Succulent Ramblings

I took today off - day after the Des Moines cactus club show/sale - because I knew I'd need a day to recover from all the standing and walking. So I will spend the day taking pics and blogging about the plants I entered in the show.

First we have Monadenium rubellum, which won a blue ribbon... first the caudex...

The foliage...

And it was flowering, so the closeup of a flower...

I'm not sure I would have given it a blue ribbon, but sometimes flowering will evoke it even if the plant isn't perfect. I guess they assume if it's flowering, it's receiving good care and it's a well grown plant.

Next is Haworthia truncata crassa, which is one I got a year or two ago at a show...

This one got an honorable mention, which isn't surprising with all the Haworthias that get shown. It's a beauty, but the truncata genre is very common and everyone who grows Haworthias probably has a few in their collection, because there are so many hybrids.

Which leads me to Haworthia truncata 'Lime Green', which got a third place ribbon...

There were two of these shown and I'm guessing mine won over the other only only because of the nice pot I had mine in. The plants themselves were pretty equal otherwise.

And another Haworthia, reticulata hurlingii got an honorable mention. I probably would have given it a higher reward just for rareness...

It's hard to get a really good photo of this one because the individual "pups" are very small, but they are very nicely patterened and it grows in the massive mound. I think I'll pull a pup out of there and photograph it with my camera at some point to get more detail on the plant...

Last Haworthia is 'Milky Way', which is my only plant that got no award...

I had a Rhipsalis ewaldiana in the show that got an honorable mention...

This is one of my last few Rhipsalis I grow. And this is a start off of one that got so large, I just had nowhere to grow it anymore. I'd really like to grow more Rhips, but they just take up massive amounts of space!

Two years I've entered Cyphostemma juttae 'Fat Bastard' and I've gotten a blue ribbon both years. Here is the caudex (notice it's raining today, which is why it looks half wet, half dry)...

And detail of the gorgeous, succulent, grape-like leaves...

The only Hoya I entered was my smallest macrophylla...

Unfortunately, one of the large plants tumbled onto macrophylla and two nice leaves popped off. In spite of that, it got a blue ribbon.

I'll interject here that on Friday, as I was arriving home, I got a call from a lady who was asking about Hoyas at the show and was very disappointed there were none to buy. Kathy gave her my number. Well, we worked it out and on Sunday, I brought over 4 rooted Hoyas and 3 or 4 cuttings and she bought them all, $54 (which was a bargain for her and it was ok for me, too, because I didn't have to pack them up and mail them!) So that offset some of my expenses for my trip and my spending. I spent around $65 on plants, about $75 on a rental and roughly $70 on gas. Carol (who rode over with me on Saturday) gave me $10 towards gas, and the club will reimburse me for one day of the rental for the day I brought two club members with me. So the whole weekend cost me about $110 out of my pocket... not bad.

I entered my Euphorbia millii variegata in under the educational classification. Here's the plant...

And I put an explanation about variegation next to it, and this is what it said:

Variegation in plants

Variegation refers to contrasting colors on plant leaves and sometimes stems as well. Variegated leaves rarely occur in nature, but when they do, it’s typically in the understory (or deeply shaded) areas of the rainforest. This indicates that variegated plants should be grown in less sun than their green counterparts. It is important to note, however, that photosynthesis only occurs in the green parts of leaves, therefore variegated plants need a bright spot for good health. Balancing enough light without too much sun is the challenge in producing a perfect specimen.

Chimeral (or genetic) variegation is due to the presence of two different kinds of plant tissue. Because of this, propagation must be done by a vegetative method that preserves both types of tissue. Stem cuttings, air layering or stem grafting are methods that typically work best. Root cuttings will rarely remain variegated. Stems with an inordinate amount of variegation often will not root at all.

Variegated plants, because of their rarity, are highly sought after. When one is produced and the variegation is replicated and deemed to be stable, a name is attached to that plant that is the original botanical name with the word “variegata” attached. This particular plant is Euhporbia millii variegata. But look closely… this one has an all green shoot at the base! This is called “reverting”, and occurs in some unstable variegates. In most cases, one would cut off this anomaly. On the other hand, it creates a beautiful contrast against all the variegated foliage! If more reverted stems appear, it is an indication that the plant will likely stop producing variegated growth, and an avid collector would take cuttings from the variegated parts to start a new, wholly variegated plant.

I thought it was a good explanation about variegation, something that a lot of people appreciate, don't know what it's called and don't understand.

Next is my grafted Euphorbia lactea crest, which I put in the grafted class - it won an honorable mention. I know they're fairly common, but I think it looks fantastic!...

It has picked up so much red from being out in the sun for the summer!

I decided to show an Epiphyllum, and to be honest, I have no idea if this one is has all the same kind in the pot or if there are different ones in there. This spring, I just took a bunch of cuttings and secured them in 2 pots and put them out back. Well, this potful has a bunch of buds coming on so I thought I'd show it even though I knew it was unlikely that any would open for the show. Here's the crazy plant...