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| Category: Succulent |
| Family: Piperaceae (Peppers) |
| Origin: Ecuador (South America) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: Green |
| Bloomtime: Summer |
| Synonyms: [Peperomia sp. ISI 93-47] |
| Height: 1 foot |
| Width: 1-2 feet |
| Exposure: Shade |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 30-32° F |
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Peperomia sp. "Bill Baker" (Baker's Radiator Plant) – A very nice and unusual succulent plant somewhat reminiscent of a Aeonium that has thick leafy stems up to a foot tall topped by a 4 inch wide loose rosette of 2 inch long obovate recurving leaves that have a thick transparent water storing layer over the mid green tissue, giving the leaves a glossy polished surface. In early summer appear the 1 to 2 foot tall branching inflorescences tipped with 4 inch long thin light green spadices that are both interesting and attractive. Plant in morning sun to light shade and irrigate occasionally to regularly. This plant has been hardy for us outdoors in our shade house where it has experienced short duration temperatures down to 31° F. We have only grown this plant in a container so do not know how it would grow in the ground but it makes an attractive container plant in the shade in a mild climate garden. This plant was first introduced by the International Succulent Introduction (ISI) program in 1993 as ISI 1993-47 Peperomia sp. from rooted cuttings from a plant the Huntington Botanic Gardens had as accession HBG 65483 that they received from Bill Baker, who had collected seed of the plant in 1989 in a Schinus molle riparian woodland 14km SW of Catamayo, at 1 km toward Vicente Protegenos from the highway between Catacocha and Loja, Ecuador. The name for the genus name comes from the Greek words 'peperi' meaning "pepper" and 'homoios' meaning "resembling" as the plants resemble the closely related true black pepper, Piper nigrum. We were fortunate to get this plant from John Bleck who "won" it at the Ganna Walska Lotusland Exceptional Plant Auction in 2013. Lotusland had received this plant from ISI in 1995.
The information about Peperomia sp. "Bill Baker" displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
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