Aeonium decorum tricolor
Synonyms:
No synonyms are recorded for this name.
Description:
The growth pattern of Aeonium decorum tricolor is similar to the one of the other Aeoniums. This perennial, evergreen plant form rosettes of leaves, borne by thick wooden branches which give the plant a form of shrub, up to 40 centimeters tall. The leaves are light green, with red margins, and hints of orange. Its flowering period occurs in summer, when the plant forms an inflorescence over a stem which starts lying diagonally over the canopy and give birth to small pink flowers.
Cultivation:
Aeonium decorum tricolor needs a medium water input. Water it more or less every two weeks, but only when the soil is completely dry. It prefers a bright spot, under direct light, and a well-drained substrate. During dormancy, it may appear sick and lose leaves, but when the weather cools and the plants get water, it suddenly reform the leaves and revives. The soil should be of a well-draining matter. Its preferred average temperature is of about 10ºC, and the minimum survival temperature is -1ºC- 0ºC for short periods. If you planted A. decorum outdoor, an option for protecting it from frost is to put mulching.
Propagation:
The possible methods to propagate it are by cutting or seeds. The former is recommended in spring and autumn, in the case in which the branching organization of the plants becomes messy and chaotic, and the last can always be an option, remembering that, in the first year of life, the plant needs a moist soil.
Curiosity:
The plants of the genus Aeonium are very efficient in the depuration of the environment and very robust. For these characteristics they are, among the plants, studied by NASA for future use inside the spacecraft. Its name derives from the greek word aionios, which means eternal, immortal, a name that has earned both for its strength and for its affinity with the Sempervivum genus. In fact the Aeonium are plants extremely robust even for the standard of the great family of succulents; they can tolerate long periods of drought, as well as short periods of intense cold. Aeonium plants, especially if planted together, are deemed creating an “other-world” effect.
