Synonyms:

Sempervivum simsii

Habitat:

Aeonium simsii is native to Canary islands, where it grows among the rocks at many altitude ranges.

Description:

Aeonium simsii is a small plant formed by a cluster of succulent rosettes of intense, deep green leaves, elongated and very numerous on the rosettes. It’s frequent to find a pot containing two or three rosettes, with densely crowded leaves. A cute feature of the leaves of this plant are the ephemeral, nearly invisible soft white hairs on their edges: if you run your fingertip on them, they will tickle you! The maximum height of the rosettes of A. simsii is 12 centimeters, while the whole plant can reach a diameter of 30 centimeters and a height of 20 centimeters. The lower surface of the leaves, moreover, has some short dark green lines and the upper one has a brown line in the middle. This plant, like all Aeoniums is more appreciated for its leaves, rather than for its flowers: the yellow flowers are clustered in a head borne at the top of a leafy, compact, small inflorescence.
A. simsii is very well-known in ornamental succulents market and thus it has many hybrids, such as A. simsii x Zwartkop.

Cultivation:

A. simsii is not difficult to cultivate. Here below are our cultivation tips:

Put it in a bright spot, but away from direct sunlight, especially during the hottest hours of summer days.
The minimum temperature for its survival is 7ºC. We advice to put it indoors in winter. Anyway, this Aeonium is the perfect decorative houseplant, and it will be obvious to you right away that it is more suited to a cultivation indoors.
The soil should be well-drained, but not so much as other Aeoniums and other succulents: it needs a slightly higher level of moisture into its substrate. It, however, doesn’t bear stagnant water, nore any lack of oxygen.
Watering necessities are moderate: in Spring and Summer, you might water it once a week while, in Winter, you should reduce the watering frequency to once every tweo-three weeks, always waiting for the soil to dry up completely before each irrigation. Aeoniums generally enter dormancy in summer, to carry out their vegetative growth period during the winter. In our climate, however, they behave like opportunistic growers and will grow anytime we water them.
Aeonium simsii doesn’t need frequent fertilization, it is sufficient to dilute the fertilizer with watering once a year.
Repotting could be necessary once a year. By the way, repot anytime you see that the plant is outgrowing its pot.

Propagation:

The propagation of A. simsii is done using leaf cuttings. The cut surface has to be dry when the stem cutting is planted. Another way to propagate it is to separate the root suckers from the plant. They form a new plant.

Curiosity:

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. The name “Aeonium” comes indeed from the greek word aiònios, meaning “immortal”: these plants are perfect for beginners approaching the world of gardening!

Official Web Site:
www.giromagi.com

Italian Blog:
www.giromagicactus.com

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