×Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'

Scientific Name

×Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'

Synonym(s)

Echeveria 'Fred Ives'

Scientific Classification

Family: Crassulaceae
Subfamily: Sempervivoideae
Tribe: Sedeae
Nothogenus: ×Graptoveria

Description

×Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' is a beautiful succulent that produces large clumps of rosettes that grow up to 8 inches (20 cm) tall and up to 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter. The plant grows up to 2 feet (60 cm) tall. Depending on the year's time and growing conditions, the broad and waxy leaves are pearly bronze, purplish-yellow-orange to blue-green. Flowers are pale yellow, sometimes with red spots, and appear in summer on arching up to 2 feet (60 cm) long stems.

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 9a to 11b: from 20 °F (−6.7 °C) to 50 °F (+10 °C).

×Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' — *Photo via flickr.com*

How to Grow and Care

The rules for Graptopetalum care are similar to those for most succulents. Container-bound plants thrive in a mixture of peat, sand, or other grit, topsoil, and a little bit of compost. Full sun is the best situation, but they will also grow in partial sun with slightly rangy results.

Graptopetalums need excellent drainage and moderate water. You can tell when to water by sticking your finger in the soil. If it is dry several inches down or the fleshy leaves are looking shriveled, you should water. Overwatering is a cause of root rots, and the plant can get several pest infestations.

These succulents are generally easy to propagate by seeds, leaf cuttings, or offsets. Any rosette that breaks off has the potential to root and start a new plant. Even a leaf that drops off will root below the parent plant and produce a new rosette quickly. The new plant feeds off the leaf until it shrivels up and falls off. By then, the new little ghost plant has rooted and sprouted new leaves.

Learn more at How to Grow and Care for Graptopetalum.

Origin

This succulent is a hybrid of Graptopetalum paraguayense crossed with a plant in the Echeveria gibbiflora complex created by Albert Baynes, a founding member of the National Cactus & Succulent Society in England in 1946. It was named by van Keppel in 1979 for Fred Ives of Shipley, Yorkshire.