Mother-of-Thousands Part II, the Mistake.

Whoops. It had no plantlets when it was given to me. It seemed so harmless, but it would appear that my kalanchoe tubiflora is just as feculent as it's more common, mother-of-thousands cousin. Hopefully this version, called a chandelier plant, will have less plantlets simply because they grow on the tips of the "leaves" instead of along the sides of the entire.

I didn't even bother looking it up before planting it among the other succulents in the large front garden. It seems a shame to move it, and now I'm committed to having one of these propagating things in the ground. Maybe it'll be okay. Perhaps it's better to have to deal with offshoots than regular grassy weeds.

There are still alternatives if you want a mother-of-thousands but don't want to deal with plantlets growing around it. The pink butterfly kalanchoe produces beautiful pink plantlets that aren't actually plantlets. They don't grow on their own, and the plant itself can only be reproduced through cuttings. It's one of my favorites, and if you can find it, I highly recommend adding it to your succulent garden for its pop of pink color. After searching for one for a few years I was pleasantly surprised to find them in stock at my local Home Depot a couple of seasons ago, so it IS possible to get hold of.

Euphorbias: Don't Get Euphoric over the Acidic

Euphorbia genus succulents are very popular these days, with the simple, orange variety known colloquially as "sticks of fire" being used in drought-friendly landscaping for shopping centers and restaurants. The plants grow quite easily, and are beautiful in their orange variety, though they also have a green variety that looks exactly the same except for the color. The plants grow extremely easily and thrive in drought conditions (or when "stressed" by denying them regular water).

Sticks of Fire, not "stressed" enough for full orange color.

Another form of euphorbia you might have seen is known as "crown of thorns" in what one can only assume is a reference to Jesus Christ (yes, it is, no assumption necessary). This plant is known for its incredibly thorny stems and the tiny flowers that bloom at the ends in a variety of colors.

I have one of these, bought by my brother, and for safety's sake I planted it in an area where it's unlikely to be stepped on or accidentally brushed by the hand. It's even hard to photograph my plant because I have surrounded it with "safety" succulents that are safe to touch. The thorns are vicious, but the real viciousness of all euphorbia plants is what's inside of them.

Best picture I could get of my Crown of Thorns.

The sap bleeds out wherever the plant is broken.

Euphorbia plants contain a milky sap that might remind you of the liquid inside milkweed. Unlike milkweed, the euphorbia sap is extremely painful to come into contact with, not just causing itching, but actually able to burn the skin.

Most succulent plants break easily, and the green and orange thorn-less varieties of euphorbia are no exception. A slight bit of pressure can cause a split in the skin where the sap will well up just like a cut in animal skin. The branches snap extremely easily, and gloves with protective gauntlets should be worn whenever working with this plant.

If the sap touches skin, the effect isn't immediate. The sap flows rather copiously, and is sticky. It will dry on skin sort of like white glue does. Unlike that lovely school glue, this stuff will burn where it touches.

I suffered for your benefit, but only a little bit.

I dabbed a tiny bit on my hand so I could add a little demonstration for this blog entry. I received some pretty bad burns a few weeks ago when staking the green euphorbia to a piece of rebar, but they've healed since then, so I gave myself a little injury for your benefit.

The sap I put on my skin was from a previously-broken stem that was drying out, so there was less sap than would appear if the plant was freshly broken. After about a minute, I washed the skin, and then scratched it with my fingernail. That's where those shreds of skin came from. The sap will burn through layers of skin, and you will notice because it is nearly impossible NOT to scratch at the itchy and painful areas it touches.

I only had the old sap on my skin for a minute, and it only stripped a bit of skin and left a bit of redness. I've had burns that have stripped more than just one layer of cells, and the skin itself is red and once healed is an obviously lighter shade than the uninjured skin surrounding it. Now, about forty five minutes later, the area on my hand still itches and burns.

Where I staked the plant and managed to burn myself even with gauntlet gloves.

Why this blog entry? With the proliferation of this plant in public places, I get increasingly worried about children and pets (and even adults) injuring themselves by "playing" with this plant. No matter how interesting those carroty-colored stems look, DO NOT TOUCH! It is very easy to get sap on you, rub it off (which really doesn't work, you need to use soap and water), and later find your skin shedding a bit like a heavy sunburn.

If you DO come in contact with the sap of this plant, DO wash thoroughly with soap and water as soon as possible. Even spitting on the area and rubbing it off immediately is better than nothing (if you or a child is injured away from sanitation facilities). As in my demonstration photo, skin will still be injured, and it will be irritated, but the effects will be much less severe than letting the sap stay on the skin.

If you desire to grow any of these plants yourself, be smart about it. My neighbors have several VERY LARGE crown of thorns euphorbias in front of their house, and I keep myself and my dogs away. The thorns themselves are scary enough. As for the thorn-less varieties, do not plant them in areas that are accessible to children and pets. It's just asking for trouble. My euphorbia plants are in an area of the bed that is near the back and not touch-accessible to people looking at the patch of succulents. Don't want the neighbor's kids catching their balls in my yard and falling on these plants!

Edited 4/3/16 to add:

Euphorbia sap burns

Two days ago I did some heavy work on the euphorbias, re-tying them and cutting off excess stems. I did not wear long sleeves, and my gauntlet gloves end just before the elbow. These three burns are from sap that stayed put on my skin for the duration of the gardening work; about twenty minutes max. You can see the middle one is my inner elbow, and the largest is on my upper arm. I also burned my face a bit, and my legs because I was silly enough to be wearing shorts. BE CAREFUL!!! Don't be like me!

Placing Plants: Pots vs. Ground

  The placement of plants is a decision that must take into consideration many factors. Before owning a house, I only had potted plants, and to recap, only one (an aeonium) ever survived! One of the most immediate things you can do to perk up a sad-looking plant is put it in the dirt, the real dirt. Of course, one still has to determine what area of ground will be the best for the plant.

My succulent cutting garden. The furniture is 1:12 dollhouse furniture from the 1980s.

  The first decision to be made is whether the plant should live indoors or out. In Southern California the fairly mild to warm climate supports quite a large variety of succulent plants, and worrying about plants getting frostbitten is something very rarely worried about. The one thing that can and does happen to some of my succulents is that they are too delicate for full sun. This applies to different types of succulents, but its good to know that young plants are easily burned in hot sun and must be given some sort of shelter until they reach adult size.
  

Grew "under" another adult plant.

  The mesembryanthemums in the indoor window box I grow cuttings in were on clearance at Home Depot. They could probably be planted outside, but I'm not comfortable putting these rock-shaped plants in the ground. I KNOW they'd get stepped on!

The cuttings garden is a safe indoor area for baby plants. 

The un-ID'd baby succulent loves its safe home.

  You can see in the photos where I have set baby plants from leaf cuttings atop the potting soil to grow safely indoors. Yes, I have used seed beads, crystals and rocks to cover the soil and make it purty. Well, "fairy gardens" are in now, aren't they?

  

 

  These three pots contain some of the smaller or more delicate plants. For instance, in our lovely lady on the far right is a small piece of that wacky jade plant they're calling "Gollum Fingers" these days, but in front of that is a haworthia that I had originally planted out of doors. The plant was just too delicate for direct sunshine, so I brought it indoors. Haworthias are popular indoor plants, especially in Asia, where cultivators have bred some frankly weird and wacky plants.

"String of Pearls" is NOT an easy grow!

  A plant that I potted but kept outdoors is this still-tiny string of pearls plant. It finally has grow some new leaves (those bulbous "pearls"), but is not thriving at all in its location of direct sunlight. I only potted it because its a trailing succulent, but  since it's in a pot I already have the flexibility to place the pot itself in a shadier location.

A "crown of thorns" euphorbia and a "bunny ear" grafted cactus

  The biggest problem I have with potted plants is keeping them watered! The above photo has a euphorbia with lovely orange-pink flowers. After planting it in that pot, I neglected it. When I finally started regular watering again, the new flower growth was pale yellow and white! At least it stayed alive, and it appears that the color is changing back to the terra cotta pink seen above.

A week after being in the ground.

   Back to the ground; if you want a plant to really grow, you've gotta give it room. This piece of floribunda would never had survived had it been in a pot. By sticking it in the wet earth near the hose spout, I've got a revitalized plant. I've never experienced this sort of regeneration with potted plants. Every plant I've left in this condition dried up and died in its pot.

Six weeks being in the ground.

  Controlling plant growth is something that a pot can assist with, but just because you've got a plant in a certain sized pot does not mean it will stop growing to fit the container! Plants should be repotted at least every two to three years. What putting a plant in a pot does do is prevent the plant from sending out underground shooters that pop up as pups. Of course, if I did have my agaves in a pot, they'd probably just skip the long rhizomes and make the babies right against the mother plant.

Agave pups broke ground about three feet away from mom.

  To wrap it up, then, most plants thrive in the ground, but succulents do grow quite well in pots. Succulent growers in cold climates will want to pot their plants so that the plants can be moved to warmer areas during winter. Pots might slightly inhibit your plant from reproducing, but not to a noticeable degree. In fact, I keep all of my cuttings in the kitchen, and here's the latest batch of will-be-plants:

All echeveria leaves, I believe.

Lovable Lithops

My instant lithops collection purchased from Ebay

  
  Lithops are a type of Mesembryanthemum (try saying that five times fast) found in Namibia and South Africa. Mesembryanthemums are a family of succulents with an interesting characteristic. They look like rocks.

  Lithops are characterized by a two-part plant body. With a yearly growth cycle they reproduce themselves, a new plant emerging from between the two plant halves (which aren't exactly halves, one is slightly larger). Sometimes a lithops will produce two new plant bodies, like the plant in the top right corner of the first photo. A lithops can expand like this over many years, creating a plant body of many lithops joined in a cluster.

  Lithops, apparently, are known as difficult to care for. This is far from true. I think lithops must be the easiest houseplant one can find.

A four-headed lithops I found on clearance at Home Depot.

  Lithops are rarely in need of water. In fact for at least half of the year they want nothing to do with it! After growing a new plant body a lithops will absorb the nutrients from the old plant body, eventually leaving a husk that can be pulled off with care. The four-headed lithops in the above photo still has the desiccated leaves attached. It is essential during this time that you DO NOT WATER! Lithops are from extremely arid areas, and only experience rainfall a few months out of the year. Overwatering can easily lead to the death of the plant!

After potting the plants. Old plant bodies are visible on a few.

  In the spring the old plant bodies are husks, and you can water your plant(s). Only water them about every two weeks, and STOP WATERING when summer hits. The plant is resting, and too much water can overwhelm it. Towards the middle/end of August start watering again, and water well, letting the soil dry completely in between waterings. In a month or two a lithops will produce a single yellow or white flower, which emerges from the center just like the new plant body eventually will. Stop watering when the flower begins to wither. After the flower dies a new plant emerges. At the end of winter, in late spring you can start watering again.

I usually don't name plants, but this is Audrey!

  I'm looking forward to my plants blooming this fall, but not all of them will. Lithops won't produce a bloom until they are at least a couple of years old. With that in mind I am pretty confident my "four-headed" lithops will bloom in September. It has to be at least a few years old, as a lithops only doubles (if that) during a single growth season. This also means that my two-headed lithops could be old enough to bloom as well. As far as I can determine, the only way to know a plant is older than a year is if it contains more than one plant body, and plants do not necessarily double every growth cycle.
  

Lithops a few months later. The old leaves have withered away.

  I've watered my lithops only a few times. I watered the four-headed plant when I planted it because one of the plant bodies was slightly wrinkled, indicating a need for water, as well as the fact that the soil it was in was sand-dry. I'm guessing that's why they were on clearance. Home Depot probably only sells lithops and other mesembryanthemums seasonally and has a "no watering" rule.

  When it comes to placing your pot of lithops, make sure it's in a location where it can get four to five hours of direct sun each day. More than that can lead to sunburn, as you can see the lithops on the 

left in the above picture. Without enough sunlight a lithops will grow long and thin, trying to reach whatever light they can. Mine are all in an indoor windowbox facing the north. I don't have good east and west windows, so it was a choice between north and south, and I'm definitely more Yankee than Union.

  Most of my lithops were an eBay lot purchase with which I'm very pleased. Lithops seeds are inexpensive, and apparently grow well. Having no patience for seedlings, I went straight for the adult plants, which one should be able to find for less than $5.00 for an individual plant. If you hurry now (date of post) to Home Depot you might find some on clearance for a couple of dollars. Good luck!