Pirate_girl, Hehe, yeah I originally thought about saying what you said about "not giving it TOO much attention." But this time, I just won't leave it unprotected on freezing nights and 110 degree days, just so it does not feel ignored. Many years ago, not having the benefit of forums like ours, too much attention to my jades ended up over-watering some of them. Lesson learned :-) Thanks again. Cheers. Alex.

Very cute! I like it. Thanks for posting. Xuan

Echeveria flowers bloom sequentially; they never open all at once. There is nothing, at this point in time, to do with that spike but remove it as close to the main stem as possible without damaging the plant. Some Echeveria can be propagated from the leaflets that develop along the spike. These must be removed early on or they won't do anything. Howard

These are planted on an island out front which is mostly sand and gravel. It has about a 2 to 2 1/2 foot rise to the top. They are near the top and drain well. I also made sure to add perlite when I planted them. So no, I did not protect from rain this summer and we got about 45 inches. I think you got more. It worried me, but they seemed to do well. We had a surprisingly mild winter last year. No days when I had to cover up the plants, but I do keep an eye on the temp.