Focusing on the positive (8 pics)

It's been a while. I'm still here, just trying to sort some things out in my life and get a clearer view on it. It's not easy.

What else is not easy? Growing plants bug-free and healthy in an environment that just bets against me every time. I have disposed of several plants that were either too tasty to bugs or couldn't grow well on a windowsill. Some species just need a better climate (greenhouse) to grow well in the long run and I am not able to give them that at the moment. I admit defeat. Better not to dwell on it though but focus on the positive results instead and try to make them even better. 

Adromischus, for example have been doing fine this year. This red-ish specimen has expanded a lot thanks to the fact that it was not flowering. It is always a compromise here: If the plant is flowering all summer it is not growing new leaves and if it is growing leaves there is no strength left to grow that huge flower stalk. At least that's what I noticed on the windowsill. And I think I prefer new leaves over flowers in this case. This Adromischus marianae v. herrei had a nice red color after last year's winter. The new leaves should turn from green to red in a couple of months too, I suppose.

There is also finally some progress on the leaf cuttings.

Aloinopsis schooneesii, like any Aloinopsis in my experience, is constantly fighting bugs. Nevertheless, it has been growing new leaves and branches. This plant started as a three-leaf-set seedling, growing sets of 3 leaves for a while even after having developed a regular looking side branch. This year it suddenly grew a set of five leaves and then 2 sets of 3 leaves from out of it. This plant is full of surprises.

No surprises with lithops. Most of my plants are already showing new leaves but it will take months for them to fully digest the old leaves. I think I need to support them more with fertilizer next year. Normally I do not use any but if the weather allows it might be beneficial. They seemed kinda weak to me this past year. 

Also, just wanted to show you this little Sedum multiceps. I got it several months back. Normally I don't grow Sedums but this one was too cute. Apparently you can trim it into a bonsai tree.

Flowers in August (12 pics)

It's been too long! I've been mostly ignoring my plants this past month and consequently the blog. But I was still taking photos of the flowers whenever I could catch them. They are a rarity on the windowsill and always deserve attention. Luckily lithops flowers are still fully open when I come home from work (resulting in some dark and eerie photos as usual). And conophytum flowers last for several days making it possible to catch them on weekends. 

Conophytum flowers are a welcome change to the usual white and yellow of the lithops.

Here is some orange I've never seen before. Conophytum x marnierianum (MG1430.35)

Conophytum fulleri was flowering beautifully. 

Conophytum pellucidum v. pellucidum 'pardicolor' ex. de Boer. I've had other C. pellucidum flowering but didn't catch them.

Conophytum bilobum ''deodum'' (MG1419.3)

As for lithops, I've had some flowers on L. bromfieldii lately.

Lithops bromfieldii v. insularis 'Sulphurea' (C362)

Lithops bromfieldii sp.

Lithops gesinae v. annae (C078) was growing 2 buds but aborted them for some reason (a rainy week might have changed its plans).

Two Adromischus marianae v. herrei (green form) had grown impressive inflorescences that are hard to capture on a photo. 

Anacampseros are still flowering from time to time. These An. retusa seedlings, for example, growing more flowers now. Unfortunately they don't seem to want to open them. But they do produce seeds. 

And Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsis is going crazy. The flowers are normally underappreciated so here are some close-ups :)

New lithops 2017 - Part 2 (13 pics)

To continue with the report on the new lithops acquisitions, here are some other newcomers.

Within L. olivacea there are the green L. olivacea v. olivacea species and the pink-ish L. olivacea v. nebrownii. I have one greenie so it was time to get some pink plants as well.

Lithops olivacea v. nebrownii MG1671.9

Among the L. schwantesii I own there are many greens and blues and lilacs but until now none of the yellows. Check!

Lithops schwantesii MG1729.15

Unfortunately there was no second plant of L. naureeniae in Essen but having one is also fine. This is the first time I'm growing it.

C304 Lithops naureeniae MSG2491

L. coleorum are also new to me. I got this adult plant to later grow together with my two seedlings.

C396 Lithops coleorum MSG2890

Also there are finally some of the C4xx range on the windowsill. Not that I was specifically targeting those. All courtesy of a very generous friend.

C412 Lithops fulviceps v. laevigata. I have several milky L. fulviceps v. lactinea and green "Aurea" plants. There are finally some reds among them.

C417 Lithops karasmontana ssp. karasmontana v. immaculata. These are so nice and pale I barely recognize them as karasmontana. Very well-grown plants.

Ex C369A Lithops karasmontana ssp. eberlanzii "Purper" or "Purpur". No matter the name, the color is very unusual and I feel honored to get a chance to grow them.

Speaking of karasmontana, here is the Lithops karasmontana v. lericheana, otherwise known as The Croissant.

I also got two multi-headed plants. I have not had much luck with such plants before but decided to try again hoping I now have more experience. C010 Lithops lesliei ssp. lesliei v. lesliei is a very compact plant and shouldn't make any troubles.

The C042 Lithops bromfieldii v. insularis is of course bigger. But L. bromfieldii are usually happy and carefree so I'm not worried.

BONUS

More flowers are coming!

One of the 2009 Lithops gracilidelineata seedlings is growing its very first flower. Wow, 8 years? Really?

And another of the C078 Lithops gesinae v. annae, too. I hope it is a good sign for the flowering later in the season.

Breaking news (2 pics)

This just in. The first lithops flower of the season!

Quite early. But L. gesinae v. annae (C078) always is. I had one blooming in June once. The precious little sun 💗

Also, one of the Delosperma cooperi seedlings (one of those bonsai guys) has flowered for the first time. It's kinda a big deal for me. I've been waiting for this for years! Finally!

Lithops plant size: Part 1 (17 pics)

One of the most common questions I am asked is about the size of my lithops plants and pots. While the part about pots is easily answered - 5 x 5 cm and 8,5 cm deep - it doesn't exactly clarify how big the plants are. I'm always writing about "the smaller the better" under windowsill conditions but how small is "small" exactly?

After having grown lithops for 10 years it is very clear that in order to grow them successfully under my conditions they absolutely need to be small. If watered (or fed) slightly too much they will stretch into unhealthy shapes and choke on their leaves during regeneration. If a plant is grown from seed by me it will increase in size extremely slowly. If I buy a large adult plant it will reduce its size at least by half during the next 1 or 2 leaf changes and stay like this (unless it dies). To get to the exact size of the plants I grow, imagine a 5x5cm pot and then imagine 8 adult plants growing in it. Or let's say rather 4 two-headed plants which would be more accurate. That's the limit that works for me without them squeezing each other out of the pot. It doesn't mean I follow through with it though. Sometimes I don't want to mix different species in one pot. Sometimes a plant looks great when it's presented individually. They do grow better I believe when potted in clusters but that's a story for another time.

According to various sources, L. aucampiae, L. pseudotruncatella, L. gracilidelineata and maybe L. hookeri belong to the larger species. And I'm talking about size of an individual head, not the ability to branch out. Let's see how this holds up on the windowsill.

I will measure the heads across the longest side. It will represent the plant size as of today, during active growth and regular water intake, not directly after regeneration when they are the smallest. I believe this is the average value even though they might increase in size a little bit until Fall (1-2 mm max).

The largest plants I have are Lithops gesinae v. annae (C078). They reach 2.2 cm consistently every year without any trouble regenerating and without any fertilizer or excessive watering. I've grown them for several years and it's always the same. I'd actually recommend them for beginners. My first plant came in 2008 when lithops were fairly new to me.

This below plant is two-headed and each head measures 2.2 cm.

As a contrast to that, L. gesinae v. gesinae (C207) are really small. The larger plant's head size is 1.3 cm while the smaller is 0.9 cm. It also seems to be a fixed value every year. They don't get bigger at all and are slow to regenerate.

L. aucampiae are considered large but on my windowsill they are no bigger than the regular L. lesliei (in fact some of my L. lesliei are larger than L. aucampiae). The largest plant I have is this L. aucampiae sp. at 1.9 cm. I got it from a gardening store rather bloated but it came back to this size after a couple of leaf changes and it works for it.

L. aucampiae 'Storm's Snowcap' (C392) plants I got from a specialized grower a couple of years ago measure 1.4 cm per head, which is the same size as my own 5 year old seedlings of L. aucampiae ssp. aucampiae v. aucampiae 'White Flower' (C002A). 1.4 cm is also the size of my L. aucampiae ssp. euniceae v. fluminalis (C054)

Let's check L. gracilidelineata. My mixed seedlings are from 2009 so you can say they are of adult size. I have 3 larger plants and 3 smaller. The larger plants measure 1.8 cm.

The smaller specimen are 1.4 cm.

Moving on to L. dorotheae, as they seem to be quite large. All the below are 1.7 cm

L. dorotheae de Boer

L. dorotheae (C300)

This L. dorotheae (C300) however is slightly smaller, measuring 1.5 cm across. It compensates with its 3 heads I guess.

I only have one L. olivacea v. olivacea (C055) so it's not exactly representative. The head size per se is not very large but this two-headed plant is massive all in all and occupies one pot by itself. Same as L. gesinae v. annae, it regenerates into the same size every year and maintains it without any help. The head size is 1.7 cm.

To sum things up, it seems that the average head size of larger specimen of lithops on the windowsill is around 1.7 cm. I will continue this topic and review the smaller plants next time.