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blooming aeonium ..
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Posted by woollady z8 CA (My Page) on Thu, Feb 4, 10 at 18:30
| hi i have a tall aeonium plant with many stems and rosettes,after many years it is blooming with a spray of yellow flowers from each rosette.the rosettes though are now stretchout looking and dropping the bottom petals.why is it doing this? is there anything i need to do to the plant once it stops flowering?thanks in advance |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| I have heard that these plants die after blooming, not sure if this is true, though. Christopher |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| WL, Good for you - Aeoniums in flower can be quite attractive in the doldrums of winter, at least the winter most of the world has. As Chris alludes to, the flowering heads die after flowering, but the plant doesn't. If you don't have it in full sun, do so gradually, as these plants grow best in it. It sounds a little etiolated - are you also watering it 3x a month or so? It could also be underwatered. You can let the plant self-prune, or await the demise of the flowering head and remove it. |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| Aeoniums are monocarpic. Because the bloom comes from the topmost growing point, the rosette will die after flowering. The whole process takes two-four months to complete, so you have quite a show ahead. Everything in the flowering rosettes will be recycled to make the inflorescence. The first thing to happen is that the rosette will start to elongate, making a dense cluster of buds at the top. All the lower leaves will eventually be resorbed, starting with the lowest leaves. By the time the bloom is done, there will be nothing left but a long stick with dried flowers on small branches. Branches on the stem below the flowering rosettes will live on after the bloom is complete. The inflorescences will make many many buds, these will open in sequence, prolonging the production of pollen, and increasing the chances of successful fertilization. You have a long, exciting, and transformational show ahead. Here are some clickable thumbnails of the Aeonium display in my garden last year: January 6, 2009:  
January 15, 2009: 
January 18, 2009:   
February 10, 2009:  
March 4, 2009:  
May 4, 2009: 
My favorite Aeonium shot from last year, March 30, 2009: 
I don't recommend it, but I'm told the inflorescences make great cut flowers that will last for a couple months. Brad |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| I must be growing a different kind of Aeonium, that you are dicussing here. |
My word - those flowers!
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| Brad, You're singing the floral fantastico there - thanks for the info and particularly the pictures! |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| thank you everyone for your replies,also much thnks paracelsus for the beautiful pix,that's how mine looks!fter the flowers die,do i need to do anything to the bare stems or will they produce new rosettes? |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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- Posted by hoovb z9 Southern CA (My Page) on
Fri, Feb 5, 10 at 13:15
| I cut off the bloomed-out part and now there are new rosettes forming on the stem. |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| Paracelsus Thank you so much for the pictures. I have read so much on aeonium flowers and couldn't quite picture what would happen when it bloomed. As they say a picture is worth a 1000 words! |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| Brad, Wow...those pictures are fantastic...just gorgeous! Appreciate the slide show, enjoyed it very much, thanks! |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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| reminds me of how a sempervivum blooms. |
RE: blooming aeonium ..
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