Kalanchoe blossfeldiana: Home and Garden Elegance of Florist Kalanchoe

Summary: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, known as Christmas Kalanchoe or Florist Kalanchoe, is an Old World vividly flowered, easy-to-grow succulent native to Madagascar.

flowers and foliage of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana: David Hughes of Plantfacts.com, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is an Old World tropical perennial native to Madagascar, an island country off southeastern coastal Africa in the Indian Ocean. Kalanchoe blossfeldiana especially thrives in the humus soil habitats of the fairly cool plateaus of the Tsarantanana Mountains in northern Madagascar.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (kal-lan-KOE-ee bloss-fel-dee-AY-nuh) has the scientific synonym of Kalanchoe globulifera.

The genus name of Kalanchoe is generally believed to derive from gāláncài, the Cantonese name for an Asian species of the primarily Africa-based plant.

The specific epithet, or species name, of blossfeldiana honors international seed merchant Robert Blossfeld (1882–1945), who introduced the succulent as a commercial houseplant around 1932 in Potsdam, capital of Brandenburg state in northeastern Germany.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is known commonly in English as Christmas Kalanchoe, Flaming Katy, Florist Kalanchoe or Madagascar Widow’s-Thrill. The common name of Christmas Kalanchoe recognizes the succulent’s flamboyant, lengthy flowering that may begin in late autumn and continue into spring. The common name of Florist Kalanchoe reflects the popularity of this congenial, easy-to-grow succulent among horticulturists.

As a member of the orpine, or stonecrop, family of Crassulaceae (Latin: crassus, “thick”), Florist Kalanchoe exhibits simple, succulent leaves. Dark green, thick, waxy leaves present a graceful silhouette of scalloped edges.

Small, four-petaled, tubular flowers open as clusters on peduncles (Latin: pedunculus, “footstalk”; diminutive of pes, “foot”), or floral stalks, above the shiny foliage. The open flowers are reminiscent of baby chicks with huge open mouths in anticipation of food foraged by their parents.

Flowers bloom profusely in a brilliant range of shades of orange, pink (including salmon), red (including scarlet), yellow and white.

The Royal Horticultural Society, founded in London, England, in 1804, recognized the excellence of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana as a garden ornamental with its prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 2012.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (flowering habit), Walmart Kahului, Maui; Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, 11:17; image 080117-1758: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Usually Kalanchoes enjoy bright indoor light as house plants and full sun as outdoor garden plants. And yet Kalanchoe blossfeldiana thrives in my outdoor shade garden encircled by variously shaped, large blue rocks.

Unlike other shade garden plants that mostly are wild and usually wind seeded, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana represents a mindful, planned planting as a gift from my sister, who fell in love with Kalanchoes decades ago and who always raises plants from cuttings.

As a herbaceous perennial, Florist Kalanchoe dies down outdoors to the soil level during cold winters but sprouts again in spring.

Their resurrection usually goes unnoticed amidst the spring fanfare of early bloomers such as Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), crocuses (Crocus spp), daffodils (Narcissus spp), garden hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum), Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and violets (Viola spp).

In my yard, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana surges almost overnight to maximum heights and spreads of almost 1 foot (0.3 meters). The seemingly overnight surge catches my attention sometime between the verdant appearance of Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) along Florist Kalanchoe’s western arc of blue rocks and the jeweled opening of wild columbines (Aquilegia canadensis) near the rocks’ northeastern arc.

The carefree ornamental then holds my attention and vivifies the shade garden throughout summer and autumn and as long as possible into winter.

closeup of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana flowers: Danilo Prudêncio Silva, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

flowers and foliage of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana: David Hughes of Plantfacts.com, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalanchoe.blossfeldiana.jpg

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (flowering habit), Walmart Kahului, Maui; Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, 11:17; image 080117-1758: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_080117-1758_Kalanchoe_blossfeldiana.jpg;
Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental @ http://www.starrenvironmental.com/images/image/?q=24900863515;
Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24900863515/

closeup of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana flowers: Danilo Prudêncio Silva, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalanchoe_blossfeldiana.JPG

For further information:

Baldwin, Debra Lee. Designing with Succulents. Portland OR: Timber Press, Inc., 2007.

Davenport, Millie. "Kalanchoe HGIC 1563." Clemson University > Cooperative Extension > Home & Garden Information Center > Landscape, Garden & Indoor Plants > Indoor Plants > Flowering Plants. April 2007.
Available @ http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/indoor/flowering/hgic1563.html

Gilman, Edward F. "Kalanchoe blossfeldiana." Fact Sheet FPS-309. University of Florida Cooperative Extension IFAS > Environmental Horticulture Department. October 1999.
Available @ http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/shrub_fact_sheets/kalbloa.pdf

"Kalanchoe blossfeldiana." Plants Rescue > Types of Plants > Succulents.
Available @ http://www.plantsrescue.com/kalanchoe-blossfeldiana/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Aquilegia canadensis: Jeweled Wild Columbine Nods to Breezy Melodies." Earth and Space News. Monday, April 20, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/aquilegia-canadensis-jeweled-wild.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Podophyllum peltatum: Umbrella Leaf Charm of Mayapples in Spring." Earth and Space News. Friday, April 17, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/podophyllum-peltatum-umbrella-leaf.html