Aeonium Zwartcop in Flower

I’ve been growing Aeonium Zwartcop’s for ten years now and I’ve got about 50 mature plants, but this is the first time I’ve seen one in flower.  As it happens, two adjacent plants have come into flower at the same time.  They’ve been kept in the Orangery over the winter (they are definitely not hardy) and the warmth of the last couple of weeks must have encouraged them to produce these branches of lovely yellow flowers.  I’m told that when the flowers have died down the branches will die, but the plant itself will survive.

The Zwartcop is the most attractive of the tree Aeoniums, because of its black rosettes.  But they are only black when they’re exposed to full sun.  In the winter or in the shade, they turn green.
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Aeoniums are ridiculously easy to look after because they don’t need any attention at all.  They are drought tolerant, so never need watering and if, by chance, you tread on one and a branch falls off, all you need to do is stick the branch in the ground (or in a pot if you aren’t feeling completely lazy) and a few weeks later a new plant will be growing merrily away.  This is why you need ever only buy one Zwartcop, because whenever you feel like another all you have to do is snap off a branch.