Echeveria runyonii monstrosa (aka. ‘Topsy Turvy’)
Picture taken before I almost killed it on July 15, 2009.
This is also a member of the Crassulaceae family. They have neat leaves and can reach up to 12 inches tall.
Getting ready to bloom on 8-7-09.
They have cute orangy-apricot colored blooms on long racemes that will also become new plants. They are cold hardy in zones 9b-11 (25-40 degrees F). Of course you don’t want to leave them outside when it is going to frost!
Bloom showing good color! Picture taken 9-17-09
They are a winter dormant genus, but can bloom any time of the year. Mine have bloomed non-stop since I bought it. They make a great potted plant inside or out.
Another view taken 9-17-09,
The reason I keep reminding myself, and everyone else, to make sure you use a good professional soilless growing medium formulated for cacti and succulents is because of this plant. I know that sentence was LONG, but I need to get to the point! I almost killed this plant because I mixed my own soil and transplanted this great plant. 1) I didn’t use the correct mixture, and 2) I put it in to large of a pot. When I came to my senses, I took the plant out of the pot, put the correct medium in in a smaller pot, and it saved the plant. The other two succulents that died were because of the same reason. DO NOT re-plant your succulents in a different pot unless the pot is full. Even if it doesn’t kill them, they may grow weird. They need good soil arietion and soilless mix for them to give you their best. No soil from the garden, no sand added in for good measure! They will get to soggy and the sand will make the soil more compact and it won’t drain properly!
February 27, 2010 UPDATE. The winter months have been hard on this plant. Believe me, I think this plant needs to be kept in a fairly sunny location, especially during the winter months. It is also a bit intolerant to the soil staying to moist for to long a period. I think, as experience has taught me that there is much less evaporation of soil moisture in plastic pots, especially when the temps get cooler. Cactus and Succulents don’t uptake near as much water as other plants anyway, which also adds to the soil staying damper longer in the winter.
Well, the big problem here in mansion, is that keeping the cactus and succulents in one of the sun rooms was out of the question. This winter was cooler than most, so I had to take the cactus and succulents to my upstairs bedroom where they could stay in a room that was heated somewhat 24/7. Or at least I thought so. Well, the only windows in that bedroom are on the west side, which gets absolutely no direct sun. The only way that evaporation of soil moisture is from the room being kept warmer, especially in plastic pots. The Echiveria did fine until January, when I noticed that the leaves on the main plant started rotting… There was new growth coming up around the stem, so I knew the whole plant wasn’t dying. So, I got the bright idea to re-pot the main stem in a smaller pot and put several other pieces of the plant in a few other pots. All the other “pieces” also have roots, so we shall see what happens from here.
