Deadheading: SUCCESS!

Original Blog Entry on Deadheading

It took about three weeks, but the deadheading experiment was beyond successful, and let me share how:

The smaller of the two butterfly kalanchoes.

Toes!

First, the two "heads" of the pink butterfly kalanchoe I had decapitated grew nice roots and I successfully put them in the garden. Both plants are now independent and will continue to grow on their own. This was exciting enough, and you can see how well they're doing by the number of pink plantlets they've grown!

Now for the really exciting part... the "leftovers" proved regenerative as well! Every single piece of plant was growing something new!

The larger of the "head" plants.

The two bits of stem that still had "leaves" are growing tiny Audrey II's! Okay, here's what we're really seeing. Kalanchoes always grow with opposite-pair leaves. The "mouth" shape is the first two leaves of A NEW PLANT. Yup, at each of those spots a brand-new pink butterfly kalanchoe grows!

"I'm a MEAN GREEN MOTHER FROM OUTER SPACE!"

All of the new growth on the plant starts out pink!

Growers of a particular and very picky plant would probably refer to these future plants as "clones." When you reproduce a succulent with cuttings, you are creating "clones" of the original plant. Yeah, term doesn't sound as cool now, does it? Think of all the cloning you've probably done!

I'm not sure how the sticks will turn out, even the ones with roots still intact. I popped 'em all in the ground which I saturated with water. I use the shady area at the rear of my succulent patch as a sort of nursery/grow spot for delicate plants I want to put in full sun.

All plant pieces were planted, some just shoved, in the always-shady area, where they will grow, and my pink butterfly kalanchoes will takeover the garden!

You can see that the stem itself is near-death and dried out.

Pink plantlets!

The closest photo I could get with the iPhone. Those pink zits are tiny, wee baby plants.

Kalanchoe Blooms and Rebirth

The first plant is the tall stalk, the second is the recognizable fang plant next to it.

There is a type of kalanchoe that if it isn't, at least should be rather popular. Known colloquially as a "fang plant" or even "lambs ear" it features very large, spade-shaped leaves covered with soft fuzz and having curious pointy bumps on the outer surface. It's a fantastic plant, and the one I have has been through a lot, even a beheading and re-rooting. After about three years with  me, it decided to bloom. While it's amazing to have your succulents bloom, the succulents like kalanchoes and aeoniums that have the longest-lasting blooms also perish after blooming. Their flowers are their swan song.

Fresh blooms from about a month and a half ago.

Tall enough to be a super model.

The bloom (technically called an inflorescence) on my fang plant reaches almost six feet in height, which is astounding. It's a collection of symmetrical stalks with clusters of flowers at the ends. The radial symmetry is really quite... mathematical, as Finn and Jake would say.

Two separate plant bodies mean one survives.

This is my second kalanchoe to bloom. My first, which was tall, red, and gorgeous, bloomed all at once, which meant that I had to remove the entire plant (a rather large one) when it died soon after. My good luck in this case is that the fang plant had grown an offshoot which became it's own plant, and so even though this particular plant will die, the now-separated twin plant survives.

The plant loses nearly all leaves, leaving these strange gaps in its body.

Baby plant growing on the left side where a leaf formerly grew.

I'm extra-lucky in this case, as the fang plant generously decided to grow some baby plants on the flowering stalks. This happens with many succulents, but I haven't seen it on a kalanchoe before. At areas where a large leaf formerly grew, and on "crotches" where stems separate, the fang plant has grown little fuzzy green baby plants I will be able to pop off and root!

This is great, because I love this plant, and now I'll be able to spread it around the garden! It does pretty well with full sun (not all succulents do), and it will be nice to have some more of these fun and fuzzy plants.

Babies growing in crotches

Babies growing on the flower stalk where small leaves had grown and died.

The bloom/inflorescence today. Many flowers have died, some are still buds.

The large stem is the remains of the original plant's bloom.

For a little more context, I have some pictures of a different sort of kalanchoe my mother gave me. This particular plant bloomed and died, leaving an offshoot still attached to the dead flower stem, which I will need to remove with clippers. You can see the tall, dead stem next to the tiny left-over living plant. I left the stem on when I planted it in the ground as it gave me a very easy "handle" to move the plant with.

I haven't had this type of kalanchoe before, so it will be interesting to see what it grows into. I'm guessing that as I've planted it in full sun, it will be a nice red color, a guess supported by the red of the dead inflorescence.

Now that it's securely in the ground I can cut the dead stem down, if not completely off.