One Little, Two Little, Three Little Aeoniums!!!!

As I walk through my backyard and see all the new sprouts I notice that the most new "pups" are on what I consider to be one of my favorite plants, they are called Aeoniums. Aeoniums of which there are about 35 different species are from the Crassulaceae family. They are mostly native of the Canary Islands, Madeira, Morocco and eastern Africa, alas these lovely plants are not frost resistant.

I myself have probably at least a dozen different kinds of Aeoniums and thats just off the top of my head. Aeoniums are fast growers and can be green, purple and green, almost black, variegated or a whole rainbow of other colors.

Among my favorites is the Aeonium Arboreum Atropurpureum.This green and purple beauty really stands out in your garden. It really loves the full sun and lots of water. The more time it spends in the sun the more purple it gets. These can grow fairly big, and look great whether they are trimmed or left to grow wild. They start growing "pups" fairly soon after planting and these can be removed if other plants are desired, or left on the stalk of the plant. These do well in the ground or in pots and grow very quickly.

And there is of course the Aeonium Arboreum Albovariegatum this green and crème colored beauty  is also known as the “sunburst” aeonium because of its vibrant pattern. These aeoniums get to be very large when taken care of. I have a sunburst aeonium, that has probably an 8-10 inch leaf span. This plant also loves full sun and lots of water, although this plant does not seem to grow as quickly as some of its cousins.

One of the largest Aeoniums I have in my garden at present has a 22” leaf span and is still growing. This humongous beauty is called an Aeonium Urbicum, aka “red salad bowl” because the edges of the bottom leaves turn red, making it look somewhat like a huge red salad bowl. I really adore this plant I just think it is so beautiful. Lots of water for this plant along with the full sun really appears to get the red edges going on this lovely.

I also have my small favorites such as Aeonium Haworthii or “kiwi” aeonium. This delicate little lovely is green and cream colored, with bright hot pink edges. Even before they get their pink color the shade of green and crèam is stunning. 

Although they are all Aeoniums from the same family, not all of them will have the same reaction to the sun. The larger Aeoniums love full sun, and lots of water. However because they are drought tolerant they can live on smaller amounts of water if they have to. Just know with less water it is likely they will lose all of their bottom leaves, but they will grow back. Some other aeoniums such as the kiwi prefer filtered sunlight, but will do well in a sun to shade setting. A covered patio is a great place for your plants that should not have full sun.

This is just a handful of the Aeoniums that I have in my garden and there are so many more that I will have to devote another post to talk about them, until then....

Peace-Out
Sheila Pichlik-Parrott