By Beatrice Hawkins
As the weather has continued dry this week, and with no rain forecast in the foreseeable future, I thought I would continue with some more information on propagating the fabulous lotus red flash as it is really a plant everyone should find a place for.
If propagating by cutting, take a tip cutting and strip off the lower leaves and pinch out the tip to make it branch out. They will require humidity to take root so maybe a plastic bag or plastic hot house would be a good idea.
Resist the urge to pull a cutting up to see if roots are developing! Wait until roots can be seen coming through the drain holes. Re-pot to a larger pot and wait again until it is ready to put out in the ground or into a pot or hanging basket in any good free draining potting mix and enjoy a beautiful plant.
An all-purpose slow release fertiliser at planting time will be of benefit in a pot or basket but in the ground mine has flourished with no special care. I will give it a feed soon though to keep it performing.
I will also be looking out for the yellow flowered variety as a contrast to the beautiful red.
As to succulents, if you have a dry area or rockery there is such an amazing range in size, shapes and colours it may be a useful idea to try.
In another town in a past life, I had some friends who had just such an area and filled it with a wide variety of these plants and it really looked spectacular. It was a dry bank from their high block down to the road, and these plants succeeded where all other options had failed to hold the soil and provide colour and interest as you pulled up kerb side. Colourful pig-face in different colours and leaf sizes provided huge splashes of brilliance and a mixture of sedums and Echeveria of various sizes and colours and different coloured flowers completed the picture and was very easy care.
I’ve just had my attention drawn to some beautiful sedems in a catalogue with green leaves with pink edges, pink and mauve leaves and all with pink flowers on red/pink stems.
The common blue grey rosette succulents I have in a pot that seem to thrive on neglect and send up lovely spikes of red and yellow bell flowers are echeveria and come in an amazing range of colours from blues to deep red, bright red and a whole range in between. Some of the hybrids have frilly pink edges to the leaves and others have bright red tips. I have an area adjacent to the house that is probably an ideal place to have some as it is very difficult to keep watered for most other plants.
When I was a child, the “Mother of Millions” was a common garden plant until it was realised it really was true to its name! It now presents an environmental problem out in the Goondiwindi area and probably other areas that I haven’t seen, growing freely along the roadside and in adjoining paddocks.
They do look spectacular with their lovely red flower heads standing tall as you drive by. As they grow from every little leaf segment, they are almost impossible to eradicate in a paddock where livestock graze or native animals inhabit as they attach to them and spread widely as they move about, so this is one to avoid at all costs!
Don’t forget the Garden Competition coming up in October. Entry forms are available as usual from Bryson’s Place at their new address 66 Palmerin Street. Entries close on Friday 6 October with judging commencing on Monday 9 October.
*This is an old article that has been digitised so our readers have access to our full catalogue.
