Plantshare

Two years ago, on a visit to Bristol, I met up with blipper Serpentine who gave me a lovely lunch and as a parting gift some tiny plantlets of what I now know to be Kalanchoe tubiflora*, a succulent plant native to Madagascar. As you can see, the babies form along the edge of the 'leaf' spikes complete with hair-like roots, all ready to drop off and form new plants; unsurprisingly it's called Mother of Thousands - or Millions.

Mine took ages to get going but have now become handsome plants, striking for their angularity and ready to generate a new crop.


Recently Serpentine has  blipped several examples of her green-fingered expertise, including her prize-winning carnivorous sundew. I've been admiring all of them but when a mysterious box arrived today I was bemused. It looked like an egg box for 4 quail eggs, perhaps, but who would send eggs by mail? It turned out to be a means of sending tiny plants safe and secure in plastic shells (see extra). so thanks to Serpentine I now have some more infants to raise and nurture. What fun!


*(Also known as Bryophyllum, it is a notifiable invasive weed in Australia. On the plus side however it has been found to have cancer-inhibiting properties that deserve further research.)