Exciting plants...NEW and OLD

A newly bought Aloe;

Graptosedum

Does anyone know the name of this plant? The flowers are wax like and the hanging stems grow in segments. I knew its name but it got lost a long time ago.

The "Flaps" are growing; Kalanchoe thyrsiflora; over winter they have acquired a deep red on top of their flaps.

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora (also known as Paddle Plant, Flapjacks, Desert Cabbage, White Lady, is a species of Kalanchoe, native to South Africa. A succulent plant producing a stalk about 1m tall, dying back after flowering. It forms a basal rosette of large, rounded, fleshy stalkless leaves, which are grayish-green with red margins, covered with a white powdery bloom. The inflorescence is terminal and erect with densely clustered thyrse-like panicles of greenish waxy flowers with yellow recurved lobes, narrowly urn-shaped. Flowering from autumn to spring.

Crassula , I do love their dainty flowers. This one I have trained like a sturdy little tree.
A new acquisition; it looks like a Echeveria!

This "hairy" little thing, I think goes under the name of Cyanotis. I is new in my collection. I have received it from my neighbour V. a few days ago as a cutting. She didn't know its name. Most of my succulents are growing under the broad overhanging roof.

Golden barrel is over 30 years old it was grown from a seed.

A newly bought Aloe came without a name!

Echeveria shaviana, pretty in a grayish pink is also a new acquisition.

New Echeveria nodulosa looks very attractive with turkish hued leaves with burgundy markings.

Echeveria, over winter the leaves have turned a dark pink with a bluish sheen. In the middle the new "arrivals" are still a soft green with a little pink trim, very pretty.

Echeveria is a large genus of succulents in the Crassulaceae family. The genus is named after the 18th century Mexican botanical artist, Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy. They are drought resistant, although they do better with regular deep watering and fertilizing. Most will tolerate shade and some frost, although hybrid species tend to be less tolerant. They can be propagated easily by separating offsets, but may also be propagated by leaf cuttings, and by seed if they are not hybrids. Echeverias are polycarpic, meaning that they may flower and set seed many times over the course of their lifetimes.

This Gasteria grows since many years in this trough; it is very prolific with its flowers.

My new Aeoniums

Aeonium arboreum var.atropurpureum "Schwarzkopf"

Aeonium Cyclops
Aeonium arboreum atropurpureum

Aeonium tabuliforme

Aeonium is a

genus of about 35 species of succulent. They are subtropical plants of the family Crassulaceae. Most are native to the Canary Islands.
The rosette leaves are on a basal stem. Low-growing Aeonium species are A. tabuliforme and A. smithii; large species include A. arboreum, A. valverdense and A. holochrysum.
Aeonium are not frost-resistant. They are related to the genera Sempervivum, Aichryson and Monanthes, which is easy to see from their similar flower and inflorences.

Believe it or not: Audaces fortuna adiuvat! (Fortune does favor the bold!)


Organic tip of the week:

Grow your own sweet potatoes if your climate allows it. Otherwise buy them on the market. They are delicious; many great recipes are available. I grow the white and the orange sweet potato; both are delicious.

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant which belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1000 species of this family, only I. batatas is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable (Purseglove, 1991; Woolfe, 1992). The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). It is commonly called a yam in parts of North America, although they are only very distantly related to the other plant widely known as yams) (in the Dioscoreaceae family), which is native to Africa and Asia.

The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between red, purple, brown and white. Its flesh ranges from white through yellow, orange, and purple.

Sweet potatoes are cultivated throughout tropical and warm temperate regions wherever there is sufficient water to support their growth.
The plant does not enjoy frost. It grows best at an average temperature of 24 °C (75 °F), abundant sunshine and warm nights. Annual rainfalls of 750-1000 mm are considered most suitable, with a minimum of 500 mm in the growing season. The crop is sensitive to drought at the tuber initiation stage 50-60 days after planting and is not tolerant to water-logging, as it may cause tuber rots and reduce growth of storage roots if aeration is poor
Depending on the cultivar and conditions, tuberous roots mature in two to nine months. . Sweet potatoes rarely flower when the daylight is longer than 11 hours, as is normal outside of the tropics. They are mostly propagated by stem or root cuttings or by adventitious roots called "slips" that grow out from the tuberous roots during storage. True seeds are used for breeding only.
Under optimal conditions of 85 to 90 % relative humidity at 13 to 16 °C (55 to 61 °F), sweet potatoes can keep for six months. Colder temperatures injure the roots.
They grow well in many farming conditions and have few natural enemies; pesticides are rarely needed. Sweet potatoes are grown on a variety of soils, but well-drained light and medium textured soils with a pH range of 4.5-7.0 are more favourable for the plant (They can be grown in poor soils with little fertilizer. However, sweet potatoes are very sensitive to aluminium toxicity and will die about 6 weeks after planting if lime is not applied at planting in this type of soil Because they are sown by vine cuttings rather than seeds, sweet potatoes are relatively easy to plant. Because the rapidly growing vines shade out weeds, little weeding is needed. In the tropics the crop can be maintained in the ground and harvested as needed for home consumption. .

Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B6.
the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.

Sweet potato varieties with dark orange flesh have more beta carotene than those with light colored flesh. Despite the name "sweet", it may be a beneficial food for diabetics, as preliminary have revealed that it helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and to lower insulin resistance.

Ethnomedical Uses;
The aerial parts are used as a galactogogue.
The leaves are used to treat diabetes, hookworm, hemorrhage, and abscesses.

The tuber is used to treat asthma

Thank you for your visit


Copyright: T.S. Yesterdaytodayandtomorrow in my garden.

Photos: T.S.