Beautiful! Especially the first photo where the sun is shining through their leaves.

Some great shots! how long have they been planted?

Correct me if Im wrong..but they die after flowering. Mine did. I've never seen a clump of them around here..more like one or two singles planted. Now,I heard there are various "flap jacks" species being sold. Maybe this one will be more permanent.

There arent species, but cultivars, and probably hybrids.

They are monocarpic - but only blooming rosette dies and before it blooms (should be more mature, at least 2nd season), it should have enough offsets to replace mother plant.

I found this info: Kalanchoe luciae ssp. luciae has large, thick, spatula- to almost circular-shaped leaves that have a broad reddish blush along the margins. The younger leaves and stems have a white, floury coating which is a protection from harsh sun. The younger inner leaves are upright and parallel to each other like stacked dinner plates. (from-HERE-)

After seeing those pics I planted my kalanchoe in it's own pot. Thanks for the encouraging pictures. I know it's not the ground but sure is a step up lol.

Matt I've read in here that some will cut off the flower stalk before they bloom to keep the plant. Don't know if it works on this plant and of course you might not want to. Now you've got something else to think about lol. Also rinas link said they flower in 3rd or 4th season. So we've got a while. Show us a pic so we can compare as it grows. I hope it grows pups for you.

Crenda, did you check rina's link. It's saying the 2 species get mixed even in their country now. But say the opposite about the flowers. That the K. luciae has the bright yellow flowers and the K. thyrsiflora has the yellow-green ones. Also the K. luciae grows on the ground level and the mature leaves always have red around the rim but can be deep red in full sun. And the young inner leaves have a light powdery wax. Whereas the K. thyrsiflora grows up the stem (too, I think), has the thicker powdery wax on all leaves and only gets red around the rim when very stressed, otherwise green all over.

I was going to see what the Crassulaceae site said, but I got brain fuzz.

Sorry, that was a bit long winded :-/

Here is a pic. I hope it likes the new pot!

Beautiful plant already! What was it called when you got it?

You'll have to read about potting mixes that many use here for succulents. The plants love it and can look heaps better as they grow. Interesting learning curve if you take it on lol.

But the plants I took the pics of are just in regular cactus mix I think. Although all the Echeveria and Purple Blob they planted slowly died off :-(

I think a lot of the minor details on what the leaves and color look like are subjective, since growing conditions differ. I, for example, have very wet summers and very dry and cool (but not cold) winters. Some years my plants produce more farina (powdery coating) than others, but the leaves always have some on them. It coats my fingers when I am picking up old leaves. LOL

During the winter, my plants are perky and look red like the picture above. In the summer, they can be more droopy and quite green. In this picture below, it is summer. The red arrow shows some plants that are positively flat. (I feel that droopy in the humid summers, too!)

Here's a close-up of the flowers on mine. I guess those are greenish yellow. I think they are the same color as the stems - or nearly so.

San Marcos Growers has this comparison photo of K. thyrsiflora (left) and K. luciae (right).

https://www.smgrowers.com/info/kalanchoeluciae.asp

At the end of the day, you treat the plants the same while growing them. They don't look a whole lot different in the landscape, either. But it sure is fun trying to nail down the exact plant name, isn't it?

It is lol. It also said that besides full sun they go red in the cold. Haven't heard that before

Helen, Crenda's flower descriptions are correct... the much rarer Kalanchoe thyrsiflora has bright yellow and good smelling flowers. This plant is so rare that it is virtually not in cultivation, though rare plants show up in botanical gardens. However, for some reason Kalanchoe luciae, a very common and much more spectacular plant, is often misidentified as K thrysiflora... no idea how and when that started, but it sadly now deeply entrenched in the nursery trade. Vegetatively, the two plants are somewhat similar in shape and color, though thyrsiflora rarely gets much red on the leaves unless really stressed. Leaves are overall much smaller and the whole plant is smaller and tends to remain white to powdery turquoise. Both plants flower at the same time, though flower stalks of thyrsiflora are short and bunched up while luciaes are very tall (up to 5') with white flowers spread out along the full length.

Kalanchoe luciaes in flower

Kalanchoe luciae 'Fantastic' cultivar.

Kalanchoe luciaes grown indoors (in a mall)- no sun and no cold

Kalanchoe luciae outdoors in pot adorned with Graptopetalum paraguayenses

Kalanchoe luciaes nearing end of flowering season

rare colony of Kalanchoe thyrsifloras in the Huntington, southern California

Kalanchoe thyrsifloras showing some color like luciaes after cold stretch

oops... hit the wrong button... here's some more REAL Kalanchoe thyrsiflora photos

exceptionally tall Kalanchoe thyrsiflora... still on a fraction as large as K luciae getsnice plants... but just not that spectacular...

Wow, that HAS been mixed up. Including my head lol.

I'll have to to look up the Lapskin and ICN (I assume they are more scientific, although Lapskin doen't guarantee the photos until 3 pros agree) and see what they say and see the pics. Hopefully it all lines up. Whether it does or not I'll take lots of notes, including what you guy's have written, and put it all in my Evernote app. Thanks for all that.

Crenda thanks for the link too, I didn't notice it before, interesting. Yes I enjoy trying to ID when I don't have brain fuzz, but usually I don't know where to start.

Now with Kalanchoe 'flap jacks' I can walk around confidently knowing that I haven't got a clue lol. But it will be interest looking up my notes to confirm that fact :-D

Thanks

What a difference between them!

That's the one I thought I had at first when it was mostly green. Sold as a no name.

Yes I agree. I'll be definitely watching what they grow and colour up like. I might even be an amateur botanist and take notes and pics as they develop. Then IF I get an opinion on what species they are, I'll find out when they flower ;-D

I saw these in Oakland Ca today.

Nice. They look good with the green too. Do you think the top one is more red because it would be getting more sun being up higher than the others? Or could it be the other species, seemingly having a longer stem?

I'm not sure which plants you are referring to being higher than the others. But sun is not the only factor in the color changes. All of my plants are in full sun, but during cooler months and during dry times they are redder.

These are my 4 original plants flowering - it is September, end of my rainy season and they are still quite green. BTW - the entire plant will elongate when blooming. That tallest plant is about 4.5 feet tall.

I cut the flowers off because of pests, but this is in March, months into our dry season. The sun has been the same, but they are now dry.

The same thing happens with my other plants, especially the Aloes and Kalanchoes. These are Aloe juvenna - green my summer and red (or brownish red) in winter.

Sorry if that sounds condescending. I don't mean it that way. I just wasn't sure you understood the changes on the plants. I'm lucky that my winters are dry. Then I don't have to worry about rot from being cold and wet.

Keep asking and keep digging! ;-)

I looked closer Helen, and I think that of the bottom? the middle wavy leafed are Echeveria's. The one in the pot with the variegated Furcraeas is redder because I bet it goes much drier then those in the ground. The green one might be C.thrysifolia.

My best guesses.

I did an answer to the last 2 comments grrrr. Can't remember much.

Crenda. No offence taken on anything and didn't see anything that could be.

Crenda and Stanofh. Thankyou (and others) for making this a fun, informative journey :-D

My 2 'flapjacks' - can't wait to get outside to get some real sunshine :) - this winter was too long.

K. luciae that is going to bloom, luckily has 3 offsets:

K. luciae 'Fantastic':

New plants form at the base of the bloomed-out original plant, but I also leave the blooming stem for a while, because plantlets will form on the stem, too.

I love the K. luciae 'Fantastic's. I wonder if I'll ever see one here. Lovely K. 'luciae' glad you got babies to keep it going :-)

Hoovb - love your "stem babies". I have 4 stems trying to produce pups this year.

But I'm fighting with the birds. It may be the mocking birds because they like to play with things, but I think it is those big black birds. They look like ravens, but are probably crows. I've caught them tearing up plants before - they're real vandals!

I got my first hint that K. luciae could pup along the stem when my first one bloomed. Looking down the plant I could see the beginnings of pups where the leaves attach. Not all of them developed, but it prompted me to research if that was possible.

I think I killed one in a bad cold front this winter. It still has not come back from its roots.. It was only supposed to be 36 one night and it got to 26. Serves me right for playing Russian roulette. I have frozen its top off more than once before, and had it for 12 years. It has flowered for me many times. Mine has pupped with abandon after a light freezing and after a flowering.

I have noticed these plants are far more wimpy in flower than when vegetative... my K luciae died while flowering this last winter at about 24F though survived the previous two years and it got down to 20F those years... seems flowering makes them more likely to be killed off.

Goodness! What's20 & 25F in Celsius? Am I right that 32F is 0°C, which is freezing point? The whole country changed gradually to metric while I was a kid and teen. So some old things are gone and some new ones still don't make sense. Like I have to know a new born's weight in pounds and ounces to know if it's a healthy weight.