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  x Graptoveria cv. FRED IVES forma cristata CACTUS ART
NURSERY

Cultivation and Mail Sale
of Cacti and Succulents.


People cannot resist the glowing colours of the foliage of this delightful plant.
It is quite hardy and - depending on moisture conditions - can handle slight frosts.
 

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Family: Crassulaceae

Scientific Name:   Graptoveria "Fred Ives" forma cristata

Origin Garden origin (Nursery produced cultivar)
 

Description: Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' is a cross between Graptopetalum paraguayense and Echeveria gibbiflora. It is a large shrub-forming cultivar and a very vigorous grower in the garden,  that offsets to produce a clump and can take over an area if let alone.
Rosettes: It produces rosettes up to 20 cm tall by nearly 20-30 cm wide atop short 10-30 cm tall stems
Leaves: Broad, stiff,
overlapping each other, with concave upper surface, rubbery to the touch, waxy pearly-bronze to purplish yellow-orange to blue green (depending on time of year and growing conditons). Often shading from grey-blue at the centre out to orange-bronze-purple. The purple blush is fairly consistent throughout the seasons. Higher light and heat seem to increase the purple a bit, though.
Flowers: 30-50 cm long
arching branched inflorescence bearing red-orange centred pale yellow flowers
Blooming season: Summer.

Forma cristata: The cultivar  “Fred Ives” has given rise to a beautiful crested form with sunset colours & wonderful habit. It creates dense round mounds of tightly packed smaller leaves.
 

 



A lovely succulent of the most delicious kind it has bronze-mauve leaves with a silvery sheen and change shades with the seasons.  Bright light is required to promote optimal growth.


Cultivation:
Very easy and reliable plant it can stay outdoors in summer, in mild climate it can grows in the garden where it takes lots of water without rotting. It is relatively slow growing and very slow to sucker (if at all). It prefers a bit of afternoon shade but does also well in bright light with high heat situations. It is however adaptable to low light situations too. Plant in fertile free draining soil or a cacti well-drained mix. Water well during the warmer months, preferably from below, and sparingly in winter. Hardy hybrid tolerant of a wide range of conditions including some frost. The flowers spike sometime wilt because the rosette is almost drained of moisture, and may wither badly. Early removal of the dying flower stems will prevent this being aggravated by the production of seed, which of course will have the same effect, since the flower stems stay turgid for some time to support the seed production.

Uses: Beautiful succulent for container planting adding colour to mixed collections. Excellent for windowsills or as colour accent in rock garden or dish garden. Ideal for adding dramatic foliage contrast to garden beds and borders and colour to the winter garden.

Propagation:
The crested form is usually propagated by division of larger specimen.  The standard (non crested) form is usually propagated by suckers or basal leaves, if If the plant is repotted some of the bottom leaves can be removed, in order to attempt leaf propagation, it is also a common practice to collect the leaves on the flower stem. However many such  cuttings will dry out without producing a plantlet, but with perseverance it is likely to get a few new plants.

 

 

Photo gallery: Alphabetical listing of Cactus and Succulent pictures published in this site.

Photo gallery GRAPTOVERIA

 

Home | E-mail | Plant files | Mail Sale Catalogue | Links | Information | Search

All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Encyclopaedia of Succulents. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.