my crassula...

this plant is about 25 years old. It has had so many adventures, it would fill two pages to tell them here. It survived, and now in this pythos it is about to flower !!!

Dimitri

That's one of the things that makes me love the succulents Dimitri, they're such great survivors! 25 years is impressive. In fact it is an impressive looking plant, please show us again when it is flowering

Neat plant. I love to know the history of plants that I have. I get attached and hope to have them a long time. ok, tell us at least one story about your crassula.

It was about 1995, and the crassula was already 7 years in a wooden wine barrel on a balcony facing north, with a view directly on the beach. The strong north winds in the winter did no harm to it, but it was obvious there was no vigorous development. Until then, it had never had a serious problem. A young lady came to visit us, first time in our place. She had a look around, and stopped at the crassula. "What a nice plant.." and we carried on talking. Three days later ALL leaves fell off the crassula, and later strong winds dried the naked plant so my wife was ready to throw it away. We talked a lot about it, and in laughter (with some bitterness in the end) we said this lady could cast an evil eye on plants !!! I felt very sorry, this plant was in a way a symbol of our family, as it was as old as our marriage, and I put it (with no roots, no leaves) in a new pot. After three months it started again, and slowly recovered. What you see now is about 40% of the old plant, because a lot had to be trimmed off in the last removal to the new house. It is always doing well.

Dimitri

Oh, this is spectacular! They say when a succulent flowers, it is the epitomy of good health! And he or she looks pretty good to me.. great growing! Elaine

All the Crassula ovata are flowering this time of year, I have a beautiful pink flowering one. Crassula ovata 'Huntington's Pink' compact little plant been in the same pot for the past 3 years, very depenable. The post office ovata are in full flower, and we only had 4.5 inches of rain last year. No soil change, pruning, fertilizer for the 60 yrs years. It's dependable. All the C. ovata that are planted out in open run, are in full flower. No care, too much water because of sprinklers, they are in full flower, I just don't think you can miss with this species.
I know they flower in So. England, because my friends report in and let me know. I know they will flower if pruned in October right down to the knobs of stems, shaped like a Christmas tree, these were located at Western Wholesale growing in 30 gal containers, you can do no wrong with these plants. Norma

what I find interesting about succulents, is the fact that people believe that these plants are strong in direct sunlight. Well, for Crete I think the sunlight is too bright for them, and their leaves are not happy. I found they develop tremendously in shady areas, protected from winds.

One of the cuttings from this plant was placed 5 years ago in a small clay pot, on the window sill of my bathroom, where the sunlight went for only one hour a day. It stayed very healthy, and did not develop very much, being watered only with my shaving bowl whenever I remembered. It developed very beautiful rose-yellow tinted leaves and now, in a much better place, still keeps its old tint.

I will try to photograph it if it is sunny tomorrow, because today it was pouring rain all the time.

Dimitri

Dimiti, I think we have the same climate as you do in Crete, we are considered to be a Meditterrinan climate as well. We are very lucky, we can grow anything, I have mine in full western sun. The cold will burn the leaves. Look on the map, I live in southern Cal. about 20 miles from the coast. Norma

Hi, Norma. If your climate is much like ours, I suggest you try what I will do for next year:

take three identical succulent plants and put one in shade, one in full sun, one where it will see only 1hr sun preferably in the morning. See what happens.

Dimitri

Good for you, you have an open mind, just try it, they should have good color, meaning that the borders of the leaves will turn red, and the hydaoids will also. This is the way they are supposed to look, not all green and stretched out. We are very hot and dry here in my valley, I'm glad that you are willing to try it. I've seen them grow in the shade as well, and they are also in flower. We have many more than what I saw in Africa, I can't believe I only saw one, and that was not where it was supposed to be growing. I was very disappointed in the tour. Don't go on one, rent a car and do it yourself. OUr temperatures go from 28 F to 110 F in a hot dry vallay which is semi-arid. We get 4.5|" of rain last year to probably, I hope, 20" this year and once in a long while 32" I have sandy soil and it drains rapidly. Temp. can drop 30 degrees from morning to night, they love it. They asorb any moisture at night and grow at night as well to conserve water when it is hot. If you want them to flower cut out the water during the hot months, and start to water again in Oct. after you trim the plant at that time. It should flower before Christmas, and last quite a while into January. Crasulady2

Dimiti, I thought we started out with Crassula ovata, well if you change the speceis, that changes things quiet a bit.

Not all succulents reacts in the same manner, some hate the shade in the middle of summer, othe love it and need it. Again I do agree with you on other species, Kalanchoe need the sun year round, they love the warmth, Crassula Streyi
does not it would prefer some cool, low light afternoons, during the summer heat. Each succulent must be treated differently. Crassula ovata 'Jade' can take it either way. I believe that was the subject we started out with. Apples are not all the same. Some take fewer hours of cold than others. Demitri, I did that experiment years ago when I was a child. Norma

Norma, I wish I knew so much about crassulas. Yet, there are so many plants around, it is almost impossible to specialise in one genus.

Dimitri

I certainly agree with you, I have Aloe, Haworthia, Agave,Euphorbia, fruit trees, Gasteria, Sanseveria, Sedum, Kalanchoe, Aeonium, Hoya, some cactus. I don't have the memory anymore for all the names like my boss has, he can name about 80,000 plants and most of the time very accurately. I did fool him and the complete staff of the Huntington Gardens with a seed one time however, so he is human. We are always learning, until we die, and I don't like that option at this time.
Crasulady2