In one of my groups on Facebook today, the question comes up about the legitimacy of Gold Nugget, and people stating that one of these was an imposter.

Kevin's book describes Gold Nugget as having pink tips.

Mountain Crest Gardens shows it with yellow tips and with pink tips. The ones I purchased have pink tips. Here's their versions:





Spring Hill Nursery has it with yellow tips:



Our own database shows it with either variation:



(I specifically chose two differing pics by the same owner)

And these are the pics in question today:





MCG describes this as a semp with shifting colours, but can anyone shed light on why they are so different looking? What causes one to have pink tips and one yellow tips?

Incidentally, I got a report from facebook over discussing these, I think mentioning pink tips is the problem... they removed my comment for going against community standards!

funny about the comment getting pulled.
There does seem to be a big differentiation in this one due to light conditions and season. I have observed both variations on the same plant at different times. However I do acknowledge the possibility of different variations of the plant existing. Recently I bought 3 large rosettes from the same dealer at different times. Two of them are identical, but differ from the third in form and color. Next time I get some good sunlight I'll post some pictures so you can see what I mean. Maybe because It's a sport it's not entirely stable? Or there could have been various sports that looked similar and are being sold under the same name. Currently I'm growing mine side by side in the same conditions to see if they homogenize.

Interestingly, here's one from another group, showing some tips with pink and some with yellow, during the shift in colours!

Hi Thea,

It's true! This one changes colors so much it's hard to believe it's the same plant. That's why I included a whopping 9 different pictures on the MCG page for Gold Nugget: https://mountaincrestgardens.c...

You can use the arrows to scroll through them. If you hover your mouse over the photos you can see the month in which they were taken. Those labeled as "Outdoors" are the exact same colony in my demo plots, taken in the four different season. Same colony, I promise! We've seen everything from plain green to bright yellow to hot pink and purple on this one. As always, sunlight is a huge factor, but this cultivar also seems to respond colorfully to cold temperatures.

Hope that helps!

I agree with Annie, this semp is a real color shifter. I have the same plant/source growing in two beds, one is partial shade, the other full sun. I will try to take photos today. Even in the full sun there can be varied results on color, depending on which side of the colony is getting the most sun (south side of colony, or north side of colony). That is one of the things I find so interesting about this cultivar. And yes, in August here is is a chartreuse/green that I find lovely.

Soil does make a huge difference, as does weather, sun, moisture, etc.

Something else that can influence color for 'Gold Nugget' is age of rosette. Here are two photos from today, 3/18/2020
These are in full sun and coming out of dormancy.


These are in partial shade.

Here are the 'Gold Nugget's I purchased recently. As you can see the color and form is different between the two and the one.

We'll see if they normalize now that their being grown side by side. It's been about a month so far and no change.
-Sol

It can take a full year for them to starting looking the same. The differences are caused by how they were grown. The bonus is that they are both beautiful.

Here is my patch of 'Gold Nugget'. The gold one upper left is one Chris gave me at clinic and the gold chicks are it babies. The others are the ones I was sent from Oregon. They been in here about a year.

I'm so looking forward to how mine grow, once I can get them in the ground!

You will love them Thea with all their spectacular color variations.

Julia yours look great.

Here are my 'Gold Nuggets' right next to each other.

Oh so pretty Nathaniel. What is not to love about that semp.

They are so insanely different! Reasons to love both of them for sure!

Here's mine from today. Insane color... almost gaudy, but that sells... right Kevin?
I'm considering devoting a large path of my semp garden to this one cultivar. I can see it from so far away.

I bet they can see those from outer space Tim.

The only 2 semps I have duplicates of, are one of the arachnoid minis, and the gold nuggets! I figure that from further away, they're the two that will make the biggest impact among all the other ones, as until you get closer, some look very similar to each other.

So I fully on board with enabling a whole path to them!

Here's a start... once begun, half done.

Whoa, Tim your 'Gold Nugget' is growing like crazy. That is going to be a real eye catcher when it gets going.
I can't wait to see how mine is going to like the new semp home.

That is going to look amazing!