March is upon us Peeps! I’m very excited to bring this month’s Partly Sunny Projects subscription plants to your collection. In the mix this month is a sweet echeveria, a hearty haworthia and a darling and prolific cactus.

First on the list is a peanut cactus. Echnopsis chamaecereus is very easy to grow clumping cactus, it sends out lots of new growth with finger-like stems. The stems can grow up to 12.0" long and  can curl if grown in a pot. It blooms with large, orange to red flowers in late spring and has short, bristly spines that are relatively gentle to the touch. I can already see some buds forming on some of these so you may yet get a show of blooms in a couple of weeks. This species is native to Argentina where it grows as a creeping, clumping mat. This cactus will not survive a hard frost, but if there is a risk of freezing temperatures they can be brought indoors to grow on a sunny window sill. Plant is porous soil with 60-70% grit. For best results be sure your plants gets a minimum of 6-8 hours of light, this can be outdoors or indoors with grow lights.

Next up is haworthia reinwardtii. Haworthia are super easy to grow and even do well in lower light conditions. They are able to tolerate low, indoor light, making them excellent houseplants. Consider this the gateway plant to more unique varieties. I was really excited to find these overgrown plugs for March’s box. This is a good-looking, easy grower that resembles the Zebra Plants. This South African variety has stiff, pointed leaves and a thick stem. The foliage has raised, white bumps that form weak bands across the leaves. Moderate stress from drought and direct sun can induce copper to red flushing of the plant.  They are particularly easy to grow and rarely affected by common succulent pests and diseases. This plant does well on its own and is a great addition to succulent arrangements. Be sure to use a well draining soil mix and water when soil is completely dry.

Lastly, echeveria verdita. What’s that you say? You never heard of it? Well same here. As it happens I picked out the plants because they were looking mighty healthy and and I liked the soft pale blue of the leaves. I reached out to the grower to get a name so I could, you know, write this blog and give you some info.  This was the reply I received : “this one we call echeveria verdita, I literally made up that name up like ten years ago since no one seemed to know what it was.” Ok,  then, at least she was honest. I was faced with the choice of getting smaller plants or one with a great color and shape that filled its pot but I had no other info than a made up name. Since technically all names are made up I chose this plant and if you like you can rename it whatever you want be cause it clearly doesn’t matter!! Like all echeveria a good 6-8 hours of bright light is best, more if possible to keep it from stretching out. Use a well draining succulent soil mix and water when your pot is completely dry. 

Happy Planting!!

Sonja