Echeveria

There are a couple of succulents on my list, one of them being Echeveria. I found this one today at WalMart, once again (like the Jade) in a 2-inch pot for $3.97. The variety is 'Elfstone,' which an internet source says "is a beautiful succulent that forms chunky, emerald green rosettes with tips blushed red. It can pretty quickly fill an 8" diameter pot. It produces deep orange flowers during April and May." I repotted it in a 4-inch clay pot for now, and we'll see how quickly it fills that. Looks like I need to blow some dirt out of the cracks from my clumsy repotting effort. The plant is currently located in my office, which is warmer than the garage and has an east-facing window.

Maybe there are some small stores in Billings that sell quality succulents this time of year, but I haven't yet visited the one or two that I think are possibilities. I've been hitting the big box stores. Today, I thought Lowe's selection was better than Home Depot, but WalMart is the cheapest with these tiny $3.97 pots. WalMart, however, seems to think that succulents belong on the darkest shelf they can find, and I doubt they water them. Someone should tell them that they do require plenty of light and SOME water. Maybe I rescued this Echeveria from a horrible fate. I was tempted to get a Kalanchoe, but they looked rather rugged and even more dried out than the others. I might have been able to find a good one if I had pulled the tray from its dark bottom shelf, but decided I can wait on Kalanchoe for now.

The last one on my current list is Sempervivum, specifically the Tectorum variety. I didn't see any Sempervivums at any of the stores I visited. Even though it is usually not possible to designate the varieties when ordering a group of succulents on Amazon, I'm taking a chance and getting a Sempervivum assortment of five plants with projected delivery next Thursday. Since Sempervivums are supposed to be cold tolerant, I hope that means the temperature range of 25-40 when they are delivered will not be a problem.

A "leaf" (actually a stem segment) fell off the Thanksgiving Cactus. It still looks healthy enough, so I dipped it in rooting hormone and planted it in one of the little 2" pots I have acquired. We'll see if this is as easy to do as the interweb says it is.

In greenhouse news, I seeded bunching green onions in five 4-inch plastic pots and buried them up to the rim. I didn't want to direct seed because I'm going to cover all the beds with a few inches of compost in April, and they would be in the way of that. I buried the pots to keep them a few degrees warmer than sitting on the bench. I was going to bury them in the southwest planter, but as I was digging I came across what I think is an allium shoot still several inches below the surface. I did not damage it, I hope. This is very good news because I had no idea what the five allium bulbs did after I buried them last September. The shoot looked very healthy but was closer to the front of the planter than I expected, so I buried the onion pots in the southeast planter instead. I have seen some sources suggesting that onion seeds be planted this early, not because they are going to sprout but to get them cold stratified. If it doesn't work I can plant more later, and as backup I also put one green onion pot in the garage closet under the grow lights.