Watering can be an industry in itself at this time of the year. During my increasingly frenetic morning and evening activity with the watering can, I throw my Aeonium arboreum grateful and admiring glances in equal measure as I rush past, making a mental note to water it in a few days time!
With their bold, architectural structure, aeoniums not only make a big aesthetic contribution to the group of plants in pots outside our front door, they demand very little in return, and I can’t imagine being without them.
There are many different forms, one of the most striking being Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ which has purple black leaves … after a few years it becomes almost tree-like but if you run out of space, it’s dead easy to take cuttings, just break off a few rosettes and pot them up in some gritty compost. As its name suggests, the leaves of A. ‘Blushing Beauty’ are flushed with pink, and earlier this year I bought ‘Voodoo’ which has large purple red rosettes.
Aeoniums love to spend summer outside but must have protection from frost and they dislike overwatering during their dormant months. However, even if you don’t have a greenhouse, they are reasonably tolerant of lower light levels and can easily be overwintered in a porch or on a windowsill.
NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Each Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 and is for sale in our online shop here.
More NB If you’d like a bit more gardening chitchat from the3growbags, please type your email address here and we’ll send you a new post every Saturday morning.
