Huernia Excitement

I will be honest, when my neighbor brought down what I now know is a Huernia schneiderana 'Red Dragon' last year, I looked at it and gave Amy the "best" one because I thought it looked really odd.  For one, it looked prickly (it's not) and was a little wild for my taste, or at least I thought it was.  Mine didn't do so hot and I lost it over the winter.  Amy's however, was doing fabulous and I'll admit it, I was a little jealous that it liked her so much.  Said neighbor, aka Plant Fairy, was more than willing to share some more with me this spring, so I was once again in business with my 'Red Dragon'.

Huernia schneiderana 'Red Dragaon'

This was from the first one she gave me last year, the others are still in the "nursery" section of my yard waiting for me to put them in the spectacular hanging basket I bought for them.  I took some of this to my sister and she calls it the "scary looking worm" plant. 

I bought another Huernia from a local succulent/cactus nursery earlier this year because it had a different looking bloom to it.  I think it's a Huernia saudi-arabica or campanulata.  It was marked Huernia procumbens, but none of the pictures look like mine.  I re-potted it and she's bloomed several times since. 

Huernia campanulata

Like the 'Red Dragon', this one isn't spiky either.  It's also a lighter shade of green than the other. 

On another adventure, I found another one and bought it because I thought it was different than what I had.  At first I was disappointed because it's the same dark color as the 'Red Dragon'.  The difference is that it doesn't get long like the 'Red Dragon', it stays more compact like the Huernia campanulata, although not so much. It does have a few prickly spikes in addition to the soft spikes. It's blooms come off on little shoots as well, unlike the other two that bloom close to the plant itself.   I noticed it was getting ready to bloom the other day and have kept a close watch.  It opened yesterday, and OH MY GOSH...I've never seen something so spectacular!!!

Huernia hystrix

It looks fuzzy because it is fuzzy!! 

Huernia hystrix

This is not good...I have spent quite a bit of time online, first searching for the names of the two and then finding others that I simply have to have!  The one I've got my eye on is called a Huernia 'lifesaver'...it looks like there's a lifesaver in the middle of it.  I found one online retailer that has some in stock, but got sidetracked and didn't order it yet. 

Moral of the story for me, never, ever snub my nose at any odd looking plant ever again...it might just become one of my favorites!  

Mandy