Aeonium arboreum 'Zwartkop' : Air Roots

What I knew about Aeoniums was that when one of the rosettes blooms, that branch dies at the completion of flowering. 



The rest of the plant lives on.  What happens when the plant only has one rosette?  Does the whole plant die, then?  Well, I've had one of those bloom, cut off the remains of the bloom, and now it's sitting there doing nothing.   I'll see if it grows new rosettes or not. 


I also knew you can cut off the flowered part and the stem will sprout new multiple rosettes.



Now something I didn't know.  I had a large Aeonium arboreum 'Zwartkop'  leaning, leaning, leaning slowly over.  I had an empty pot handy, so I placed the pot so the Aeonium could lean on it for support.  Everyone was happy.  Time passed and the Aeonium kept growing and kept leaning.  The pot continued to work nicely as a support, so I left it. 



Air roots began to form on the stems of the Aeonium.  Then the other day I noticed that the thin-as-hair air roots had found their way into the soil, and were becoming substantial.  They are well on their way to being strong enough to support the leaning plant.

 

"Ah!" I thought, "I can take that support-pot away soon!"  Then I realized that one of the air-roots had found its way though a small hole in the pot bottom and was becoming one of the substantial soon-to-be-supports. 


I didn't know they did that! 

An amazing plant, Aeonium.