Brighten Up Winter With Kalanchoe In Bloom!
Ahhhhh, gorgeous kalanchoe in pink, red and coral are just the thing to brighten up winter right about now! Thanks to Ikea, where these little pots were just 9 shekels each (plants are expensive here in Israel, very annoying since they are grown here and Israel is a world expert is such things) so I couldn’t resist. Outside on our blue tile Moroccan table (more about that another day) they look just as cheerful as can be, and at some point I will have to actually plant them in a larger pot, but for now I have them sitting in a bonsai pot, and the plants are full enough to hide the white plastic nursery pots.
The wonderful thing about kalanchoe is that for those of you with freezing tempertures, it can be grown indoors as a houseplant. For me, I just watch the temps and will bring them indoors if the temperatures dip to freezing.The other wonderful thing about Kalanchoe is that it is one of those plants, like geraniums, whose cuttings can be easily rooted. So once your plant gets leggy, which it will, trim it and use the cuttings to make more plants!
Oh, and just by the way, kalanchoe, which is considered a succulent, has low water requirements, which means that it will fit in nicely with a wide array of succulents. My experience is that it doesn’t exactly behave like a succulent and is a bit more particular, but maybe this time I’ll give these a bit more love and see what happens!
And, since I always look up the origin of new plants to see where in the world they come from, the kalanchoe is native to Madagascar and tropical Africa…….so new Kalanchoe friends, welcome to my Northern Israeli garden!
