Our weather has been so mild that the Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) I pruned in late October has already started growing new blades. I normally don't prune it back until late January, but since I had the hedge trimmer out I decided to do it early. The new blades add a nice bronze color to my garden. As the weather warms, it will turn a beautiful deep purple.
The bright red fruits on this Thelocactus setispinus also add color to my winter garden. This cactus is called Miniature Barrel Cactus and also Strawberry Barrel.
Bryophyllum 'Crenatodaigremontianum'
This is the first time my potted Bryophyllum has sent up flower stalks. The little buds have been languishing on the stalk for over a month without opening. According to the information I gathered, the flowers will be a pale lavender when the buds finally open. This plant grows tiny plantlets on the margins of its leaves in a process called viviparity. The plantlets readily root, and now I have thousands of little plants growing in the pot, as well as quite a few in the soil around the pot.
This is a photo of the leaf with plantlets. This plant is often sold under the name 'Big Momma'.
10 comments:
Beautiful pics, as always.
Purple fountain doesn't survive the winter here, but a few years ago, it was fairly common in flower beds. Love the mini-barrel, it's borderline hardy outside here, but not hardy enough for me to consider for the rock garden and I have very limited room for plants that come in every year. too bad, I like the guys...
'Big Momma' reminds me of something I had long ago - Mexican Hat Plant. It did the same plantlet thing but the leaves looked different. A bit more pointed and if I remember correctly red on the edges. I assume they're at least closely related. Too bad they don't tolerate my winters.
Big Momma also looks to have leaves like some of the upright Sedums. But I've never seen a Sedum produce plantlets like that.
My "Big Momma" looks to be at about the same stage as yours! It will bloom any day now!
Love your January garden.
Love purple fountain
grass , it is an annual here, interesting to see it as a perennial.
Big Momma certainly has the right name , absolutely beautiful.
The Strawberry Barrel looks very festive and is a nice splash of color. I seem to remember my grandmother having one of the Big Momma plants as a houseplant, ormaybe it was just something like it.
Love the MOT. I have a few cuttings growing right now. I was at a little greenhouse recently and they had some with flower stalks over 6 feet tall. There there were the hundreds of "babies" that had fallen under the benches and were growing into forests. Pretty cool sight to see actually.
The purple fountain grass is really set off nicely by the whiteish rock and sand in the back ground. And I like the green growing around the rock too. The barre cactus is certainly cheery looking. And of course "Big Momma' would be such a fun plant to have. Great January garden plants!
Wow! That name is quite a mouthful. Beautiful photo of the plantlets. I'm looking forward to seeing the bloom.
Nice to see a garden with plenty of color in January....and I am green/purple with envy to see your Purple Fountain grass going strong and looking dazzling as it gets backlit by the sun. Here it is an annual and our November killing frost always zaps mine...much to my dismay...as it is one of my favorites..why oh why isn't there a hardy strain of this with all the genetic engineering going on these days?
Happy New Year and I hope 2009 brings you the best garden ever!
Jon at Mississippi Garden
Happy New Year! The winter is a beautiful time in your desert. Do you like it better than summer?~~Dee
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