much you all and Gerhard I can't wait to see yours. Hope it doesn't get frozen like mine did!
Lovely photos, and colors are gorgeous. Thanks for posting.
Don't feel bad about cold damage. Few years ago, a pesky squirrel nibbled the entire rosette off my 'Sunburst' even before I could get a chance to plant it out. Still, I threw the pot with stump out into the garden, and eventually it tipped over and rooted in. Discovered it one day while cleaning up. Now I've a bunch of baby rosettes, and maybe the courage to give aeoniums another try. Thanks for your inspiration, Candice.
Thank you for posting this with photos of progression. I had moved my small one-rosette plant into a sunnier spot on the patio and it immediately began to push out a stalk, which is almost 2 ft off the rosette, and has many white buds that still are unopened and it has been almost 3 months to get to this point. I was tempted toward drastic indoor forcing cuz I thought it was stalled and failing to bloom. Now I know they are very slow to blossom, and I'm thrilled with anticipation! I know more from reading this than I could find elsewhere, going to read more of your posts.
Hi! I recently bought an aeonium, so I looked up info on the Internet and it said these plants go dormant in summer so to put them in a cool shaded place. Since yours is outside and so big! I'm assuming that's out of the question, do you leave it out all year round?
Hi Lily! I live in Sunset zone 9b microclimate 14. We get some freezes during the winter and in the summer it gets really hot. Aeoniums are winter growers that is true. I have mine is morning sun and they get afternoon shade. So they do need some sun for sure. When it gets really hot and if I don't give them enough water the heads will curl up in a ball. So watch for this and if starts to happen give them more water. And yes they are left out all year round. I have them next to the house so they get some warmth in the winter. I do cover them with frost cloth when it looks like we are going to have a frost! Hope this helps.
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