Today I am going to tell you about one of my favorite plants to make my arrangements. It is the versatile succulent called mother of thousands, or bad mother. Its scientific name is Kalanchoe Laetivirens. It is native to southern Madagascar. When I saw it for the first time five years ago it was in Barcelona, Anzoátegui state, Venezuela, in the nursery that my sister gertu13 has there at home. besides being sisters, we also have in common the passion for plants, we both inherited it from our mother. My sister at that time when I went to visit her gave me several seedlings from her mother of thousands already grown up.
That's how I met this succulent, since then I have them in thousands, literally, since they reproduce in a million, I have them in the yard in different places and they are of different sizes. This beautiful succulent has not stopped reproducing in my garden in Barinas.
The mother of thousands adult grows and develops very fast. The most unique and beautiful thing about the plant are the small seedlings that grow all along the adult leaves. These thousands of seedlings are the ones that give the adult plant its popular name of mother of thousands, or bad mother, since a simple breeze is enough to shake the adult plant and its small children are detached from the leaves, in this way they reproduce.
Hence its popular name of mother of thousands or bad mother. Many gardeners do not like this rapid reproduction of the plant because they consider it a pest to their garden. I love the way they grow and thrive. I have even seen them growing on the cement blocks of my patio walls.
The mother of thousands that I have planted in the patio, are the ones that receive direct sun and are the ones I prefer to make the arrangements with the mud pots, since their leaves have a beautiful red outline. The ones that receive direct sun take on a reddish hue that makes them look like flowers. They are the same mother of thousands, succulent plants with beautiful reddish tones, it is not a flower. I love it when they are mistaken for a flower, as my friend Kristofferquincy did when he kindly commented on my article Decorating with Cacti and Succulents, Another Way of Landscaping.. I agree with him in saying that the photo I took of that arrangement, with a small reddish mother of thousands, does not look like a photo but like a painting. Thank you my friend for such a beautiful comment.
When they are in the shade they are a deep green, and when they get sun they will have a beautiful red outline. The ones I place indoors I leave near a window but only for a few days, because if they do not receive much light they grow very tall and their leaves leave a lot of space between them, giving an aspect that detracts from their beauty.
For the arrangements with the mother of thousands she used small clay pots, so the plant does not grow too much and give a beautiful appearance to the arrangement for longer. Remember that an arrangement with plants is delicate because they are living plants in constant growth that need to be cared for. Although these succulents need little watering we always have to remove the leaves that are withering. And always change their location if they are in the shade for a long time so that they do not lose the shape of a flower and their reddish color.
Thank you for joining me in my garden with the mother of thousands or bad mother. Soon I will be telling you about my favorite cactus that I have in my garden, which are the most used for my decorative arrangements with landscaping in mud pots.
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PS: all the published photos are my authorship.
You know, the first time I saw your display picture, I had thought it was ma'am Gertu. Only Just found out you two are siblings, there is the resemblance. How can a mother of thousands be a good mother when she has so many children