Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I haven’t posted for a while because I really haven’t had much to talk about lately. The weather has been nice but very windy. I was finally able to clean up some of the limbs and brush in the yard last week. Now the yard needs to be mowed already.

The last time I went to Wagler’s her Schlumbergera gaertneri (Easter Cactus) was starting to bud and she thought the flowers would be open in a couple of weeks. So, Monday I went with my camera to check. Well, unfortunately, the flowers hadn’t opened yet.

Of course, I had to look around and I found a couple of interesting plants in one of the front greenhouses (the one with the cactus and succulents). Well, I went to the back greenhouse and there was another table with succulents they had bought for resale. Ummm… I found three more. 🙂

So, let’s begin…

Crassula perfoliata var. falcata (Propeller Plant)

Three of the five plants are members of the plant family Crassulaceae. Several years ago I had a Crassula cotyledonis that didn’t do so well. One of its common names was Propeller Plant and it was sometimes confused with the Crassula falcata. I had seen these online but never in person until Monday when I went to Wagler’s where there were only two to choose from. Well, I promptly grabbed one. The plant was unlabeled but I definitely knew what it was.

The scientific name was changed to Crassula perfoliata var. falcata (J.C.Wendl.) Toelken thanks to Hellmut R. Toelken in 1975. It was first named Crassula falcata by Johann Christoph Wendland in 1798. Some websites have it listed as Crassula perfoliata var. minor but according to Plants of the World Online, that name is a synonym along with 18 other names…

The Crassula perfoliata var. falcata is native to South Africa and produces a cluster of bright red flowers. Besides its common name Propeller Plant, it is also known as Airplane Plant, Buddha’s Temple, Red Crassula, and Scarlet Paintbrush.

Cyanotis somaliensis (Pussy Ears, Furry Kittens)

I spotted this neat little plant that looked similar to the Tradescantia but was more of a succulent with hairy-fringed leaves so I gave it a look and decided to bring it home as well. The reason it looks similar to the Tradescantia species I already have is because it is in the same family, Commelinaceae. It will produce purplish flowers from the ends of the stems just like the Tradescantia, but this one’s flowers are more frilly. Well, it will have the same petals, but they also produce a mass of stringy looking, umm, ?. We will have to wait for flowers to be able to explain it. 🙂 There isn’t much online about this plant except from online stores. Apparently, it is an evergreen perennial that make good houseplants, similar to Tradescantia… One site says they have grown it for many years and it has yet to produce flowers. I am sure a little Miracle Grow will help. 🙂

I have never seen this plant available before but there are 50 species in the genus. Cyanotis somaliensis was named and described by Charles Baron Clarke in 1895 and is a native of northern Somalia in East Africa.

Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’

Well, I have to admit I was beginning to get a little carried away when I decided to bring this Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’ home. I like Echeveria but they haven’t done well here for me here over the winter because I didn’t have adequate light. But, since I now have a plant shelf in front of a south-facing window I decided I would give this one a shot. Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’ will have reddish margins and reddish-purple tips. That is a characteristic of the species and not necessarily just the cultivar ‘Ebony’.

Echeveria agavoides was first named and described by Antione Lemaire in L’Illustration Horticole in 1863 and it is native to Northeast and Southeast Mexico. The original Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’ was wild collected from a habitat near Coahuila, Mexico, by John Trager and Myron Kimnach. It was first distributed by the International Succulent Introduction (ISI 92-44).

This plant may not be an Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’ because I have my suspicions. Mr. Wagler bought several cactus and succulents from the local pant and produce auction and several plants labeled Echeveria agavoides ‘Ebony’ were among them. The tags were generic… Anyway, it makes me wonder why a grower would be selling ‘Ebony’ at an auction when they are $25 and up on Ebay? I paid $1.50… 

Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri (Donkey Ears)

AHHH YES!!! A while back when I was doing some research about the Kalanchoe x laetivirens, I was on a website called Sucs For You and read about the Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnerieri (Donky Ears). I drooled… When I first spotted this plant at Wagler’s, actually there were only two of them, I thought it was possibly an actual Kalanchoe daigremontiana. Well, the plant I have that I thought was a Kalanchoe daigremontiana turned out to be a Kalanchoe x laetivirens, both have the common name Mother of Thousands and I have posted about it many times. ANYWAY, it seems I was always stuck deciding what species it was because of conflicting information online. Then I figured out that Kalanchoe daigremontiana actually has purplish streaks on its leaves and mine does not. SO, I had to change the name of my plant.

Besides Donkey Ears as a common name, it also goes by Life Plant, Palm Beachballs, and Velvet Ear Kalanchoe.

Once I brought this plant home, I gave it a better look… I am 99% sure it is a Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri… Well, maybe 99% is an exaggeration. I went back to the website, Sucs for You, and then looked at other photos of smaller plants online and I think I actually found a Donkey Ears. WHAT A FIND! I am a classic car buff, too, and it reminds me of what they call a “barn find”. Well, this plant wasn’t in a barn, so I’ll call it a “greenhouse find”. 🙂 I just never know what I will find at Wagler’s.

ANYWAY, the Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri will produce flowers similar to the Kalanchoe x laetivirens, which could take QUITE A WHILE. It will grow HUGE leaves!

Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri Raym.-Hamet & Perrier is the correct and accepted scientific name for this species of Kalanchoe. It was named and described as such by Raymond-Hamet and Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie in Annales des Sciences Naturelles in 1912. The species is native to Northwestern Madagascar. It was introduced as a garden plant, it is now naturalized in tropical areas in the Amazon, Africa, Asia, Australia, and elsewhere in the tropics and in Florida… 

Rebutia fabrisii

Then I spotted this pot with a cluster of Mammillaria-looking offsets with a label. Hmmm… It said Rebutia fabrisii… I thought that was interesting because it wasn’t a Mammillaria and I didn’t have any Rebutia. There were a lot of pots to choose from so I brought this one home. 

Rebutia fabrisii was named and described as such by Walter Rausch in Kakteen und Andere Sukkulenten in 1977. The species has a very limited range near Jujuy in Northwest Argentina. Llifle says this species produces deep red flowers but the photo looks more like bright orange-red. There is also a yellow-flowering variety called Rebutia fabrisii var. arueiflora and a smaller variety called Rebutia fabrisii var. nana although both are considered synonyms of the species at this bump in the road. 

Apparently, this species has no common name… 

So, as I mentioned, the reason I went to Wagler’s was to get a photo of the Schlumbergera gaertneri (Easter Cactus). Jim of How I See It was kind enough to send photos of his with flowers and it was AWESOME! 

The cuttings Mrs. Wagler gave me a while back really struggled so she gave me another pot a few weeks ago. Her plant, the original one with the buds, would be MUCH bigger but she keeps taking cuttings. I guess that’s what you do when you are in the plant business. It will be quite a treat when the flowers open and I can see what they look like in person.

I went back out to Wagler’s today, Tuesday, to tell her what I found out about the Donkey Ears. The flowers still hadn’t opened… I did look around quite a bit more and, umm… Yeah, I brought home a couple more plants. I couldn’t resist bringing home another Sempervivum arachnoideum and another Sempervivum ‘Oddity’ (anyway it has the tubular leaves.

I didn’t add their photos when I wrote this post because of an issue… I first uploaded all the photos for the plants I brought home on Monday and all was well. Then, when I went to finish the post on Tuesday, apparently WordPress had made another upgrade and the old Classic Editor was gone AGAIN. I finished the post then chatted with a WordPress Support member for A LONG TIME. They explained how to use the NEW Classic Editor then made a support ticket. Then I received an email from a support member that explained how to fix the issue so now I am back with the OLD Classic Editor again. THANK GOODNESS!!!

SO, until next time, be safe, stay positive, be thankful, and stay well. It is getting about time to GET DIRTY around here. 🙂