Aeonium

Aeoniums! One of my favorite plants and among the least demanding succulents in my garden.  They are popular in coastal, frost free, Southern California landscapes, as they are well adapted to garden culture and their rosettes give the appearance of succulent flowers.  They are winter growers, plumping up with the first rains in late fall, blooming and offsetting in spring, then losing leaves and shriveling into small rosettes in preparation for summer dormancy.

My take on culture:  You can relax with this one!  Most aeoniums are very tolerant of both the neglectful and indulgent gardener.  I recommend part sun (although aeoniums will succeed in part shade to full sun, depending on your microclimate), well draining soil, and occasional to no supplemental water.

Helpful hints:  You might find it difficult to watch your plants shrivel to almost nothing during summer dormancy, but for goodness sake, give them a rest!  I am sure you will have much healthier plants in the long run.

Create a "forest" of aeoniums!  During the peak growing season, remove/cut smaller offsets fromt he primary stem and simply stick them in the soil.  Do this for a couple of seasons and your collection will grow exponentially.  The garden in the first photo was started with two cuttings!

A few of my Aeoniums...

Aeonium arboreum garden

Aeonium 'Kiwi' (very bright pink margins in sun)

Aeonium urbicum

Aeonium 'Zwartkop'

Aeonium smithii

Aeonium arboreum ' Zwartkop' mutation

Aeonium nobile seedlings (6 months)

Aeonium 'Garnet'

Aeonium sedifolium

Unknown crest

 Aeonium pseudotabuliforme

Aeonium 'Sunburst'

Aeonium arboreum rubrolineatum

Aeonium arboreum rubrolineatum inflorescence

Above and below
Aeoniums in Summer (dormancy period)