If you love flowers, and have an interest in plants, then like me, you will be completely amazed when your cotyledon orbliculata blooms for the first time, and treats you to gorgeous bell shaped flowers that are pink before they open, and then a brilliant orange on the inside. (Even my camera didn't quite know how to caputure the orange color, but in the end did so successfully only by making the sky cobalt blue, no complaints, it's gorgeous.)
A friend in the plant business who knows more about succulents than I do once mentioned that to properly identify some succulents one really must wait until it blooms. This is how I identified my oribe gorge sennicio succulent, and how I have now correctly identified this plant as well, which I originally mislabled in my post about propogating succulents from large cuttings, whoops! Interestingly enough both the oribe gorge, which I've now propogated numerous times in my container garden, as I took it inside during the snow storm, and the cotyledon orbiculata are both natives to South Africa, and both have brilliant orange blooms.
Cotyledon orbiculata grows well as a pot plant placed on a veranda and can also add texture and form to a well-drained flower border in the garden. When planted as a pot plant, good drainage is also important. It is often found in full sun, but grows well in semi-shade, and is an ideal plant for the water-wise gardener.
On a recent walk around town, I spotted pots of cotyledon orbiculata in a number of alley doorways, and they too were in bloom. Isn't it interesting how all the succulents of the same kind are blooming at the same time? And that my succulents were grown from cuttings taken less than six months ago, and are already flowering?
And by the way, there are selected forms of cotyledon orbiculata in cultivation, whose leaves have different shapes than mine, and have been given names such as 'elk horns' or 'silver waves'– elk horns are long and horn shaped, and the silver waves have wavy round leaves, though lucky for everyone, I believe their flowers are very similar to those seen here! So do start a collection of succulents, whether or not you'll have to take them indoors for the winter, you won't regret it.
Note: When propogating cotyledon orbiculata from cuttings, they must be kept fairly dry to prevent rotting. In other words, don't place them in water, place them in bairly moist soil. Once the tip cuttings have rooted they can be transplanted in a medium of 2 parts gravel to 1 part compost.
Note #2: Cotyledon orbiculata is a well-known medicinal plant— the fleshy part of the leaf is applied by many South Africans to soften and remove hard corns and warts. The "Southern Sotho" natives traditionally use a dried leaf as a protective charm for an orphan child and as a plaything. In the Willowmore District, the heated leaf is traditionally used as a poultice for boils and other accessible inflammations, in particular, earache. Try it!
