Topic: What is this ugly booger? [Solved] Kalanchoe. AKA Maternity Plant/Mother of th..

[Bonnie]

Does anyone know what this ugly booger is, and if you do does it get any prettier? My neighbor gave me this cutting that she got from her mother in laws, and we haven't a clue what it is.

[Patty S]

Bonnie, that's a type of Kalanchoe... AKA Pregnant Plant, Maternity Plant, Mother of Thousands (or Millions). It's a succulent, so it stores its water in the leaves & only likes to be watered when its soil dries out, & it prefers to be in  bright light.  Mine isn't variegated like that, but rather is a light shade of green.

No, it won't get any prettier than that, but if you don't mind my saying so, yours DOES look pretty ugly! It looks like it might have come from a crowded pot, where it competed for sunlight, & that's how it got spindly looking like that. They don't ALL turn out that way though, so if I were you, I'd start some new ones.

Those little thingies on the edges of the leaves are babies. Just pick them off & put them on top of the dirt in that pot.  Keep them fairly moist until they get going & get their own roots set down.  Sometimes the babies will develop more babies on the edges of their leaves after just a couple months.  You can let them go & drop off into the pot, or you can give/throw them away, or start new ones in individual pots & add them to your next yard sale.  They'll put up with lots of abuse, & just about the only way to kill them is by over-watering or totally neglecting them.

[Bonnie]

Thanks, Patty. I googled it and was surprised to find that it actually has flowers.