TAKE ONE
Gardener News
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November 2020
TAKE ONE No. 211
Searching the Earth for Plants of Worth By Tom Castronovo Executive Editor/Publisher Gardener News
Tom Castronovo/Photo
David Williams examines a unique and very decorative Burro’s tail Sedum morganianum in his family’s greenhouse in Westfield, Union County, N.J.
About five years ago, I noticed how succulents were becoming more popular for an indoor plant. In part, I think it was because of how easy it was to get a succulent to grow. What is easier than a plant that you can put on a shelf, ignore it, forget to water it, and still have it live? The number-one cause of killing a succulent, or any indoor plant, is to over water it. I should add that the number-two cause is under watering, but this usually doesn’t happen with succulents. I did a test for how long a succulent can go without water on an echeveria in my kitchen. How long do you think it could go? An echeveria is a succulent plant on which the leaves grow in a rosette shape. Their colors vary from green, to pink, purple and silver. I had planted a grey echeveria in a Captain America pot when Avengers: Infinity War was released in 2018. I watered him once when I planted him. The next time I watered this stylish plant was June 1st of this year! This is an extreme case. The plant is still alive, but not exactly thriving. It is starting to flower. The point is, you can get by with watering your succulent only minimally. In other words they thrive on neglect. Because of this, they are extremely popular indoor plants. Echeveria typically don’t require pruning except to remove the faded flower stems. (They only bloom in high-light situations; if you’re growing them indoors and they don’t get enough brightness, your echeveria may not bloom.) Plant education is the best at keeping them alive and thriving. Don’t you think?
Succulents have many different colors and shapes. Some people collect different plants based on their shapes or habits. One of the more popular and fun plants to collect are “Strings of Things.” Most of these are succulents, and they are grown as potted plants or hanging baskets. It’s almost unbelievable how many different strings there can be. Just to name a few, there are Strings of Arrows, Bananas, Beads, Beans, Fish Hooks, Frogs, Hearts, Needles, Nickels, Pearls, Peas, Spades & Turtles. The plant gets its name generally from the shape of the leaf that repeats along the stem. Last year, one of the most popular was the String of Dolphins, Senecio peregrinus. Each leaf is its own steely grey colored dolphin. Each stem is like having its own little pod. This is a great, fun plant for kids and adults alike. The genus Senecio is a succulent and should be put in a bright window indoors. The ideal light is a southern window with five to six hours of morning sun. One of the parents used in the cross of String of Dolphins was String of Pearls, Senecio rowleyanus. String of Pearls is extremely popular. Each leaf looks like a perfectly round pearl. When you look at one strand, it resembles a length of pearl necklace. There is a variation to String of Pearls which is variegated. A variegated plant generally will have different color zones on the leaves and stems. Variegated plants are very rare in the wild. Generally, there is a one-in-10,000 chance in a plant developing a variegation. Out of these, only a small percentage of them are commercial viable. Since the variegation means that the plant has less chlorophyll, then the variegated plant is usually slower growing. These factors make many of the variegated plants (Cont. on Page 15)