Kalanchoe Luciae coming into bloom!

Kalanchoe luciae (aka Flapjack Plant) is a “big statement” succulent from South Africa. When I bought these plants last November, cooler weather and shorter days turned their chalky green leaves a dramatic, blushing red.

K. Luciae is an incredibly FAST grower:  by March, both had sprouted “pups” and needed repotting!  As an experiment, I planted one group into the Ranchero, and upsized the others to a pot measuring 12″wide x 6″deep.  Each received full sun and equal amounts of water, which is why what happened next surprised me!  With the exception of 2 small pups, the Ranchero group died off; the container specimen continued thriving, as seen in this photo from 9/14/13:

I’ve never grown this perennial before, so didn’t know what to make of my plant’s new “legginess.”  While looking through the viewfinder yesterday, it hit me:

🙂 🙂 !!Flowerspike!! 🙂 🙂

And here it is in close-up:

There are two things worth noting in the picture above:

1. the leaves are pruinose, meaning they’re densely covered with a white flour-like powder to protect against excess sunlight.
2. tiny plantlets are forming along the leaf axils because K. Luciae dies after flowering. When the spent flowerspike hits the ground, the plantlets root themselves to assure the species’ survival.

As soon as the flowers appear, I’ll be back with an update!

Until next time…..

🙂 🙂

Related articles

• Office Kalanchoe Cuttings (primroseblog.wordpress.com)
• Winding Down (elizawaters.wordpress.com)
• Your guide to the best succulents (blogs.vancouversun.com)

• Florida Gardening
• Gardening
• Kalanchoe
• Kalanchoe Luciae