Dispatching with my Aeonium overflow

The Oxford Dictionary defines an "overflow" as "an excess or surplus not able to be accommodated by an available space."  That applies to the current surplus of Aeonium arboreum bloom stalks in my garden.  I started to count them several weeks ago and stopped when a got to a hundred.  More have appeared since.  It seemed time to reduce their number so a neighborhood giveaway was in order.  I've done this before as shown in this prior post dated February 18, 2022.

I filled 5 good-sized recycled plastic canisters with water and used the bench as my staging area.  I cut about 40 stems.  The bees were all over them but they paid me no attention.

I set them facing the street in front of my succulent bed

Closeup of my sign.  I put the flowers out late Monday afternoon and 3 of the 5 canisters were gone when I checked on them at early Tuesday morning.  One empty plastic canister was later returned empty, which I refilled late Tuesday afternoon.  Between the bees and the fact that numerous neighbors have Aeoniums of their own, I may not get many more takers.

I threw 5 more stalks into this vase with no water so I could assess how long they last without it

There are still a lot of flower stalks left.

It looks as though I hardly made a dent in the number of flowers.  They were more prolific to start with in this area of the front garden but, as I have Aeonium arboreum scattered everywhere, I cut stems from multiple locations.

At least I cleared all the stalks that made this it hard to walk along this path

Lest you think I've foisted off my problem on my neighbors, I should note that I've found the flowers make decent and long-lasting vase material.

This is the arrangement I created for "In a "Vase on Monday" on January 5th. In addition to the Aeoniums, it contained Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Argyranthemum frutescens, and Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder'.

This is a photo of the same arrangement taken a week later.  Other than white Marguerite daisies, it looked even better a week afterwards on January 18th but I failed to take a photo before I chucked it out to make room for another floral arrangement.

Any spent or disfigured bloom stalks have already gone in the green bin.  More will go once the green bins are emptied later this week.  I may keep a dozen or so but that's it.  Meanwhile, a more interesting flower opened yesterday.

This is Hippeastrum 'Amadeus Candy'.  I've 3 of the bulbs in a pot and 2 stems have blooms, with the third still in bud.

All material © 2012-2026 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party