Hi Hivers, I am happy to be back after a short break. Hope you are all doing good.
The Echeveria Shaviana is a beautiful succulent. Its blue-green shade makes it a very attractive plant, it does acquire a purple tint in winter which makes it all the more beautiful to behold. This succulent can grow really huge, sometimes as big as a lotus. The crinkly edges of the leaves and its beautiful rosette shape easily makes it one of the best looking succulents in any garden.
I bought this succulent about eight months ago from a seller online. When I got it was about 1.5 inches wide. It came from a cooler climate and it quickly lost most of its leaves in the warmer weather. It took about three months to get the plant back to a healthy, growing condition.
In the sub tropical weather like ours most echeverias do well in winter. There was significant growth in the months of November to February compared to the first three months of its existence in my garden. That was the time I also fertilized it every fortnight.
Now as we gets closer to summer and with the sudden changes in temperatures my succulents are struggling, every one of them. The temperatures here have crossed 30*c and some succulents are getting sun-scorched.
A badly scorched Echeveria Shaviana
This beautiful echeveria shaviana blue truffles is badly sun-scorched and looks a bit tired. I have had to move this plant out of the sun completely to protect the plant from losing its leaves. I am not sure if its too late already. It didn't do well even in dappled light, perhaps it had already taken a bad hit by then.
This succulent shows signs of dryness if it isn't watered everyday over the last couple of weeks. The leaves shrivel up and seem a bit limp. I grow most of my succulents on the rooftop and there are not many shady or sheltered spots there. So I juggle around with my succulents and struggle to give them their perfect space.
The echeveria black prince is another one of my succulents which has been badly hit by this weather. The leaves have lost their color which is normal in summer, but they have also been badly scorched in the last few days. These plants did much better last year and this has me really worried. April and May are the typically hot summer months here. Even though there would be a few summer showers it really doesn't help reduce the scorching heat on the days when there is no rain.
A sun scorched pup
The only option I have currently is to shift these echeverias under the bigger fruit trees. I might have to do this this year at least for the Echeveria Shaviana and for the Echeveria Blackprince.
When it comes to succulents I believe it is good to keep them all in one area. Mixing them up with other plants which need more watering is the death of them. We tend to hose them down as we generally do with bigger plants in summer.
Since succulents have very delicate roots watering needs to be done carefully. Watering preferably with a thin and long spouted can would be ideal. In the heat of summer it is better to avoid fertilizing the plants to prevent root burn.
The Echeveria Shaviana as I have noticed has been able to take abuse quite well. One of the pups I gave to my friend has been through a lot, but it has survived the ordeal before it came back to me.
Another one of the pups all shriveled up
I have also noticed that the Echeveria Shaviana unlike the Perle Von Nurnberg is not easily attacked by pests. As long as it is not over watered, or watered from the crown or left in the direct sun it can handle anything else.
Propagation of the Echeveria Shaviana is quite easy. This succulent produces pups faster than most other echeverias. Almost 95% of the leaves can be propagated easily which is a huge plus as you may never lose the plant completely.
I am only hoping that the trauma this plant has undergone will not deter its growth completely. I plan to propagate some of the scalded leaves to ensure that I have at least a few plants with me by the end of summer.
If you have an Echeveria Shaviana please share your experience of growing this succulent with me in the comments section. Thanks for your time and your support.