Philadelphia Flower Show - Six Aloes

 You knew we'd eventually get to succulents, right? But with my diminished energy, I had to make choices about what I could see. I skipped the succulent contests and just browsed the Philadelphia Succulent Society display. Their labels are usually accurate and the plants beautifully presented.

They had six wonderful aloe plants that I don't think I've previously seen. That said, there are about 600 species of aloe, and who knows how many varieties.

This is Aloe sp. 'Velociraptor,' and I think you can easily see why!

This one's name doesn't seem as obvious to me, except maybe the spots are suppoed to look like stars. This is Aloe sp. 'Night Sky.'

The one that looks more like a night sky is called 'Blue Hawaii!' The color is unusual and stunning. You know that when I am a millionaire, I'll have a climate-controlled attached greenhouse with an entire succulent garden, right.

I like this one quite a lot too. It's 'Swordfish' for a fairly obvious reason.

'Crimson Dragon' has dragon-like skin.

And this one is 'Blizzard.' It's much more purple than the pictures that come up when you search the internet. But... who knows?

Any search you do for a particular variety of Aloe seems to bring up a wide range of appearances.

In other news: I wrote two articles for publications, and worked on a pet project, accomplishing a new piece of it without too much difficulty! We had at least 2 inches of snow and it was cold. No walking occurred.

See PFS- Don't Call it Trash See Aloe

The Garden Moves Inside

I did stuff today, but not much worth pictures. Most notably, Cathy and I put up some of the final ceiling foam in the trailer, but we ran out of glue, so the last piece is not up. Can't call that job finished yet.

Remember the gazania that still wanted to bloom? It's not dead yet, and the flower still isn't open, so I brought it inside! It now has two buds. It would really be lovely if I got some post-season color from it.

Also, the one houseplant I wanted back (after I gave them all away before the big hike) came home today. I can't believe I haven't shown you this one in its grown-up state before, but I can't find the post if I did. I bought this one as a tiny baby. See the very last picture from this 2012 post. And it's now planted in a very pretty pot given to me by David, my "extra" kid. At first, I thought I was doing something wrong with it because it started to spread and get leggy, but then I saw a mature one at another flower show and realized it was doing what it is supposed to. Monica has taken wonderful care of it, and here it is today. Aloe juvenna aka Aloe squarossa.

And I had bought a couple of non-hardy plants as rock garden fillers. I'm not showing you those right now because they are a bit unhappy and beat up. But I'll see if they survive and look nice to put out again in the spring.

However, I will show you this little experiment. Also growing in a couple of the pots were sprouts of what I think is going to be one of the Wandering Jew plants. I've never had one, so this might be fun. Anyway, I stuck them in this big pot, optimistically thinking they might spread all over and look great by next year. We'll see.

Perhaps the most significant thing I did today was to write over 1100 words in Vacation from Dead Mule Swamp. I've written a litte on some previous days too. Total so far is 4070. The days I make good progress on that are great, but it doesn't lend itself to pictures. I also edited and put some garden things away.

See The Gazania on Monday

Philadelphia Flower Show - White Plants

 
I always like to find the plants with white foliage at the Philadelphia Flower Show. The choices go way beyond dusty miller and lamb's ear!

There were more than this, but a lot weren't labeled. The huge succulent garden in the entrance had few labels, but I think this is some kind of agave.



This is a border plant that looks a bit like lamb's ear. It's a Senecio. There's a genus with an incredible amount of variation. This is Senecio candidans, Angel Wings



Centaurea are knapweeds, yes like the invasive spotted knapweed. But many are beautiful ornamentals that aren't a problem. Centaurea cineraria 'Colchester White' has really white foliage.


This is a near-white succulent. This is a gasteraloe, a cross between a gasteria and an aloe. Variety 'Green Ice.'



And finally, for today at least, is an Aloe, 'White Fox.'



In other news: Busy day. I made yogurt, refrigerator soup (which turned out yummy), and whole wheat soda bread. I packaged and mailed books. I wrote a newspaper article.

See Meijer Gardens- White Plants

Bizarre Plants

 
There are always a large number of plants that look bizarre for one reason or another- things that look like someone made them up for a stage play. But they are real, and I love them. Here are a few.

This is Aloe humilis from South Africa. It's sometimes called Spider Aloe.



How about a plant that looks pretty much like a few toads huddled together. This is Ariocarpus fissuratus. It's actually a type of cactus from Mexico and Texas. They grow very slowly, but will eventually become taller with a pink blossom.



This is Euphorbia stenoclada. If you want a genus of plants that grows some bizarre stuff, look no farther than Euphorbia. This comes from Madagascar- also noted for strange plants and animals, and can grow to the size of a tree.


This one is actually a fern! It's Colysis wrightii 'Monstrifera.' This is native to southern China, and from what I read, this is quite a large specimen.




Back to a cactus, a crested cactus. This comes from Ecuador and Peru, and looks quite different in different seasons. The short "pencils" that grow from the main stems shrivel and curl up. It's Opuntia subulata cristata


Albuca spiralis is also called Fizzle Sizzle. It comes from South Africa and is a succulent.



Just in case this isn't interesting enough all by itself, here's what it looks like in bloom. Supposedly it smells like butter and vanilla, but I didn't know enough at the time to try to give it a sniff!


Spring is maybe, maybe beginning to show up here. But I have just a few more things to show you from the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show.

In other news: Well, I had a moderately good day. I wrote in the morning, but didn't feel like doing anything after that. Made myself do little bits on several projects. Actually managed a fair amount on the Long Distance Hikers Recognition, and I uncovered my little trailer. Want to get busy working on it again. Didn't walk at all. That's not so good.

	See Begonia Parade 3
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Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show - Succulents

 
If you've been hanging around a while, you know how much I like succulents. There were a fair number of nice ones at the 2018 Fort Wayne Home Show. But they were all part of a commercial booth. That means they were for sale, which is great, except the issue for me is that there is little effort made to identify succulents for sale beyond "succulent."

I can made some genera IDs, but that's about it. Here's a nice planter filled with various Sedum (and maybe Sempervivum- or maybe all Sedum)



This is an Echeveria, sometimes called a cabbage Echeveria. I've killed a few.



Here's a really nice Aeonium. When they get this big they look like rosettes on top of a naked stalk. I didn't really show that in the picture, because I was so captivated by the spots. I like it.



I have no idea what this is, but it's funky!



This is probably some kind of aloe, but it's pretty amazing that it agreed to be in perfect bloom for the show.


Finally, just another nice collection. Most of these are Sedum, but there are some other things, possibly a Haworthia.



Finally, today's sunset seemed unusual to me. And, oddly enough, can you believe I've never shown you a sunset in March before? Anyway, I loved how blue everything was, but look at how the rising billows of clouds more or less parallel the tree line!



In other news: Working on book illustrations following regular work.

	See Fort Wayne - Live Animals
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Philadelphia Flower Show 2013- Succulents- Aloe

 
I saw the first spring robin today! But it doesn't look much like spring other than that. More snow today, but not a real storm. Meanwhile, I'm still enjoying the memories of the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Regular readers know that the succulent section is one of my favorites. Almost all my personal house plants have been converted to succulents. Today, I thought I'd show you varieties of aloe. Almost everyone knows the ordinary (but useful for treating burns) Aloe vera. But there are over 500 species, most of them with no medicinal properties.

A lot of them look like the first three in growth pattern. So do a bunch of other succulents. The flowers (if they were blooming), are tubular in a cluster on a stem. Currently, DNA testing is being used to determine taxonomy with much better results than just physical characteristics.

First we have Aloe 'Christmas Carol' with red margins on the leaves. There was another one with more contrast in green leaves and red edges, but I guess I didn't take its picture. You can see a different one from last year if you follow the link at the end.



This one looks very similar, but with no red. It is Aloe 'Vita.' The leaves are really rough with little ridges.



And another similar one, Aloe 'Lizard lips.' The single quotes mean they aren't species names, but a particular variety or cultivar, like strawberries might be 'Ozark Beauty' or Tribute.' A variety is some slight difference bred into a species, but which will probably revert to the standard species if left to its own devices. The actual species name for these three aloes wasn't given. It may or may not be the same for these three, but it looks possible.



But aloes can take different forms from the plain rosette, too. Here is Aloe cryptopoda. I'm not sure why its foot is hidden, but it has lots of fingers, don't you think?


Sometimes they just make lots of rosettes, like this Aloe 'Baby Fang.'



Finally, this is a large and older version of the aloe I bought last year. I was thinking that mine wasn't healthy and was getting leggy and not doing what it should. Ha! It is just trying to look like what it's supposed to be. This is Aloe squarossa, yes, square aloe. It's also called Aloe juvenna Each stalk has four leaves per layer so it looks very orthogonal. You can see what mine looked like when I bought it by following the link at the end. However, I split it and gave half to Marie. Now I know I need to watch for (make) more babies and put several in a pot and then let it go crazy. What fun!



I think I'll try to show you more of the different kinds of succulents this year. I love them so much!

	See Philadelphia Flower Show 2012- Succulents- Aloe
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Philadelphia Flower Show 2012- Succulents - Aloe

 
Aloe is probably one of the best known succulents, grown as houseplants. The most common one is Aloe barbadensis, or Aloe Vera. It's the one you break off an arm to squeeze out the gel-like juice to treat burns. However, there are 200-500 (depending on which sources you believe) species of Aloe.

The description doesn't sound much different from a lot of other succulents- a rosette of thick, fleshy leaves, often lance-shaped, and often with spines. Not much help there. Their flowers are interesting, but I don't have a picture of one. Enjoy the leaves, though.

None of these look much like Aloe Vera. All but one have spikes, and the one without spikes is a much different color. Here it is. The exact species is not named, but it's the variety Aloe 'Quicksilver.' That probably means it is some hybrid. Collectors and succulent gardeners have been playing with these plants just as much as the usual garden flowers.



Here's another that is a hybrid variety called Aloe 'Christmas Carol.' You can easily see why.



When you see a plant name that has another genus name in its species name (are you confused yet?) you can probably conclude that the one plant looks like the other one. This is Aloe haworthoides (go back two days and look at all the Haworthia).



I like variegated plants of any kind, and sure enough, here's an Aloe that fits the bill, Aloe brevifolia variegata.



I think this one is my favorite, just because it's sort of outrageous. The leaves are smooth, but then then it has those bright, nasty looking spikes! Reminds me of Audrey Junior in Little Shop of Horrors. It doesn't even have a species name... must be another hybrid.



However, perhaps this one is my favorite instead, because I got to bring this one home! I allow myself one purchase a year. (You can't buy the really unusual ones- I'd need to join a club or hunt for internet sources or something.) This is Aloe juvenna aka A. squarossa, and right now it's very green, but supposedly it will turn reddish if it gets enough sun. I think it tends to get leggy. We'll see.



Tomorrow is a hike, so you'll get a break from the flower show. The temperatures are unseasonably ridiculous (supposed to break records again... I've been wearing shorts all week), but things are still brown and gray. I'll try for a couple of worthy pictures, though.

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