Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Don't Plant This In Your Garden?

Bryophyllum 'Crenatodaigremontianum'

This plant was picked up at a plant exchange several months ago, came with the warning, “Don’t plant this in your garden. You’ll be sorry. It drops plantlets and it will take over.” I decided to heed the advice and I placed it in a container. It has since dropped many plantlets off the edges of its leaves, some of which show in the bottom right portion of this I believe this plant is probably Bryophyllum 'Crenatodaigremontianum', based on information provided by a blog visitor comment.


Since it needs plenty of moisture in the summer, I don’t believe it would become invasive in my garden since there are only limited areas that receive regular summer water. I may try some little plantlets in a couple of areas just to see what happens. If I can overcome the numerous weeds I’ve been pulling for the last month, then I can certainly keep up with this plant.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've no idea what species it is, but it sure is innocent looking :-) I wonder if its plantlet habits might not be a bad thing where you want to crowd out weeds. How big does each plant get?

Anonymous said...

I am sure it's a Kalanchoe, but not sure about species. It looks like Grandiflora to me.
Maddie

Becca said...

NO!! Don't plant it in your garden. You will be very, very sorry. Every little tiny piece that drops to the ground will create a new plant. I wouldn't even have that plant in my yard. Also called "Mother of Many/Thousands"...

kate said...

I grew this plant in a pot. Wow, it was amazing how every minute plant that fell off and landed into other pots thrived and tried crowding out other plants. It is definitely an exuberant plant. I knew it by the same name as Becca.

Julie said...

Hi Aiyana! I planted my Mother of Thousands in a big strawberry pot for this reason...but I think I have a possible ID for you! At first I thought it might be a K. synsepala, but I found a site that might help you even more....and looking at this, I believe your plant might be K.laetivirens ...
check it out here: http://public.fotki.com/Grootscholten/plant-collections/kalanchoe/
Good luck! Julie

Aiyana said...

I'm leaving these plants in the container! It seems that many species of Kalanchoe are called Mother of Thousands.

Tira said...

LOL
I have this plant for the very reason you do-I stick all those little plants where weeds would crop up. Here is also too dry for it to take over.

Anonymous said...

Aiyana, I believe your plant is Bryophyllum 'Crenatodaigremontianum' (B. crenatum x B. daigremontianum). I have Kalanchoe marmorata, which has the common name (Penwiper) because of the markings on the leaves. When your plant flowers, you will be able to tell the difference. The Bryophyllum will have hanging bells & the Kalanchoe has very large, upright-facing white flowers. Also, your plant should make plantlets on the leaf margins, whereas, K. marmorata will not.
Here is a pic of my K. marmorata: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/RosemarieRo/Kalanchoe/0908040755KalanchoemarmorataPenwiper.jpg
Here's 2 pix of its blooms, maybe 3 or 4 inches long: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/RosemarieRo/Kalanchoe/0906020305Kalanchoemarmorata.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/RosemarieRo/Kalanchoe/1016020842Kalanchoemarmorataflwrs.jpg
I hope the links work, as I haven't tried putting any in comments before. :)
(friend of Julie's & Jan, Sticky Fingers))

Xole Karman said...

I had terrible trouble with a Bryophyllum in my garden—a similar plant to this. See my blog here for more info.

I have several Kalachoes in my collection, but they don't seem to propagate by vivipary (new plants on the edges of the leaves), so I'll go with Bryophyllum for your guy. They are listed as a noxious weed in Australia, so be careful!