Though this plant is such a nuisance and a weed, I love it still, and mine is starting to flower, too. That means I will have them all over the place soon! I think yours has nicer spots than mine, for some reason.

Kate

I'm not much a fan of tubiflora but just can't get rid of it growing in my garden (confession- I rip it out and throw it away and there are always more growing up). The same goes for most kalanchoe species - I want to have at least one lplant of each but then that one turns into thousands!

I don't even remember what the tubiflora looks like when coming into flower because they have to get too tall for that to happen. Never worried about flowering causing them to be all over the place - those pesky plantlets do quite enough to keep the plant spreading.

I can't even see the flower buds in your photos - may be the resolution or maybe I'm just distracted by the abundance of plantlets.

Jan

i, too, enjoy these MOMs...'weed' or no. yours is very pretty, great coloration!

Larry,

Its a nasty weed, but the flower is worth it. 5 years since this flower and I fnally have it cleaned out of my yard. The Madagascan natives call this Tingo-Tingo. The name almost makes it worthwhile.

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I got one of those little plantlets as a freebie along with an Echeveria minima. It must have fallen off its mama and landed in the Echeveria's pot, hitching a ride through the mail and all! I felt sorry for it and potted it in a tiny clay pot. Perhaps I should have thrown it away? Will I regret letting it live? Well, I at least have to let it grow big enough to find out which one it is, so maybe I'll let it stay a while.
Amy

We had some slides of this at the branch meeting last night, growing semi-wild by the Mediterranean. The big red flowers clusters on top of the tall stalk are very impressive, although the hundreds of baby plants lower down the stalk are very threatening.

Cameraman, Amy, others, I canÂt stand by and not try to defend vilified plants (or people). Bryophyllum tubiflora is a beautiful and interesting species from Madagascar. Because it is a pest species in some areas does not mean that you canÂt enjoy this plant in your collection. Horses are a pest species and a threat to the environment in many parts of the west - we donÂt hate horses because of this. Add to this a few thousand other species (cats, dogs, prickly pear, roses, camels, rabbits, goats, schefflera, privet, Purple Loosestrife, Melaleuca, Kudzu, Autumn Olive, Honeysuckle, ad nauseam). BTW Bryophyllum tubiflora is only a problem in frost-free areas.
Thanks to the internet we can Google the invasive plant (and animal) species for our area -
(example) - Top ten invasive plants for Ohio -
Autumn Olive, Elaeagnus umbellata
Buckthorns, Rhamnus frangula, R. cathartica
Bush Honeysuckles, Lonicera maackii, L tatarica, L. morrowii
Common Reed or Phragmites, Phragmites australis
Garlic Mustard, Alliaria petiolata
Japanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica
Japanese Knotweed, Polygonum cuspidatum
Multiflora Rose, Rosa multiflora
Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria
Reed Canary Grass, Phalaris arundinacea
For information on the Invasive Plants of Ohio try this website -
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/dnap/invasive/

Amy, I doubt that you'll regret letting it live.

Most of these are attractive plants, and I would probably feel more warmly towards them if I hadn't made the mistake of letting them loose in the garden. I think that they don't get so much out of hand in a controlled environment.

I have at least ten species growing in my kalanchoe "patch" and despite their "weedy' nature, the collector in me will still get more if I find one that I don't have. Maybe it's a sort of love-hate relationship I have with them. And I couldn't even find a photo because I just take them for granted.

Frost-free area I definitely am in - I guess that's why I have a problem with tubiflora and other kalanchoe - almost every pot of mine has several hitchhikers and I have to just constantly weed them out. My alternative is to keep stripping the mommas of all their babies before they can drop.

Well, it cant be a pest in England because the winter would kill it!
So I could let it overtake the garden, and come winter theyre all gone, pups included!

I think the mottled tube-shaped leaves are unique and attractive. Any plantlets that hit the ground here in Ohio surely won't survive a winter! I'll let mine live and see what it turns into. If it puts on enough growth this season, I'll post a picture of it. Sometimes I get new plants this way because of their tendency to hitchhike their way to my door. I also have what I think are four Cotyledon babies which came with a Rebutia a few months back. They are growing nicely, looking more and more like their adult counterparts.

Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you'll get!

Amy

Well, hopefully this will allow you to see the growing flower buds:

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