Giant Velvet Rose

Aeonium canarense of the Crassulaceae family of succulents grows well  in our Solano County zone 9 (USDA zone) environment.  This variety and others such as Aeonium urbicum originated in the Canary Islands.  To tell you the truth, I am only sort of sure the variety I have in my garden is the "canarense" version. From time to time I think it's time to get my plants labelled, I find this shore much easier said than done. Usually there appears a comment somewhere in my search that doesn't quite agree with my specimens. The mother plants do form "dinner plate" sized rosettes and many pups grow from the main and only stem. My plants do closely match the internet site photos well, but the "canarense" variety is supposed to have hairs covering the leaves according to Annie's website (Annie's Annuals). I can "stretch" a description of my leaves to say there is a very fine velvet texture but not something I would call hairs. The other similar variety, "urbicum" grows much taller, the photos show specimen about 3 to 4 feet tall, mine grow more in a massive clump which could reach 3 feet across pretty easily. So for now, I am going to continue to enjoy my "Giant Velvet Rose" dinner plate sized succulents,  pluck off the pups, and populate my garden with these bundles of joy and worry about labels later.

Note the size of the Aeonium. (photos by Trisha Rose)

Another shot of this big beauty.

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