Winter flower pictures

It would be great to see your succulents blooming. Here are a few shots from around here.

Starting with the most predictable winter bloomers: the aloes. First two shots are front (south-facing) and back (north-facing) angles of the same inflorescence, to show some subtle differences in color. The flowers also lighten in color as they mature. Third and fourth shots show a true bicolor, last shot an adjacent tree aloe in bud. I have seedling offspring from the first two plants but not the third, which I intend to rectify this year. :)

A couple of patio plants that are supercharged by the CO2 emissions from our hot water heater.

Euphorbias in bud and bloom. Two girls and a boy, to be specific, though the first girl isn't quite there yet. I have seedling offspring from all three plants but I look forward to mixing and matching, just to see what happens.

Mammillaria, Echeveria, Dudleyas. Even though the leaves of the last three plants are not that easy to tell apart, the flowers are pretty distinctive. The thing that stands out most clearly in mature Dudleya flowers is whether the flower is closed and tubular, the classic hummingbird shape (second yellow pot) or open and flared (other two plants).

Last set (for now) shows plants in the park. First shot a newly installed group planting (Aeonium in flower, center aloe = offspring of the bicolor plant above). Second shot a trio of colorful plants also recently installed, aloe in bloom. Third a bumpy aloe hybrid in bloom in the greenhouse. Fourth shot a flowering Deuterocohnia in the same place, soon going into the ground near the (non-flowering) bromeliads in the last picture.

Wow those are some AWESOME photos baja!! Wish I could get my cacti to finally take off and bloom.

The 3rd photo in the last set of photos looks like Aloe 'Christmas Carol'
Are you watering your Euphorbias at this time of year Baja?
A few of mine blooming now: Mammillaria spinosissima (Red-headed Irishman), Parodia, Aloe 'Blue Hawaii'

Yes, that is the aloe. I water those Euphorbias about once a week when it's not raining. Our temps have been in the 60-70°F range lately.

Very nice flowers on the "Blue Hawaii".

Aloes in the sun. Last two shots show a pollinator coming to visit.

Euphorbias, last 2 still in bud.

Crown of thorns looking pretty good these days.

Mammillarias, Ferocactus.

Finally, closer shots of the Dudleya flowers in the same order they appear above. Open, closed, open.

Aeonium in bud. Delightful colors this time of year.

We have a strange climate here some times. These winter wind reversals bring us temperatures close to our annual high, and the total loss of humidity for just 3-4 days is enough to really bring out the stress colors in some plants. Our winters are mild, so the effects you see in these pictures are due to the increasing sun and the dry air, but not the cold. In other words, not your usual winter stress colors. :)

Three aloes from the patio with varying degrees of seasonal blush and freckles.

Echeveria in last picture is responding to more sun by turning a darker color, with more of the powdery dusting on top. Slate blue I guess you could call it.

We are unusually warm and dry here also. Most days 10º over normal. Your plants seem to be loving it. Amazing flowers on the Euphorbia miliis. Thanks for the info on watering your Euphorbias. I've been watering mine too with the higher than normal temps.

That's good to hear (for your plants anyway). No need to put them to sleep unnecessarily. :) I know from underwatering experience that my Euphorbias tend to look really sad when they stay dry too long. Actually I am watering some of them (the seedlings in 3-4" pots) every 3-4 days, to keep them from going bone dry too often.

Baja, Thanks again for the fantastic pictures of the plants you grow. It's balm to us succulent lovers in the north. Right now I hear the scrape of the neighbors shovel on the snow filled sidewalk. Sigh.......cll.

I can't say I really miss the snow... though I do miss the rain. We really could use some.

More patio plants here. Nice detail on the bracts in the second picture. Last one is sort of interesting. It's a green Dudleya (no powder on the leaves) which makes powdery buds (of the closed, tubular type). The ones from around here don't normally come out dusted like that.

Baja, your Aloe flower looks like A. humilis. Here is my flower:

These are some beautiful flowers. I always am particularly intrigued with the Monsonia. Unfortunately I haven't be able to keep one for more than a few years but their papery fragile flowers are always a treat.

Yes, Nancy, that's it. Interesting how the color of the flower varies. Here's another bumpy aloe with unimpressive flowers (A. aristata).

Helen, that Monsonia is ultra low maintenance here in its native climate (or close to it). I guess that's the secret. The only problem is now it's getting big enough to do some damage to the plants around it whenever there's serious wind. Those long arms whip around and the spines poke right through succulent leaves.

Continuing evolution of color on the blushing Aeonium, and some more aloes out there (first one flowering for the first time). We are supposed to get real rain this weekend.

Baja: I've never gotten my Aloe aristata to bloom so I do think it is impressive!

Probably the sun, I would imagine. What kind of light does your plant get?

More flowers here... Echeverias in bud, more Euphorbias (a little out of focus, sorry). There are lots of uninteresting tiny Euphorbia flowers out there right now, either green like the ones in the last picture or red.

In the third picture you can see the remnants of last year's flowers, which tells you how much the plant grew in a year.

My A. aristata is in bright shade most of the time. Somewhere I read it doesn't like a lot of sun and I was afraid I'd burn the leaves here in Phoenix. Maybe it needs more to flower though.

Mine gets year round sun (maybe 4h in summer, 1h in winter) and flowers on and off year round. By the time an inflorescence has dried up and is ready to be yanked, the next one is on its way. Try a teeny bit more sun and your plant might change its behavior.

More flowers here... cacti and Euphorbia.

There are 3 Dyckias flowering at the moment. The flowers are okay but I am excited to see what might arise from the plants pollinating each other. Leaf-wise, they look quite different.

Aloes (second one a tree aloe doing its winter thing), Kalanchoe, Sedum.

Yes, Baja, I am going to move A. aristata today. The Dyckias flowers are not big but they sure are vibrant! I've got a bunch of plants blooming early due to the rain here and the temps at least 10º over normal. Haworthia, Parodia, Echinocereus, Gymnocalycium, Mammillaria

Wonderful flowers Nancy and Baja. I am totally impressed!

Thanks, Helen. Your cactus flowers have a great range of color, Nancy.

The best thing about the Dyckia flowers is the way they attract hummingbirds. Winter is a great time for birdwatching here on the balcony between the Dyckias, Dudleyas, and aloe (preferred by the birds more or less in that order).

Turning the bend into spring now, after a few warm dry days (probably our annual high at 93°F). Cactus, Echeveria, Pachypodiums.

Oh! My, Those are beautiful pictures. Here is a picture from last summer.

Baja: You have Adeniums blooming already! Wow. I just fertilized mine and added some gypsum to encourage them. Is the yellow one a Pachy? I love the color!

Wow, those are exquisite Adenium flowers, Grace.

Nancy, those last 3 are all Pachys (though the second one of the three does look a little Adenium-ish). My Adenium is still very much in bud at this point.

This message was edited Mar 21, 2015 1:08 PM

Baja: I thought some were Adeniums. Those Pachys have nice flowers!

I love them. I'm really hoping the moths or whatever come visit. Any kind of pollination would be great. My lamerei has a couple big banana-shaped fruits on it.

Adenium buds here. Not much to see (yet). This plant broke its pot last year around this time (cracked the ceramic right open).

Looks like lots of buds coming. I have about 8 Adenium of various ages. However, I only have 1 plant budded so far. But that is better than last year when they never flowered at all. I'm going to feed them much more this year!

I tried using MG with every watering last year and I got a lot more blooms. Lots more. I hope it works for you too. In fact I went to water my dormant pachys yesterday (they live in the guest room for the winter) and one had put out flower stalks. I give them water several times during the winter so they don't completely desiccate and one responded. I put it outside for the day but had to bring in back in for the night because its too cold. I hope the flowers continue to develop.

Good old Miracle Gro. I've used it for 50 years!