tarev said:My Echeveria 'Black Prince' is all green this time..so during winter cool temps it goes green; during warm summer days it goes dark:

• Echeveria 'Black Prince'
• Uploaded by tarev

Tarev, that is good to know. I just bought one a few weeks ago that was very dark and all the new growth is green and the outer leaver were starting to fade to, so I thought it needed more sun. I put it outside while the weather has been nice and it is still turning green.

Hi Audrey, it does like more sun, especially during this winter. Come summer time, it likes some shade too, at least in my area it does, since it is intensely hot and dry here.

Thanks for the kind words Esperanza. My plants bring me joy. But I must be careful not to let them become a burden by getting too many.

Random shots from my garden.

Adam I am so sorry. My parents are thousands of kms away in the USA and I miss them every day. ((HUG))

Here are my new babies. I have made my own mix with my own soils and a bit of pearlite. Leaves of Echeverias 🌺🌻🌼🌵

My Black Princes have gone deep red black. Scared me a little. Never seen anything like them before. This pic was taken 2 days ago. It's even blacker now!

Hi Patti, E. Black Prince really turns very dark during the warm, dry summer days, and at a point it will appear to be closing down its leaves, if it really goes way too hot. It will slowly return and open up again when cooler temps return.

This was taken last 2Sept2014, temps has been in the upper 90's and very dry, so plant went on semi-dormancy:


This was taken last 20Nov2014, E. Black Prince going back to its plump and more open appearance as, temps have cooled down nicely in Fall.

Lovely collection Spitz! Your babies are doing very well!

Tarev that crested Doris Taylor is freaking awesome!!!!! Where did you get that? Will you share a big pic of just her? Pretty please

Spitz that is a great collection. I have those same kind of shells planted up too. They are really easy to drill drainage holes in without cracking.

Hi Audrey! Oh Thanks! I got it last March 2013 during a plant show here in San Mateo, CA; the vendor was sgplants.com



When I got it, it used to look like this:

Oh my she is a beauty!!!!! Thanks for the picture. I will be keeping my eye out for one.

I love anything crested but often the crested plants are a bit more finicky than the 'regular' versions. My crested Pachypodium lamerei is hanging in there so far...

This E. Doris Taylor for awhile worried me, it was dropping leaves big time. Looking back, I finally understood that it goes into semi-dormancy mode here when it gets too hot. Then resumes growing nicely when temps become cooler, but still have to be careful with watering when it is too cold.

My last package from arid lands has arrived. It has a Dorstenia sp. Mait LAV 10341 and Pachypodium horombens in it.
Plus the Dorstenia had a baby one tangled in the roots. So I potted it up in a small cup.

Here is a pic with the Pachypodium horombens on the left and the Dorstenia sp. Mait LAV 10341on the right.


And here is a pic of the bonus baby dorstenia.

Thank you @tarev !! I just love my Black Princes. I will take some comparison pics. None have closed up yet, just gone very dark red. I keep squeezing the leaves to ensure they aren't going too soft. I have one that is a double and they are all growing flower heads. I am paranoid about killing them. They change so quickly.

I've been playing my psp and ps3 some and not being ocd about my plants. When I get ocd I get depressed and order more plants or video games. Whatever I'm focused on at the moment. So by splitting my time between my plants and video games. I can keep from getting depressed. So I take care of my babies and enjoy my video games some.

Glad to help Patti..just be careful with watering..if it starts to go very hot in your area and the plant gets really dark, it is just trying to conserve its resources..I just leave it alone, as it will now be in its semi-dormant mode. You can try and move it to a part sun/part shade area to help it. The leaves will go mushy if you overwater them at that dormant stage.

Adam, I like playing plants vs zombies , maybe an old game but I like the zen garden there.

OK thank you @tarev. That is excellent advice I will definitely follow. I will move them to an area that gets sun only in the mornings and filtered for the remainder of the day. Since the weather has been chilly over the past few days all of them have firmed up.

The double one I have in a very shallow (temporary) dish I made out of an old stand and flymesh. It was jammed into a plastic pot that was way too small when I bought it. It is doing really well and seems to be stretching its wings now. Another one is still in a pot too small for it until I get some bigger pots. Still fighting the fungus gnat problem - they love to hide in them

Shallow and wide container is okay, too deep I try to avoid. As with most succulents, their roots are really shallow growing, having shallower containers with drainage work best so the roots dry faster.