Furcraea foetida Mediopicta

Here is a new addition this summer to my garden that helped fuel my love (or is addiction) for unusal and variegated plants.

It is an agave relative.  Grows pretty large and has amazing layers of white and green.  They also bloom similar to agave, only once in 5-15 years and then die, usually leaving offsets behind.  Yet this one does like Agave vilmoriniana and not just flowers, but also produces hunderds of bulbils on the flower stalk.

Mature size can be 5-8 feet tall and wide, but in a large but not too large container can stay smaller for years.

This one does a great job of layers of green under and over white, each leaf a bit different than the last.

It is harder to zone 9ish, 25-30 degrees F, and has suvived my central coast brief frosts just fine and I see lots of non-variegated ones surviving to maturity around town.

Aloe 'Blizzard'

Aloe 'Blizzard' (O'Connel hybrid A. 'Doran Black' x A. #51)

Name and Exposure

Name	Common Name	Exposure	Winter Hardiness
Aloe 'Blizzard'		Sun Shade	35 Degrees F

Color and Size

Foliage	Flower	Height	Width
Dark green-black with profuse white markings that give the plant a striking look	Orange	6 "	Up to 2' clump, 6" each plant

Amazing colored hybrid. The picture says it all.  Might be a bit more cold hardy but I only just got this one this year. Lots of offsets to form nice clump.

See more photos in my small aloes photo album: Small Aloe

Echeveria colorata

Echeveria colorata

Name and Exposure

Name	Common Name	Exposure	Winter Hardiness
Echeveria colorata		Sun Shade	25 Degrees F

Color and Size

Foliage	Flower	Height	Width
Turquoise Gray with pink tips		5 inches	5", can offset 1' clump

Compact amazingly colored Echeveria.  The shading o pick to turquoise gray is very interesting, especially on foggy mornings around here.  Cold hardy just do give in days of 25-30 while soaking wet.

My Echeveria album: Echeveria

Sempervivum 'Clara Noyes'

Sempervivum 'Clara Noyes'

Name and Exposure

Name	Common Name	Exposure	Winter Hardiness
Sempervivum 'Clara Noyes'		Sun Shade	25 Degrees F

Color and Size

Foliage	Flower	Height	Width
Green/Red with fine hairs		5 inches	5", can offset 2' clump

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Nice compact cold hardy plant for small container planting scapes like I do.  Only problems i have are like with most succulents--keeping them from being soggy all winter in our long winter rains--in the years we get them.  Redder color with more light.  Sends out logs of pups or offsets over time to spread.  You can clip these off and root them to propagate more for more containers.

Graptopetalum paraguayense 'Ghost Plant'

Graptopetalum paraguayense

Another member of the jade family that I love for the ability to root new plants from even just the leaves.  Many do this but this one is also hardy to 25F.  Very interesting color that brightens up a planter.

Name and Exposure

Name	Common Name	Exposure	Winter Hardiness
Graptopetalum paraguayense	Ghost Plant	Sun Shade	32 Degrees F -- might be colder--survived a week of overnight lows below 30--but was under sheet within foot of house so that may have helped.

Color and Size

Foliage	Flower	Height	Width
White-gray-green	White with red tipped yellow center	6-10"	2-10" depending on if tall plants lay down and if allowed to clump for long time