Succulent: Purple Aeonium

The purple aeonium, or Aeonium arboreum ‘Atropurpureum,’ is a striking succulent, native to the Canary Islands. Like most succulents, it’s very low maintenance, watering once or twice a week, in a sunny place. I grow them in containers. The one pictured on the left is actually a “container mate” to my beautiful mother of pearl or ghost plant, another succulent. A perfect match! The aeonium resembles a small tree with a few smaller florettes at the ends of new “branches.” The photo on the right is actually of two purple aeoniums in one container.

HOW TO: All of my purple aeoniums are the result of propagation from cuttings. The larger one, on the left, was a cutting given to me as a thoughtful gift, and came from a much larger plant. Propagation for the aeonium is simple, as with the mother of pearl or ghost plant (see my previous post). I just inserted the cutting into a container of potting soil that I’d already watered, and just let nature take its course. It really is that simple!

The smaller two aeoniums on the right were the result of my overzealousness with the watering hose! I ended up breaking off two pieces of the plant and inserted these two cuttings into a container immediately, and the result is what you see here, months later.