Rosettes all round with Canary leek
Some plants cry out to be noticed; they demand to take pride of place, somewhere where all the world can see them.
Which is why Aeonium arboreum is starting to appear as the centrepiece of many a bed and border.
It is better known as the housetree leek and, although it’s a subtropical succulent, it’s still grown a lot outdoors in colder climes – and then taken indoors, under glass, to overwinter in safety.
Aeonium arboreum is native to the Canary Islands, where it thrives outdoors in the ambient temperatures and plentiful sunshine and in soil that never gets waterlogged. You wouldn’t think it could take to an English garden, but it can and does, particularly in a sunny, sheltered spot.
When the plant matures, it can produce a panicle of small yellow blooms that grow above the rosette of leaves. Blooms appear during winter and when they die so does the stem.
But Aeonium arboreum is mainly grown for its fantastic foliage – rosettes of shiny leaves at the tip of woody stems. Depending on the variety, these rosettes can be green through to dark purple and stand atop a three-foot-high stem.
If you haven’t got the room outdoors, then try growing one indoors, in a greenhouse or conservatory. An average temperature of 70-85 degrees F is fine, and a healthy specimen should be watered frequently during spring and summer and fed with a liquid fertiliser every two weeks. Repot every year until the plant is mature.
Like many sub-tropical plants growing in this country, Aeonium arboreum can suffer from problems, particularly if a specimen is in a container. Overwatering or underwatering can cause the plant to collapse.
If that happens, remove all the damaged leaves and repot the plant in fresh, unsaturated compost. It may recover to go on to be the star of a summer bedding display. Fingers crossed...