A few days ago, talking to ewkaw in one of her posts, about succulents, I mentioned that I was not happy with the condition of my balcony plants. I have a few succulents, some are ok, but in the worst condition is aloe vera.
Basically and I don’t have a lot of plants, we’re talking about a few pots. But I have decided that I will show them again, in this condition and rant a bit about them...maybe ask for advice as well.
My terrace faces south. The position of the apartment is such that the sun's rays heat half of the apartment so that in winter we almost do not need heating. The terrace is sunny from morning until mid-afternoon, and there are my plants, on that sunny terrace.
In summer, there is less sun, because the sun is higher, so part of the roof obscures and creates shade. So it is ideal, less sun, less heat.
During the summer and autumn, I was happy with the plants.
One of my favourites is this one. Echeveria pulvinata, "Ruby Blush". It has long stems, I don't know does it have to be that long.. But I like it. The leaves are hairy and they have reddish edges.
Some time ago, one of my friends wanted to throw away this small plant, it was in dying point, but I didn't let her. I took it. I know it is not recovered still, it has just those long naked stems, but now I put the pot of it by side with the big one. Maybe it will encourage it to recover better and be as nice as the big one is.
This is a new one, a got it a few days ago. Adromischus cristatus. I read that it is easy to grow and that it is perfect for the beginners. Just perfect for me, I hope it will survive with me.
Here comes one echeveria, I don't know the exact type, is it echeveria elegans or echeveria colorata. But it is pretty easy to grow, I have another one, and when one stem was too long and heavy, it broke. then I put that into this pot, and here is the magic. A new plant has grown.
My Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is not in the best condition. I neglected it a little bit. There are some dry parts of the leaves and the moss that is covering the soil dried as well. The flowers have too long stems, so it has a bit awkward shape.
Here is also a Crassula ovata. It has never given problems, even in my hands it survived and I think it is in decent condition.
The baby aloe vera changed the colour of the leaves into some brownish shade. And the same happened with the mother aloe vera.
It hurts to see it this way. Here comes a photo of my big aloe vera from a few months ago... so nice green colour. I transplanted this aloe vera at the beginning of the summer into this larger pot, with soil I had brought from a nearby abandoned orchard. The ground was under the carob tree, and my plant loved that new soil so much that it grew very fast.
But look at it now. The leaves are brown, dried, some of the parts of the leaves are sticky. Two stems have grown in the last two weeks. Those will be flowers. But what to do with the leaves? I cut now after taking the photos two of them, the worst ones. What shall I do to help it? It is too much sun for it?
Any idea how to help this aloe vera?