I now seem to have amassed a large collection of Echeverias. Echeverias are a genus of plants that are sometimes known as hen and chickens. Unlike the other famous group of plants called Hem and chickens – Sempervivums, Echeveria’s are not monocarpic and the plant does not die after producing chicks and flowering, they just keep flowering. Echeveria’s are mostly found in Mexico and South America

Echeveria is named after Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy the Mexica Botanist who found several species in the 18th century. Echeverias are important host plants for butterflies with May varieties laying their eggs on them in the wild.
Like Sempervivums there are several hybrids of Echeverias and the list keeps growing.
Echeveria flowers grow on long storks and produce a chain of bell shaped flowers who’s had pollinators love. The way the flowers reel off the stalk remind me of a Gatling gun. I realise Gatling gun is an usual horticultural term but that is how my mind works.

Here is pictures of my first 3 flowering Echeverias

Elegans

This species is one of the most popular. Blue, green, chalky rosettes this is a fast grower and offsets readily. As you can see the plant produces younger flowers immediately after the mature flower to keep the pollinators happy.

Jack Fitzgerald

This one produces several flowers at once. This is the first time this one has flowers so it will be interesting to see how this turns out. The plant has fleshy green leaves which ends turns red if it receives a lot of sun.

These flower conveyor belts should last the whole of summer and will add something different to the garden.

Thanks for reading goodbye.