Succulents by the thousands

Kalanchoe daigremontiana - mother of thousands

What an apt name for this plant to show its characteristics! Maybe it can still be called 'mother of millions'. We have lots of this in our property in the province, and sometimes i have to haul them distance away to the edge of the property just to be sure they will spread there and not near the house. Come rainy days and lots of them will always still appear. And it is not surprising, it is a succulent thriving on bad soils, neglect and dry climates. Solitude Rising requested it to be posted as he hasn't yet seen it . He posted another species, Kalanchoe pinnata, katakataka in local dialect here.

leaves at the left will still grow the plantlets or maybe already dropped them compared to the top right where some nodes still have the plantlets still attached. Bottom right is a different species (katakataka in Pilipino), just to compare the leaf difference. It also grows plantlets on its grooves.

a mature plant already about to flower

plantlets growing on every leaf notch

three stalks branched out from a single plant with each leaf having lots of plantlets; a baby grassphopper at the bottom right might have been amazed with the amounts of plantlets too. I hope One of onenezz will see this cricket

I haven't seen any plant as productive as this! Vegetatively it produced a lot of individual plants and reproductively it has lots of flowers. If only food plants are same as this one, maybe we are assured of food in the future's future, and we will not be scared if our children's children will still have available food. Moreover, this plant can thrive in hot climates even with little water and also thrive on neglect. A climate unfavorable for most plants will still be welcomed by this plant.

Look at the numerous roots of the plantlets even still attached to the mother plant

 If the thousand plantlets assure us of the true-to-type plants, the flowers are needed for hybridization, which eventually give us lots of possibilities in future flower colors and characteristics. No wonder, a lot of Kalanchoe species and hybrids are available. Try to google it and you will be given lots of photo pages and variations in flower characteristics.

I agree they are prolific and beautiful, but my manner or preference for gardening still doesn't favor its presence!  

Please visit the other Hot, Loud and Proud posts in Noel's site

Green Succulents, Green Flowers

Maybe you are already associating me with flowers, bright colors and such, so here is some detour.  For a change i am posting succulents. I found these during my travel to Ooty, India. This place is on a mountain reached by circuitous roads via Chennai. Temperatures are already cooler and vegetation is already subtropical.  On both sides of the mountains are well cropped tea gardens, and only a few other trees are found other than tea. Flowers are also of the subtropical types.

I will be presenting the two succulents here and please identify them for me, if you dont mind. Nobody knows the common name or scientific name among the people around me that time. I know many among you are familiar with these wonderful green ornamentals, so kindly help me. Kanak of  Terra Farmer, Radhika of   Ever Green Tree, or maybe Stephanie of Steph's Green Space, i need your help here. Thank you very much.

Both look like Sempervivum species if taken singly without the stems. But Sempervivums do not have long stems like these two, as i googled them.  

Post Script:

Thanks to Rosie of Leaves n Bloom for the genus of this plants, Aeonium, and leading me to a lot of them. In fact i saw the lots of colors of the genus including the black, as well as the blooming one with wonderful yellow flowers (Here).

For more greens and follow-up of their green plantings please visit Pam Digging. She also has some succulents there.