A few succulents

[MrsE]

Love to share my sunny beauties...

 

[arthnel]

Looks like a tuna plant. Is that tuna? there are two types; one that has an awful bitter taste and the other just has a normal, fresh taste to it. They look quite beautiful and healthy though. Very resilient plants like cactus types.

 

[amelia88]

Sure look like they are growing well! I've only seen smaller succulents before, the type that are basically individually potted! Are those spikes really sharp or do they just look a bit scarier than they really are?

 

[MrsE]

Looks like a tuna plant. Is that tuna? there are two types; one that has an awful bitter taste and the other just has a normal, fresh taste to it. They look quite beautiful and healthy though. Very resilient plants like cactus types.

Hi arthnel, they are aloe plants.... to be honest I have never heard of a tuna plant!?
Here we know Aloe Ferrox as the bitter one, good for stomach aliments.
And we know Aloe Vera is the fresh one for sunburns, skin care and delicious to drink.

 

[MrsE]

Sure look like they are growing well! I've only seen smaller succulents before, the type that are basically individually potted! Are those spikes really sharp or do they just look a bit scarier than they really are?

Hi amelia, they grow so well with FULL sunlight and little water, just the way they like it. These two are quite a few years old already 10-15 years from my mother's garden. The spikes and thorns are definitely very sharp, I wear long sleeves and thick gloves when I'm around the aloe's.

 

[Trellum]

Beautiful aloe vera plants I used to have some really big ones when I was younger, they are still outside actually, but they are not doing so well. They put them in containers that were too small for them I wish I could find them a better place, but there is no space :'(

 

[Mockingbird]

My story of the Aloe, one day about close to 15 years ago I was helping my brother move a dresser and back behind the dresser between the wall and the dresser was a piece of Aloe, just hanging out and growing. I took the piece home and put it in a pot. I was just telling him over the holiday how huge this piece got . The past two summers I started taking the plant outside. Last summer was pretty hot and dry and I admit I didn't water so well in the end of the season, the Aloe actually had became a very dark color, but didn't seem dead. I brought it in and put it in a East facing window and it has just gone crazy with growth, some of the root (tubers?) are more then 3 inches around, they have started to cascade right out of the pot, which itself is really large. If I cut one of those and buried it in a new pot would it grow?

 

[claudine]

They're beautiful!
I absolutely love Aloe Vera, it's such a wonderful plant. Aloe gel is the best moisturiser I've ever used

 

[arthnel]

Thank you for the correction @MrsE. I regularly get the two mixed up. I differentiate by thinking one is very bitter and good for ailments and the other is not bitter, but still good for ailments. I had a terrible experience with aloe vera before, thinking of it as something I could just taste with biting into it. I still get that taste in the back of my throat when I think about it.

Here's what the tuna plant looks like BTW:

 

[Daren]

I Call them plants Arthnel, Opuntias. Common names that spring to mind wound be Bunny ear plants or prickly pear. Tuna is a new one on me but I sure know about there hairy prickles! you don't want to walk round them bearfeet.... Ouch!!!!!!!!

 

[IcyBC]

Wow, they look absolutely happy and healthy! I love how they seem to just soaking in the sun!

 

[MrsE]

Thank you for the correction @MrsE. I regularly get the two mixed up. I differentiate by thinking one is very bitter and good for ailments and the other is not bitter, but still good for ailments. I had a terrible experience with aloe vera before, thinking of it as something I could just taste with biting into it. I still get that taste in the back of my throat when I think about it.

Here's what the tuna plant looks like BTW:
View attachment 10523 View attachment 10524

Oh wow, that's cool! I haven't seen those in our nurseries here in SA, but i have a feeling that they do grow wild... I will keep an eye out for them!

 

[MrsE]

My story of the Aloe, one day about close to 15 years ago I was helping my brother move a dresser and back behind the dresser between the wall and the dresser was a piece of Aloe, just hanging out and growing. I took the piece home and put it in a pot. I was just telling him over the holiday how huge this piece got . The past two summers I started taking the plant outside. Last summer was pretty hot and dry and I admit I didn't water so well in the end of the season, the Aloe actually had became a very dark color, but didn't seem dead. I brought it in and put it in a East facing window and it has just gone crazy with growth, some of the root (tubers?) are more then 3 inches around, they have started to cascade right out of the pot, which itself is really large. If I cut one of those and buried it in a new pot would it grow?

Hi Mockingbird, another really cool story like Beth's! How amazing are plants!?
if you want to re-propagate from a tuber make sure it is one with it's own root system (brush away the dirt a bit to see where the roots are)
Aloe's can also propagate from leaves (but this is a bit more complicated)
Try it, you have nothing to loose let us know how it goes.

 

[MrsE]

Hi lovely people, we came across this big guy at the paintball field this weekend. It's tall, and looks like it's aloe family but with thinner leaves, with the same thorns and aloe texture. I wonder what it is?
I don't have any plant reference books yet, they seem exorbitantly expensive, and there are so many to choose from. Is it better to get general ones or species specific ones?
What do you do when you don't know what kind of plant it is?

 

[Pat]

Thanks for sharing your photos. The aloe vera plant is one of my favorites. I like succlents.