If you held a flower popularity contest, petunias would certainly come away with a prize.Beloved for their masses of colorful blooms and
21.06.2023 - 08:01 / gardenerspath.com / Rose Kennedy
How to Grow and Care for Kalanchoe Kalanchoe spp.There are many succulent plants that are hard to kill and easy to care for. And then there is kalanchoe.
Species in the Kalanchoe genus are both hardy and low-maintenance, but they also take the whole notion of “tough plant” up a couple of notches.
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Kalanchoes are members of the stonecrop family, aka Crassulaceae, along with other common succulents grown as houseplants like jade.
Not only do these plants thrive with benign neglect, but several types flower regularly, even indoors. Others are known for their foliage.
It’s quite simple to propagate new specimens too, either from seeds or cuttings.
And many species, like K. daigremontianaor “mother of thousands,” reproduce viviparously. These varieties grow bulbils, or wee baby plants, along the edges of their leaves.
The plantlets drop off to root in the soil near the base of the parent, or gardeners can gently dislodge them and place them elsewhere to start new plants.
Grown outdoors, kalanchoe can be a good ground cover option since it tolerates dry spells well once established.
Some types are superior to others for ground cover – one is the low-growing, spreading species commonly known as flapjacks, or K. luciae.
Another is the flower dust plant, K. pumila, which forms small shrublets with leaves that are white to pale pink in color and dusted with a powdery coating that looks like light frost. It will send up stalks in late winter that flower with tiny pink blooms.
Intrigued? I’d like to tell you a bit more about kalanchoes and give you a few tips on how to grow and care for them.
After all, even the most easygoing
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