Goodies from friends, part 2

In my last post I showed you the contents of a mystery box I received from my friend Laura in San Jose. A few weeks earlier, another succulent fanatic, Candy Suter of Sweetstuff’s Sassy Succulents fame, had given me a bunch of plants for my garden. Most were cuttings, but one was a potted plant in a 1-gallon container. And what a beauty it is!

Kalanchoe ‘Fang’

‘Fang’ is thought to be a hybrid between Kalanchoe beharensis and Kalanchoe tomentosa. It’s the kind of plant people either love or hate. The leaves are every bit as fuzzy as they look but they’re sturdy at the same time. In spite of its name, ‘Fang’ is a lamb. It doesn’t have any sharp edges, and the bumps on the underside of the leaves, while rigid, aren’t spiky.

Kalanchoe ‘Fang’

There’s no plant quite like it, and if you like oddities, ‘Fang’ is right up your alley.

Candy also gave me a bunch of cuttings. They went in small pots for the winter and will go in the garden—or be used in community pots—next spring.

Faucaria tigrina and crested Aenonium ‘Kiwi’

Crested Aenonium ‘Kiwi’

Crested Aenonium ‘Kiwi’

Unidentified miniature aloe

Aloe and gasteria cuttings
(the gasteria variety is ‘Toad’s Toes’; you’ve got to love that name!

But there was more: a bag full of Echeveria ‘Imbricata’.

Echeveria ‘Imbricata’

While some echeverias can be pretty challenging to grow in our hot climate, ‘Imbricata’ is tough as nails. It’s also one of the prettiest echeveria varieties. It seems to change color over the course of the day: On a sunny day, it reflects the blue of the sky. When it’s overcast, or later in the day when the light gets warmer, it takes on a greenish hue.

Candy’s ‘Imbricata’ cuttings went in our renovated driveway succulent bed.

Right now they look a bit sparse…

…but I expect them to fill in quickly…

…next spring…

…and hopefully form dense colonies like this one, which spills out of an upended pot in Candy’s front yard:

Source: Sweetstuff’s Sassy Succulents. © 2013 Candace Suter. Used with permission.

Check out this post on Candy’s blog, Sweetstuff’s Sassy Succulents, to see more photos of what Candy created in her garden.