Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'

Scientific Name

x Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'

Synonyms

Echeveria 'Fred Ives'

Scientific Classification

Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: x Graptoveria

Description

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

Hardiness

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

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

x Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' is a hybrid of Graptopetalum paraguayense crossed with a plant in the Echeveria gibbiflora complex that was created by Albert Baynes, a founding member of the National Cactus & Succulent Society in England in 1946.

Subspecies, Varieties, Forms, Cultivars and Hybrids

• x Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' f. cristata

Links

• Back to genus x Graptoveria
• Succulentopedia: Browse succulents by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone, Origin, or cacti by Genus

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