BCSS Macclesfield & East Cheshire Branch

Newsletter March 2005 - Still Cold and Still Surviving

I went to have a look around my greenhouse today, that’s nothing new I do it every day. This was different, I went to examine all my plants and see how they were surviving this rather extended cold spell, it is really amazing how good things look.

My greenhouse is a lean-to, that backs on to our living room and faces southwest, as a consequence it mostly stays above freezing. In times of extreme cold it goes down to -1° C, but rarely does so at the moment as it warms up quite well during the day and I shut the door at night. It contains a fair range of plants, Agaves, Aloes, Alpine Primulas, Androsaees, Cyclamen, Echeverias, Jovibarbas, Lewisias, Oxalis, Rhodohypoxis, Sedums, Sempervivums, a few more assorted succulents and some less than hardy perennials. It reveals a lot of my enthusiasms and the amazing toughness of some of the succulent plants.

A lot of the Echeverias are in bud, some have been showing for weeks, I suppose the mild spell in January helped. Some look as if a good dose of sun and heat would bring the flowers out. If you remember, last year I brought Echeveria derenbergii to the April meeting to put in the table show as a flowering plant, because it was full of buds and flowers. It would appear to have at least as many buds on this year, as well. They have not been watered since late September and I thought they may have dried out somewhat, however none show any sign of wrinkling. Once the weather improves and night time temperatures increase I shall start watering them again and look forward to seeing them all in flower. Last year they flowered for weeks and weeks. It explains why Echeverias are one of my favourite succulents.

I have, also, in the garden E. glauca and E. elegans in pots and elegans planted in the rockery. They are all placed under a dense conifer and, as a result, get scarcely any water until I choose. The E. glauca is looking a bit desperate, although on close examination only the top is damaged and there is plenty of life under that, the one in the greenhouse is looking magnificent. Both E. elegans are looking absolutely fine and I am confident that they will flower some time in late spring.

The only plant in flower in the greenhouse is a Crassula perforata that I have had for some years. When I looked at it today it seemed a bit dried up, but it was a mass of flowers, that have been there for weeks. The other Crassulas I have, I have kept in the house, on a window sill, most of those have been flowering for some weeks too. The rest of the succulents appear to be doing all right, apart from some wrinkling on an Aeonium arboreum and a Stapelia variegata. I have not noticed anything else in bud, but will keep watch. Once it warms up and I start carefully watering I know that several things will start to show buds.

Elizabeth Maddock