Succulents: Roots Out!

In my previous post I mentioned how one of my succulents grew top heavy and collapsed completely over the pot.  I haven't really done anything about that yet but I left it in the same spot ignoring it completely.  I haven't watered it or given it any fertiliser at all, I thought it was dead anyway.

This morning I take another look at it to see how it's doing and I find the stems which I thought were dying have grown roots, right outside the pot in mid air! 

Roots coming out of the stem

I have already propagated this plant in another pot and I really have no space to put more of these plants.  I need to put this plant to good use and find something else to do with these cuttings. 

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Strange Growth of the Kalanchoe Marmorata

The Kalanchoe Marmorata is supposed to grow in small bunches with a wooden stem in the middle.  In fact the original plant where I got the cutting from was in a square container full of lovely speckled leaves.

Original Plant where I got the cutting from

My Kalanchoe however, decided to take a different route, upwards!  Instead of growing a new stem from the bottom as I had expected it to, it started growing longer with sets of two leaves going up along the stem.  You can still see the wooden stem at the bottom, however this picture is totally different from the one above.

My Penwiper with support

I've had to put in a bamboo stick for support as it bent downwards completely due to the recent rain storms we've had.  As you can see at the tip it looks like it's blooming.  I really don't know what to expect from this plant, it gets full to partial shade but lots of bright light during the day.  I wonder if it's trying to reach up towards the sun.  I hope I get some beautiful flowers I can show you, fingers crossed.

Looks like flowers will bloom

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Plumbago update following pruning

Plumbago growth after pruning

I'm happy to report that after around three weeks of pruning my plumbago, I am already seeing new growth.  The image shows where I cut off the stems and new stems can be seen all over the place now.  We had so much wind and rain lately I was beginning to think the plant will not recover, I'm so glad it proved me wrong :)

This time of the year I don't give the plumbago much attention.  I make sure to check it when it's really windy because the wind just dries it up in an instant.  I try to put it in a sheltered spot but in order for it to get enough sunlight I can only manage to stick it in a corner and let it be.  I don't worry too much about the rain, it doesn't seem to mind the water and the pot is well drained.  Having said that we don't get too many consecutive rainy days here so it has time to recover.

I was afraid the timing wasn't right for pruning.  I have read that you can prune it just before winter but ideally you do it after winter before new growth in spring so it can really flourish.  Now I know that you don't have to be afraid to chop this plant down to size if necessary, it will grow back.

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A visit to my dad's bigger green patch

Here are some pictures of some gorgeous flowers in my dad's garden.  I don't know what they are called but they sure are wonderful.

Update: Thanks to my anonymous contributor who told me that this is called a Bird of Paradise flower, the name suits it perfectly I think :)

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