Historic

Every hum-drum event these days gets the "Historic!!!" designation. By flying around the Moon, Artemis 2 did something never done in history before, at least since Apollo 17 in 1972. The meetings between the US and Iran were historic...but produced nothing. "ChiliFest cleanup underway after historic cancellation," reads a headline on a Texas TV site. Apparently a chili event got rained out for the first time in more than 35 years (which means it has happened before). Here's an event that has never occurred before in history: There will be an Echeveria in my greenhouse tonight. I trust the heaters enough to let one of the Purpusorums do a sleepover. I purposely chose it because I have two of them and, tag, you're it. The other one is in a bowl with other plants, and this one is a loner without a family. In other words, expendable.

I'm going to transplant the Purpusorum into a Southwest-looking pot that I've had for a long time, the pot that the Cuban Oregano in the image currently is occupying. I'll probably cut the tall part off the CO and plant the bottom in the outside barrel or a window box to see what it can do in real sunshine. It looks a bit yellow and needs a hit of nitrogen. I rarely fertilize overwintering plants because I don't want them taking over the garage. But now may be the time.

Moving the Purpusorum will free up the 6" squat pot for something from the Succulents Depot order, if it ever arrives. (Still no shipping notification, and they ignored my email today.)

This CO is three times taller than the previous one and is the biggest one that made it through winter. It has been in the west-facing window in our bedroom. Even that prime location didn't give it enough light and it is a bit etoliated (stretched). My ideal CO, which I have achieved once in more than 30 years, is a round, compact ball. That historic plant was in the ground on the south side of my house during the summer, and did not survive the first frost. The greenhouse should have enough light to accomplish that again, which would be historic.

I'm not sure what to do with this big thing. Whatever it is will involve pruning. I could try an overall 30-50% trim and see if it will bush out, but what I have done in the past is take cuttings and just start over. I already have six cuttings several months old and I really don't need more, but I feel like I should do something historic with that long, straight central stalk. One "problem" with CO is it is just too easy to propagate. Just take several cuttings, stick them in soil, and odds are most of them will develop roots and grow. And grow and grow.

I tried to take some historic images of a Supertunia today, specifically Vista Jazzberry. Even the best cameras have difficulty with flower colors sometimes. Backlighting didn't really work here, I'm sure I will try 1,000 more times this summer.