Drama Queen Drama Queen & Did I Not Kill It Yet?

Poppy 'Drama Queen':
Photobucket
Heh.  I wait weeks and weeks for a flower from poppy 'Drama Queen', and just as it opens, the entire plant falls over and disappears from view behind the peony.  Heh!


Aloe polyphylla last autumn:
Photobucket
I assumed I'd killed yet another Aloe polyphylla last fall (is this the third or the fourth?).  It looked great for a year or more, then suddenly looked terminal.  What were those black areas all about?  I lifted it from the pot, discovering with horror but not surprise that it had only one living root, and that sole surviving root barely a half inch (1 cm) long.  As a last effort, I gave it a spot in the ground on a steep slope of light silt in an area that is full shade in winter, and mostly shade in summer.  A leaky hose set above trickles water down to it,  mimicking the frequent snow melt that A. polyphylla lives on in nature.  And...
Aloe polyphylla today:
Photobucket
A firm tug doesn't move it.  The leaves are plump and firm.  It may have grown roots.  I think it has more leaves than it did last fall.  What do you think?  Does it look better?  

Did I not kill it yet?   I have to remember that it needs to get through summer before I become over confident. 

Comments

  1. It lookes fresh and I think it survived the Winter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It least healthy to me. But don't get the big head....murphy's law ya know.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it looks great. It will love being on a slope.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think you're in the home stretch with the aloe. Just saw a photo of it in bloom on a Chelsea blog post, can't remember which blog. (You did say disappeared from view behind a PEONY?!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks like the Aloe polyphylla is thanking you for the free root run :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. That poppy is gorgeous - too bad it was only a flash in the pan. Your aloe looks very robust now!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @marijke, thanks. this species wants an alpine climate, very difficult to achieve in So Cal. It's not the winters that are the problem, it's the summers!
    @greggo, I'm keeping my hopes firmly in check!
    @spiky, thanks, I'm hoping I found the right spot for it at last.
    @Denise, yep, behind the peony.
    @Mark & Gaz, or the lack of mealies. They are better controlled on plants in the ground instead of in a pot. Or so I hope.
    @spurge, thanks! "Flash in the pan" sums it up perfectly.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Always interested in your thoughts.

Any comments containing a link to a commercial site with the intent to promote that site will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding on this matter.