Aeonium Flowering and Windy Conditions

The brief thunderstorm we had the other morning was followed by some heavy winds, which are hell on arboreal aeoniums (aeoniums that are tree-like). Succulents tend to have very shallow roots, and while most plants have extensive root systems that anchor them in place, most succulent plants are quite easy to remove from the soil.

The replanted aeonium, now tied to old rebar and an iron sculpture.

The wind blew over the latest blooming stem on my oldest succulent, and I was nervous of it enough to immediately go out front to fix it, without putting on my gloves. ALWAYS PUT ON YOUR GLOVES! In my case, I was forced to improvise a stake for it, and while I had a good, steady item to tie the plant stem to, it was rough on my hands.

My first instinct, having no tall wooden stakes, was to use a second piece of rebar to stake this plant (I had used the first of the two leftovers to stake the large green euphorbia next to the aeonium). I shoved the rebar in as deep as I could, but it wasn't enough to keep the plant upright and steady.

Garden decor to the rescue! My brother went through a period of iron sculpture, and I am the proud owner of a couple of his pieces. One of our favorites, the Tree, is in the front yard. It's gotten magnificently rusted in the weather, and its structure allowed for me to rest the aeonium against a sort of crotch formed at the top of the sculpture.

This is where I should have worn my gloves. Rough, rusty iron. Bare hands. I'm lucky this was all I got:

Now, saving this plant may seem silly, because if you've read my other post on aeoniums, you will already know that if the plant is flowering, it is going to die afterward. Darn it, though, I've had this guy going in various offshoots for eight years, and I'm proud of the five foot tall plant! Besides, it has an offshoot I want to keep on the main plant as long as possible.

 You can see where the offshoot has grown lateral roots at its base. Hopefully, when the larger plant passes away, it will be easy to break off and simply plant on its own with roots already grown. If you look at the picture at the top, though, you'll see the stem is shaped like a horseshoe, so it's likely I will have to chop half of it off to end up with one straight stem.

Why is this titled in reference to flowering? Another one of my aeoniums is in the process! One of my ground-level plants that surrounds the feature agave is blooming! This patch of aeoniums started as a few small plants and a larger plant, which grew, and grew, and produced offshoots, etc...

I've just never had one of my newer guys bloom before! It would appear that aeoniums need perhaps at least four or five years of growth before they bloom and die. Since I only have one plant blooming, it is unlikely that the blossoms will be fertilized and produce viable seeds, same with the arboreal aeonium.

So, as far as propagation, your best bet is to hope for offshoots. This is standard for nearly all succulent plants. It's much easier to create new plants through offshoots and cuttings than by collecting and planting seeds. The good news is that in the time it takes for your aeonium to mature and flower (then die), it will likely produce many offshoots which can be separated into individual plants.

An offshoot of my first blooming aeonium. Just ONE leaf marred by snail nibbles. Grr.

A closer view of the offshoot. This type of aeonium is known as "cyclops" because of the "eye" pattern.

This little guy is an amazing survivor of the snails and has gotten sturdy enough to be transplanted to the foreground.