Get Excited

As I have mentioned, I've had the succulents aloe and Cuban Oregano for a very long time. The aloe bloomed once in January 1999, which is said to be a rare event for an inside plant. (I have a very blurry photo of it which I'm not going to post, but that's how I know the date.) Supposedly the Cuban Oregano will flower, but I have never seen it. Due to months of greenhouse time last summer/autumn, the copy in our bedroom is one of the better ones I've had in a long time, and I got a little excited when I saw a flower bud forming.

But as it matured, I thought, "That looks like a petunia bud." Indeed it was. A petunia seed must have gotten into the Cuban Oregano when the two pots were together on the greenhouse bench last year. The leaves of Cuban oregano and a small petunia are somewhat similar if you don't look too closely, so I didn't think anything was amiss until the bud was well along in its development. It flowered yesterday, and it is smaller and more reddish than the very purple blooms of the assumed parent petunia (see previous post), so interpret that how you will. The petunia growing from the Nov. 15 cutting is a clone, so it has the same purple blooms as the original.

I also noticed that a bud is forming inside the Echeveria Lola pot, and that's not a petunia bud. Shifting gears, get excited about that.

Volunteer petunia

Echeveria Lola

Lola is under a new grow light in addition to being in a south window in the garage, so there is no excuse about not having enough light. I got six 2-foot grow lights, so they (mostly) cover three shelves. Below Lola, on a shelf which gets no sunlight, I put this tray of aloe and Cuban Oregano cuttings. The lights don't reach the corners of the shelves, but the tray with the 12 cuttings is about the right coverage area.

All of my aloe pots are looking a bit rugged this winter. The six cuttings (actually divisions) here in 4-inch pots are what I got from one of the big pots, and I'm only expecting a 50% success rate. If some of these die, another of the four remaining big aloe pots will go under the knife. On the other hand, the big Cuban Oregano pots are mostly thriving, but are not symmetrical except for the one in the bedroom. In addition to the six cuttings, as an experiment I stuck one leftover little stem into a 2-inch pot. I used rooting hormone on three of the cuttings, although I've never had any trouble getting this to root. I'm expecting a 100% success rate, and if that doesn't happen there are plenty more where these came from. When the time comes, these 12 (or 13) will get potted up and placed in the greenhouse.

The goal is to have six each nice-looking aloe and Cuban Oregano plants in 6- and 8-inch terra cotta pots by the end of summer. Fun fact, this is the first time I've ever used succulent/cactus potting mix for these two plants. I hope they appreciate it, especially the aloe.

Aloe and Cuban Oregano propagation

Cuban Oregano scrap in 2-inch pot