What is a garden without Vygies?

Lampranthus roseus – Red vygie, Mesembryanthemum

Mesembryanthemum (meaning “midday flowering”) is a genus of flowering plants native to Southern Africa. This easy-to-grow and hardy evergreen succulent is very easy to maintain and thrives under conditions few other will tolerate. On its thin branches it carries succulent leaves, and during spring masses of daisy-like, rich pink flowers.

It requires full sun and is suitable for all regions without severe frost or hot, humid conditions with lots of rainfall. This is a newby to my garden, planted in a basket, so I will have to bring it inside in winter to protect against frost.

I was given a few cuttings by a friend and it started flowering within days of me planting it.

This is a frequently cultivated and a rewarding floriferous plant. It is easily propagated from seed or cuttings and needs a sunny position. Seed can be sown at any time of the year in shallow trays in a sandy mixture and germination is within 3 weeks. Cuttings are best planted during the summer months. The plants are short-lived and are best replaced every 3 years. Lampranthus roseus prefers a sunny, well-drained slope. The plants thrive in rockeries or containers in a sunny position. Plants are subject to downy mildew and should be sprayed with Ridomil from midwinter to just before flowering. The species is particularly impressive when massively planted on large areas to cover the soil.

There are over a hundred varieties of Lampranthus and many of them are valued as garden plants. Usually relegated to the rockery or succulent garden, these plants are far more versatile and can be incorporated in most areas of the garden, where their lustrous blossoms will enhance their surroundings. Lampranthus species have smooth, three-angled leaves, and the group varies from an upright, bushy growth habit to lax, cascading or creeping ground covers. Some bushes extend to a meter across.

The mother plant from which my cuttings were taken

Common Names include:

ENGLISH: Red vygie, Many-petalled Lampranthus, Rosy dewplant, Rosy Dew Plant, Oxenbould daisy, Mini Ice Plant

AFRIKAANS: Roosvygie

.

Shade-loving Aloe zebrina

Family : Asphodelaceae

Common names : zebra leaf aloe, spotted aloe

Aloe zebrina is a small, variable, stemless compact succulent. The succulent leaves of Aloe zebrina are densely clustered into a rosette and have a slightly channelled upper surface. The colour of the leaves varies greatly but they are usually green and marked with large oblong whitish spots; the margins are armed with stout, brown-tipped teeth and the leaf tips are dark red to brown. It has pale but striking coral-coloured tubular flowers that occur in rather sparse inflorescences. The fruit is a dehiscing capsule with many seeds. Seeds are dark-coloured and broadly winged, which assists in dispersal.
 .

Aloe zebrina is widespread in northern South Africa and is also widely distributed in Namibia, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and is not listed as threatened, mainly due to its wide distribution.

The habitat of Aloe zebrina is normally dry thickets and may include marshy meadows on river banks. It suckers freely and therefore forms dense groups. Blooms are mainly found from February to May, but also June to August. The pollination is performed by birds and this aloe does equally well in shade or full sun.


In north-western Botswana, the roots of Aloe zebrina are among the main dyes for the Hyphaene palm fibres, which are used in weaving baskets, to give them a golden-yellow colour. The method was adopted for wool dyeing by European settlers who modified it to create better colours with other metallic mordants. The roots can easily be collected on a sustainable basis because of the plant's ability to readily form new roots.

The people along the Kunene River in Angola prepare cakes from the pressed and boiled flowers. The powdered stem and leaf bases are taken medicinally by women after delivery to cleanse their system. The (bitter) juice of many Aloe species is used as a disinfectant for wounds, as worm expellant and also to treat skin problems.

Aloe zebrina has potential for cultivation in arid to semi-arid, frost-free locations.

.

Pleispilos compactus

At the end of January 2015, I had ordered 25 plants from an on-line auction on FaceBook, and this Pleiospilos compactus was amongst them.

How great was my excitement when I at last noticed that it was starting to flower in the last week of March!

It's been overcast and raining a lot the past couple of weeks, so the flowers stayed closed, but yesterday was pure sunshine and the Pleiospilos compactus flowers opened at last! It certainly was worth the wait!

Pleiospilos compactus (subsp. canus) is a genus of succulent flowering plants of the Aizoaceae family, native to the Cape Province of South Africa. This species have two or four opposite, very fleshy, grey-green leaves growing from a short stem that may be underground and they reproduce both sexually and asexually. Vegetative offshoots emerge from the root system. Seed set occurs in early spring around March.

The plants are also known as kwaggavy (“Quagga mesemb”), lewerplant (“liver plant”), lewervygie (“liver mesemb”), klipplant (“stone plant”), split rock or mimicry plant. Growth is with 1-3 leaf-pairs, but it may form small mats.

It is a very adaptable plant, it will grow whenever it has water and good sunlight, but it will become dormant in very hot weather to conserve water. It need full sun to light shade with a very open compost that drains quickly. The container should be at least 10 cm deep to accommodate the long tap root, so I will be transplanting this one shortly to accommodate new growth. Very little water is needed during the growing season.

In late summer to early fall before night-time temperatures fall, watering of the plants is stepped up to once a week. When the night-time temperatures drop to 9°C, watering is restricted throughout the winter months. In the winter, it grows new leaves from the centre of the split, and the new leaves then consume the old leaves. If the plant is over watered, the old leaves remain and the plant usually rots and dies. Do not water it when it is splitting, just leave it alone.

Even with no watering the leaves don't shrink and prune up like some succulents do when they are not watered, they stay plump even after several months with no water. For an idea of how succulent these plants are, a mature specimen can easily go a whole year without any water. If the plants are grown correctly, ideally there should only ever be 2 pairs of leaves. The lower ones are the previous year's, and the top ones, the current year's. One sign of good care is a firm, round, symmetrical plant with no old leaves still attached at the end of summer.

I am thrilled to know that he plants are hardy down to -5°C, as our winters can sometimes deliver some severe frost.

.

Aloe tenuior

Haworth 1825 (Fence Aloe)
Name: Latin tenuior = "slender"
Pronunciation : AL-oh ten-yoo-ee-or

One of my latest acquisitions is an Aloe tenuior, amazingly delicate for an aloe. This medium-sized Aloe grows from a large, woody rootstock, up to 10 ft tall with lanceolate succulent leaves towards the ends of the branching stems. Aloe tenuior is a rambling aloe which forms a sprawling bush and as this is actually a climbing aloe, it is best planted next to a tree or a fence for support.

The inflorescence is a raceme of tubular yellow flowers. Aloe tenuior var. rubriflora has red flowers. 

Native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa where it typically scrambles through thorny bushes or on steep slopes. The leaves are a traditional purgative and used against tapeworms.

Aloe tenuior grows easily from stem cuttings which should be allowed to dry for a few days and then planted directly into the required site. The species grows best where there is adequate drainage, and while it can withstand dry conditions, will perform better with regular watering.

This is going to be my Aloe's first winter and I have no idea how it's going to handle the winter, will just have to wait and see...

.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Here's wishing you a weekend filled with wonderful gardening!

::

Succulent auction

At the end of last month (January 2015), I participated in an on-line succulent auction on a FaceBook group called MinWateR and my bid was the most successful! I patiently waited for over a week for my plants to arrive by courier. What excitement when I unpacked them! Beautifully and safely boxed in little brown paper packets, all with specie names on, they were all none the worse for the wear.

(Plants from Hendri Pretorius).

Then came the big job of preparing soil and pots and planting my 25 little darlings. I'm building up quite a collection and soon I will have to build them their own display house!

Here are some of the first pics I took :

 Euphorbia horidda - rooted cutting

Pleiospilos nelli - 3yr Old Seedling

Aloe comosa - 3yr Old Seedling

Aloinopsis rosulata - 3yr Old Seedling (Rubrolineota)

 Faucaria - 2yr Old Seedling

 Orbea lutea - Rooted Cutting

 Pleiospilos compactus - 3yr Old Seedling

 Titanopsis hugo-schlecterii - 3yr Old Seedling

::

Graptoveria "Fred Ives"

A couple of months ago I visited a friend who had started a nursery just the other side of Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa) and I was the lucky recipient of this gift - a Graptoveria "Fred Ives", already with a couple of pups, so I now have five plants.

Category: Succulent Family:
Crassulaceae (Stonecrops)
Origin: Mexico (North America)

This succulent should be planted in fertile, free draining soil or a cacti well-drained mix. Water well during the warmer months, preferably from below, and sparingly in winter. Hardy hybrid tolerant of a wide range of conditions including some frost. It is reportedly a hybrid of Graptopetalum paraguayense crossed with a plant in the Echeveria gibbiflora complex.

Graptoveria can stay outdoors in summer. in mild climates it can grow in the garden where it takes lots of water without rotting. It is relatively slow growing and very slow to sucker (if at all). It prefers a bit of afternoon shade but does also well in bright light with high heat situations. It is adaptable to low light situations too.

It produces large clumps of rosettes to 8 inches tall by nearly 1 foot wide with broad bronze and pink succulent leaves atop short stems with 1’-2’ long branched inflorescences bearing red-orange centered pale yellow flowers in summer. The leaves are broad and stiff, overlapping each other, with concave upper surface, rubbery to the touch, waxy pearly-bronze to purplish yellow-orange to blue green (depending on time of year and growing conditons). Often shading from grey-blue at the centre out to orange-bronze-purple. The purple blush is fairly consistent throughout the seasons. Higher light and heat seem to increase the purple a bit, though.

 Graptoveria pups sharing a basket with Lampranthus delosperma

This is a beautiful succulent for container planting, adding colour and texture to mixed collections. Excellent for windowsills or as a colour accent in rock or dish gardens. Ideal for adding dramatic foliage contrast to garden beds and borders and colour to the winter garden. 

The crested form is usually propagated by division of the larger specimen.  The standard (non crested) form is usually propagated by suckers or basal leaves, if If the plant is repotted some of the bottom leaves can be removed, in order to attempt leaf propagation, it is also a common practice to collect the leaves on the flower stem. However many such  cuttings will dry out without producing a plantlet, but with perseverance it is likely to get a few new plants.

 On the right in the plastic tub, some new kalanchoe rotundifolia propagations

::

Crassula Perfoliata ssp falcata

A new addition to my collection, Crassula falcata, known by the common names airplane plant and propeller plant, is a succulent plant endemic to South Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope. The foliage is gray-green with striking texture, on plants that grow to 2 feet (0.61 m) tall. The flowers are tiny and scarlet red, that rise in dense clusters above the foliage for a month in summer. The flower smells like cinnamon and can bloom twice per year, attracting birds and other pollinators. Crassula falcata is cultivated for use in drought tolerant and succulent gardens.

Afrikaans: Sekelblaarplakkie; Heuningbossie

Family: Crassulaceae (krass-yoo-LAY-see-ee) 
Genus: Crassula (KRASS-oo-la)

There is good news and there is bad news : The bad news first: this plant is not hardy in my cold climate. Not by a long shot. This means that I will be relegated to growing it in a pot and shifting it between the indoors and out depending on the season. We get terrible frost here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa) and I spend half my life carting my succulents in and out! The good news is that it propagates fairly easily from leaf cuttings. Simply break one off and place it on top of the soil. If you’re in a warm zone, you will have no trouble growing the plant outside in the ground as long as the soil is dry and exceptionally gritty/well-draining. You may even find yourself graced with blooms of scarlet red flowers.

 

Pic from the internet

Pice from the internet

I've been told that they take long to start flowering and I'm just wondering how long before mine produces beautiful blooms like this...

.

Where is the best place to plant a succulent garden?

Read what "Random Harvest Nursery" has to say about this...
.

.
Where the light changes, is the best place for your succulent and rock garden. It does not matter if it is a dry and problematic area.
.
The creation of that special place is a labour of love, because creating mood and feeling in a garden is the same as weaving a tapestry of colours. It takes a lot of patience and planning, but don’t let that put you off.
 .
If your space is against a wall, you could paint a desert scene that flows into your bed, especially if your rockery is too small to plant a large Aloe.
.
Then, taking your time, gradually release your creative genius by adding soil and doing some earth shaping to help fashion different shadows and light, that will add drama to architectural plants. Create miniature landscape features like rocky canyons, outcrops and a dry river bed. Have fun by copying a typical dry river bed in nature.
.
Include debris such as water smoothed pebbles, seeds that may have been carried along an irregular flash flood, driftwood, grass lodged behind an occasional rock, and dried grasses and reeds etc.
The driftwood will help to encourage soil organisms and enhance your plants. You could even use different coloured sands to complete the picture.
.

A little water is essential for the insects, birds and lizards that will be drawn to the living, evolving eco-system. Make sure to allow for a little seepage, alternatively a small grindstone shaped rock with a dripper is sufficient. Space permitting, you could even create a small pool backed up against a shaded rocky area in your dry riverbed.
.
Rocks and gravel come next, cultivating this habitat for plants, wildlife and organisms.  When choosing rocks and gravel they should have similar harmonious colours that will blend naturally together.
.
Creating a natural cobblestone, or rock pathway through your succulent bed, will enable you to stroll through and get a closer look at your creation. A stone seat, built to look like a stone wall, or a dry stone wall or gabion with plants growing out of the spaces between the rocks completes the picture.
.
Succulents need healthy, well-drained soil to which compost and organic fertilizer have been added.
.
When you have done the planting, mulch the area with gravel, woodchips, bark, leaves, or other organic material; thereafter mulch the bed with a thin layer at least once a year, but twice is better to keep the soil healthy.
.
When deciding what to plant where, take the colours, shapes and textures of the leaves and stems, as well as the overall character of the plants, into account.
.
When planting, think of their natural habitat, Lithops spp. (Stone Plants) that grow so cryptically take on the appearance of the gravel in which they grow. Only when they burst forth in colourful, glistening bloom are they highly visible to both us and their pollinators.
.
When placing your plants stand back and keep checking if they have been placed correctly. Start with feature plants or “star performers” such as large Aloes. Rocks should look completely natural.
.
Place bulbs such as Haemanthus humilis (Rabbit’s ears), strategically under rocks and growing from crevasses. If at the end you have made a mistake, remember that succulents transplant very successfully and you can easily move them.
.
Include other non-succulent species of plant to complete the picture. Try to stick to those that would be found growing naturally near to the succulents that you have used, or at least have similar water and sun requirements.
.
Use grasses sparingly as they can overshadow other plants. Include a few Tulbaghia violacea (Wild Garlic) to help with pest control.
.
The bold lines and often stocky shapes of succulents contrast very well or are shown off with striking effect when planted with softer plants such as some annuals or plants with small leaves and dainty flowers.
.
Last but not least, sow a scatter pack of Namaqualand Daisies for spring-time splendour in and around your succulents.

.

Cactus - Cereus jamacaru

Ink sketch and watercolour wash on Bockingford 300gsm

Cereus jamacaru (Queen of the Night, Een-Nag blom)
Classification: Cactaceae

Incorrectly referred to as Cereus peruvianus in South Africa.

The Peruvian Apple Cactus, Cereus jamacaru, is a large, erect, thorny columnar cactus found in South America as well as the nearby ABC Islands of the Dutch Caribbean. It is also known as Giant Club Cactus, Hedge Cactus, cadushi and kayush. With an often tree-like appearance, the Peruvian Apple Cactus’ cylindrical grey-green to blue stems can reach 10 meters (33 ft) in height and 10-20 cm in diameter. The nocturnal flowers remain open for only one night. Unfortunately this plant has been declared an unwanted “invader” in South Africa due to it’s fast-spreading habit.

Die Kaktus Cereus peruvianus (of Een-nag blom) is ’n boomagtige kaktus, partymaal tot 10m hoog, wat vir net een nag van die jaar asemrowende wit blomme voort bring. Ongelukkig is hierdie kaktus as ’n ongewensde indringerplant verklaar in Suid Afrika as gevolg van hul gewoonte om uiters vinnig te versprei. Daar is groot verwarring oor die eintlike naam van hierdie kaktus, aangesien Cereus vir heelwat kaktussoorte gebruik word. Die spesienaam, peruvianus, dui aan dat dit endemies is aan Peru, maar dit is ’n botaniese fout. Hierdie plant is eintlik endemies aan Brasilië, Uruguay en Argentinië.

Hierdie een groei langs Solly se kaia op ons plot (Tarlton, Gauteng, Suid Afrika) en hy was verskriklik ontsteld toe ek voorstel ons moet dit verwyder. Nou is hy die dood voor die oë gesweer as ek sou sien dat dit enigsins versprei!

.