Succulent sale at Silverado through 2/5/11

This post is of interest mainly to Sacramento area gardeners. Silverado Silverado Building Materials & Nursery in Rancho Cordova is having a big sale on all kinds of things, including pottery, fountains, ornamental and fruit trees, roses, and succulents. Succulents in 1 gallon and larger containers are 40% off, 4" plants are $2, and 2" plants are $1. This sale runs through 2/5/11.

I went this morning and ended up with a bunch of stuff. Some succulents looked pretty sad (that might be the reason for the sale), but others were in decent shape. However, even the sad-looking ones should make a recovery once warmed weather sets in. Succulents are tough.

There were just a few agaves and aloes—and the requisite golden barrel cactus—but almost everything else was echeverias, sedums, crassulas and other members of the Crassulaceae family. A nice selection overall, but many plants either had no ID tags (especially the small 2" pots) or the wrong tags. Most people don’t really care what they get as long as it’s attractive to them, but I’m a stickler for correct labeling.

This kind of sale is worth going to if you’re designing mixed succulent bowls and need lots of plants, or if you are looking for smaller plants than are available in most nurseries. $1 for a 2" plant is a good price, especially considering how fast these grow. Potted now and watered and fertilized throughout the growing season, they’ll be a nice size by fall.

Here is my haul of the day:

Senecio vitalis, or narrow-leaf chalksticks, hardy to 25°F. More upright (and less blue) than the blue chalk fingers (Senecio mandraliscae) we have growing in our succulent beds. It’s a bit unkempt right now but once I’ve removed all the dead leaves, it will look great.

Sedum pachyphyllum, or many fingers, hardy to 15°F. Definitely one of the “fleshiest” sedums I’ve seen. This plant is in a one-gallon container, and it was surprisingly (top) heavy—there is lots of water in these leaves!

Closeup of Sedum pachyphyllum, If this plant hadn’t been tagged, I would never have guess that this is a sedum.

Graptopetalum paraguayense or ghost plant, supposedly hardy to 5°F. Quite common in 3" or 4” containers, but this is the first time I’ve seen it as a gallon-sized plant. I could cut off each rosette and root it, and I’d have over a dozen individual plants! In addition, you can root each leaf individually. Truly one of the easiest succulents in terms of propagation.

Labeled as Pachyphytum opalina, or opal moonstone. However, such a species doesn’t seem to exist. In all likelihood, this is x Graptoveria ‘Opalina’, a graptopetalum x echeveria hybrid.

Labeled as Graptopetalum amethystinum, or lavender pebbles. Not 100% sure about the ID because the color is too pink, but that might be because of the winter cold and/or growing conditions. Definitely very plump leaves that make the plant surprisingly heavy. A beautiful plant, and my favorite find of the day.

Now I need to figure out what to do with these plants and the ones I got from IKEA a couple of weeks ago…