Fancy Echeveria!

  Echeveria 'Andromeda'                                                                                                                S. Reeve

Echeveria 'Andromeda' has Mother-of-Pearl opalescent coloring that is difficult to believe unless you see it. I see pink/coral edges, blue inner petals, yellow centers that grade into blue and coral and silvery tones too. The coloring of sunsets and seas in every wavy leaf. What an amazing plant! This is a new plant for me and I was worried it would be finicky and difficult to grow, but it has been quite the opposite. Once I planted three of them they all took off and grew to large platter proportions. One was completely eaten (by rabbits?) only to return and almost catch up to its cohorts. In fact, as I walked by what remained of the plant, I silently gave it its last rites, thinking it was far too gone to ever come back. Was I ever surprised to notice it the other day almost as large as the unmolested other two! Impressively strong grower so far. 

Blooming Echeveria 'Andromeda'                                                                                                        S. Reeve

So here it is the middle of July and the plant shoots up these cartoonishly colored bloom spikes. The spikes are much more substantial than the slender horizontal spikes of the Dudleya pulverulenta. They look like they hummingbirds might like them, but so far, I have not observed any takers. This plant is so visually satisfying with its blue bracts and Pepto Bismol pink blooms on Helicoid cymes. According to the patent description, the flowers are 2.4 cm long and are large for the genus. This plant was bred by the famous Renee O'Connell in Escondido. My plants are in a little bit of shade. Even in an inland location, where we had a 102F degree day these plants were not phased in the slightest. Unlike Dudleya, Echeveria appreciates and requires summer irrigation. I am new to this genus and I am astounded by the diversity of coloration and shapes. Pretty sure some botanist will determine that there is more than one genus here and start dividing it further. Splitters--hmmph! 

Echeveria is in the large Family of Crassulaceae. Crassulaceae means "succulent little plant" and that is almost right with Echeveria 'Andromeda' except I would say "succulent big plant."  Native to cool mountains in Mexico and South America with one species outlier in Texas. Keep them dry in the winter and they will be more cold hardy, down to 20-25F. All members of the genus Echeveria have CAM or Crassulacean Acid Metabolism. CAM plants represent 7% of vascular plant species. Normally, plants open their stomata during the day to fix carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. In CAM the plant opens their stomata at night and has the ability to store carbon dioxide until it is needed during daylight. This evolutionary modification saves water that would normally escape at a greater rate during the warmer daytime through open stomata. This strategy has mainly evolved in arid and semi-arid water-limited environments.

I am really enjoying living here in Southern California and growing all of these cool succulents.  I water once a week and that seems to be enough. They seem to like my sandy loam soil. Good drainage is necessary to grow these well. They do not tolerate freezing temperatures and tend to sulk if temperatures go below 50 degrees F. People can and do grow these indoors, but it would have to be in a very sunny window. If you do grow these in pots use a good quality cactus soil to give them the drainage they insist on. Try to avoid wetting the leaves when applying water. I'm hooked. These succulents intrigue me with their jewel box colors and variety of size and shapes.