They are Gorgeous Al!!!

~Rosemarie

What a awesome shot. Al, What kind of camera do you have?

Dawn

Looks like Echeveria 'Carlsbad'.

Superb plant!

Thanks for the encouraging comments, all.

WS, I looked in vain for pics of E. 'Carlsbad'.

I arbitrarily chose the name 'Black Knight' from a quick web search when the plant was very small. It grew from a discarded leaf salvaged from the trash of a garden center. Up until about a few weeks ago I don't think there was as much green showing in the plant's center. Getting closer to the solstice might be the cause of that development.

Dawn, my camera is a Nikon Coolpix 8700. I like the camera a lot for close-up photography, however I think I could get equally good pictures from a far less expensive camera. I picked up a troublesome trait from my late dad, trying to use equipment without first reading the manual. Reading/understanding the instructions is helping me to get what I think are better pictures, not necessarily the camera. I wish there was a garden web forum where people such as ourselves actually discussed what we did with our cameras to understand our good/bad results.

Today I took a picture of the plant that is producing the flower stalk.

Al

{{gwi:491604}}

Al
Looked at my 'Carlsbad' and it looks exactly the same and it is also in bloom

A nice touch of Christmas color! I put a link to an earlier post we had about the black-leafed Eches. How long did yours take to bloom? I find the bud to bloom time to be 2 or more months.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black leafed Echeveria discussion

If the plants named 'Black Knight' have correct ID - mine is not that. Both my plant and flower seem to support something else. (Broader leaves and the lack of the dark tips on the petals) Does anyone have a good link to 'Carlsbad'?

Al

Al, I've been looking off & on today. I found 2 pix of Echeveria 'Carlsbad' & neither look like yours. One is in Hortiplex here. From what I've researched, I believe the correct name is Echeveria 'Alfred Graf' (named after horticulturist Alfred B. Graf) seen here, but spelled incorrectly. (I believe Echeveria 'Black Prince' has hyaline tips (a bit yellow?).
Another listed as E. 'Alfred Graff' that doesn't look like yours.

I also checked pix of Echeveria affinis (one of the parents) & it looks like a possibility.

Still puzzled~ Rosemarie

Rosemarie is still puzzled, as am I. And my plant isn't being the least bit cooperative. I swear it is changing color each and every day. Shorter days and less intense light and the leaf color is looking like it has a lot of a chocolate bronze where it was a much darker color just a few weeks ago.

Ray, the flower stalk was a long time in developing.

FWIW, the plant is about 6" diameter and there is about 13" of stalk between plant and flowers. Again, better light might have kept it shorter.

Al

A photo of Carlsbad was in Altmans nursery photo gallery. It is refuted to be the same as Alfred Graf, which has a distinctive leaf shape,but I don't have exact comfirmation of this. The plant in question looks like Black Prince.?
Bev in Oz