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SHRIYOGINI- I don't know where you are, what growing zone? My aeoniums are summer dormant. They do not look their best at that time. Some curl up or drop almost all lower leaves which is normal. Also i only give them enough water so the roots don't dry out (during dormancy).

Although they are drought-tolerant and enjoy full sun, they don't like extreme heat. They come alive during the cooler temperatures.

Why would you cut them? If you mean for pruning, you can remove any leaves that are dried out and shriveled.

If you mean for propagation, you can snip the rosettes and leave a stem on them approx. 2-3 inches long. The stem you just cut will grow more rosettes and may even start to branch out.

One reason people grow these is for their height so, it's up to you if you want to grow them shorter. The cyclops variety is one of the most beautiful and not always easy to find in some areas.

What a prize!

It definitely looks a lot less "edge of death" than it used to! Lol

If this is your only plant or planting, you may just want to propagate. I would choose one of the smaller rosettes or maybe two ..from the back. Propagate only during its growing state, not dormant.

I would also let the cuttings dry out completely and not plant them for at least 2 weeks. Mine have survived as cuttings for months. Keep in a cool shaded area. Try to place them on a dry medium such as perlite or other gritty mix. No moisture at this time at all. Try to place it upright to prevent the stem from possibly curling up while it's callousing. how to do this you ask?

The easiest way: take a container no bigger than the diameter of the rosette. fill the container at least 1/4 of the way with gritty substrate. Now, cover the container with plastic/food wrap. Poke a hole in the middle of the plastic and stick the cutting in so its now standing up. In several weeks or less, you will see roots have developed.

Its time to plant it. After planting do not water for a day or two and provide bright, filtered light.

Thank you everyone. Neil, I am in 9b, inland East of SF, and it has been hot. I've been watching the sun, and might try moving it to where it is shaded earlier than 2:00. Great tips on propagation, which is really what I meant when I said trim (I'm still catching on)! I will try that on one of the small back ones when it cools down and the plant starts to grow again.

Paracelsus - I will leave those old ones alone and wait for the magnificent flowers! Is this aeonium monocarpic, or will it zap the plant to let it bloom fully?

Laticauda, thanks for the compliment :)

Enjoy the weekend!

Shriyogini, the Aeoniums in our area (assuming you're in or past Livermore-ish area) don't do nicely until mid to late October when this heat calms down. They'll slow down again in the winter and look beautiful again until about March-April. And then they go to crap again until October-ish. :)

It HAS been a wretchedly hot summer.

With these, you can cut them to the height where you want the new blooms. Personally, I have never found Aeonium cuttings to rot no matter what, and while I don't overdo it, I'll water large Aeniom cuttings to some degree from the start. They root really easily, unlike their individual leaves which I have never rooted successfully--but thankfully, there's no need to root the leaves when whole rosettes will take off and become the size of your plant in no time. If your plant were mine, I think I'd leave one tallest and cut some of the other tall one down to make them all varying lengths in the same pot, so you have one rosette at every eye level. But that's me. It looks quite striking as it is right now, too!

Definitely remove the dried leaves, though. They serve no purposes there now except as a harbor for bugs.

Individual rosettes are monocarpic. They are completely recycled in the blooming process that goes on months. They die but lower branches will continue living. The roots do not die. I wait until the inflorescence has completely dried up from the top down, usually stoping about a foot below the inflorescence. Then I cut it off and shake them over some dry soil to propogate.

I have volunteer babies growing all over my garden. They are the result of indeterminate crosses since I usually have one or more varieties blooming at the same time. Several germinated and rooted in a pot with a large golden barrel. The oldest of these squatters bloomed this past spring. Another Echinocactus grusonii has been similarly invaded. Golden Barrels and Aeoniums seem to like each other. ;-)

My Cyclops has been in the ground for 12-years now and has bloomed one to five heads every February since around 2007-8. It is a small shrub, and makes new branches on older stems and from the root area all the time. Since I have not watered it for months, the rosettes are currently shrunken and closed up with very few leaves remaining as the plant seeks to preserve its growth points at the expense of leaves.

It will be a few months before they look as big and open as yours again. Blooming rosettes start to change in mid-december and it takes about a month to grow the inflorescence. Flowers will open from the bottom up taking two more months to finish opening all the flowers. It is a great show and the blooms are truly magnificent.

Some folks think beheading stops or slows the blooming process, but my experience says otherwise. The oldest rosettes still bloom on schedule, even in a new pot on a shorter stem. The bloom is smaller and less full, I think because the short stem stores less water and nutrients compared to the original stem.

Brad

Just a quick observation, your rosettes should lean into the light, not the building. Your pots look backwards to me.

Brad,

aome of mine do this where they get more bright light reflected off a background (in my case, a white curtain. In her case, the white wall) and so the actual light that's feeding the plant is coming from reflected light instead of direct light? Perhaps it's only during a portion of the day?

just guessing here. Because I was really surprised to see my plants turning away from the window!

Brad, I turned them towards the wall hoping the leaves would not scorch in the 100+ days we had last week :). It was leaning drastically from where it had been on the porch, so for a while I did turn it around so they would grow more upright. Your cyclops sounds gorgeous! I'll turn it forward and clean the dead leaves off tomorrow, and I will brave the cuttings when it begins growing again. Grace, great suggestion on cutting the lengths. Thank you everyone!

Roberta