Lithops, my old friends (10 pics)

After yesterday's lithops post I've been feeling nostalgic, browsing through old photos and blog entries. Since I was talking about plants I've had for years I got curious and wanted to see what I wrote about them back then.

It's hard to decide whether it is depressing or uplifting to see those old photos. The plants I got as adults look just as fresh and shiny now as 8 years ago. There is no difference at all. Meanwhile I am getting older and for sure don't look the same. Yearly rejuvenation was a good choice.

Here is a photo of a L. dorotheae (C300) I took this week and here is the entry where I mention this plant for the first time, in 2010, when I was still in Japan.

These two I bought the same year in Japan as well. It is the "de Boer" variety of L. dorotheae with a stronger coloring. It seems back in 2010 these were the first L. dorotheae I grew.

And their own two-year-olds look promising, too.

This slightly unusual L. dorotheae (C300) has grown 2 heads compared to the 2012 photo. 

L. olivacea v. olivacea (C055). Such a happy plant first mentioned sometime in 2011.

And these guys! They are my absolute favorites! And it has nothing to do with the fact that they are the first Lithops I grew from seed back in 2008. Ok, it's partly the reason :D 

But they have the most perfect color, pattern and shape. Stunning plants. 10 years old now.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. minor (C006)

These L. bromfieldii v. glaudinae (C382) were sown in 2010. I can not believe they made it.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. mariae (C141) from the same year. It took them several years to develop the typical mariae pattern and now here they are.

And of course the L. gracilidelineata from the year 2009. They survived my mother's generous care when I was studying in Japan and they have been flowering, too. 

Lithops make me feel old.

Transplanting some older seedlings (14 pics)

I've been transplanting some plants that probably didn't need any transplanting. What started as "these seedlings are kinda small for their age, better check the roots" ended up as "let's check them all!" I have ordered pumice from ebay lately and it was a bad idea. Now I'm back to my usual supplier. How great his stuff is in comparison! Transplanting is so much more fun when you are using good quality pumice. 

I'm generally proud of my seedlings, all of them. No matter how well-grown the plants are we buy from someone, plants grown from seeds always seem to be the prettiest of all to me. Not partial at all! ;D But, to be honest, the plants that have germinated and grown under the same conditions all their lives, really do appreciate it. You also have good control over their shape if you watch them closely and treat them accordingly. You know how big a fan I am of plants that are small and really flat to the ground. It is not easy to get such plants as adults. But with seedlings hatched and grown in pumice without any extra food, that is how they will eventually turn up looking. Not much effort involved. They grow very slowly though. And show their true patterns quite late. I'm not growing them for sale so that's okay.

The seedlings that appeared small-ish to me are the L. lesliei ssp. burchellii (C308), sown back in 2011. It's been 5 years! You might remember them from here, here or here. Cute kids they were. Well, I'm not sure if that's it with their size and they won't grow any larger but they seem to be fit and strong with nice root systems. So maybe fresh substrate will give them a bit more energy. They show a variety of patterns and I tried to regroup them according to their looks. You would probably not notice the difference but I did have a system.

They also like to dig themselves in. Here is a "before" picture.

Squeeze and pull! That is why clay pots are not recommended, btw ;)

Also, it's absolutely okay to remove half of the fine roots, or even more, along with the rests of old substrate during transplantation. The fine roots grow back in no time. I think the trimming actually stimulates them.

The others I spontaneously decided to re-pot are the L. aucampiae ssp. aucampiae v. aucampiae 'White Flower' (C002A) seedlings I got from seeds of the plants I got from Mr. Shimada when I was living in Japan. Well, the parent plants were way too huge to survive long under my conditions. But at least I got seeds and this is what I have to show for it now. Back in 2012 they looked so week and ugly and strange. Then they got better and better and now they are such beauties! The uniform color, the perfect shape, the manageable size. I do mean to brag!

The size of Mr. Ingenwepelt's plants is what I'm going for so if we compare the L. aucampiae head size, mine should not get any bigger.

I've refreshed the substrate for some other seedlings too.

Some nameless L. lesliei seedlings.

The Ventergreens (C001A), from own seeds. They look all grown up but never flower. That's my curse :) At least the leaves look very pretty.

This L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. lesliei 'Storms’s Albinigold' (C036B) is two-headed but tiny, sown sometime 2008. One of my first.

This L. bromfieldii v. glaudinae 'Rubroroseus' (C393A) went a bit too far in its flatness. I have a bunch of "kinda small" Rubroroseus seedings while their siblings are already adult looking. New substrate it is.

Lithops portraits 2014 - part 2 (9 pics)

For a blog called Lithops Stories I sure don't show many Lithops pictures lately. It doesn't mean I've forgotten about them! There's just too much to discover among Mesembs that gets my attention between the two times in a year when Lithops "do stuff" - flowering and changing leaves. Still, summer is more or less the time to show off the plants themselves, without the distraction of old leaves or flowers. Since I do post seedlings pictures regularely the adult plants have barely been represented this year. That's why I'll be making a couple of posts to show you my grown-ups.

Firstly, there's a new plant I got at the C&S market 2 weeks ago. The seller didn't know the name but I knew very well what it was so I just grabbed it as soon as I saw it. I didn't have much luck with L. verruculosa so far but let's hope I've become wiser over the years and can give it a good new home.

Secondly, the surprise I got this morning! One of the L. bromfieldii v. insularis 'Sulphurea' has unexpectedly grown a flower. Hopefully others will bloom in the fall.

Others are pretty much doing what they are supposed to do this time of the year - soaking up the sun.

I'm still calling these seedlings because they haven't flowered yet but they were sown 2008 and 2009 and are pretty much adults now. Maybe they will flower this year?

More photos soon~

Some two-headed-ness (10 pics)

These days you can feel the spring and the regeneration that took the lithops so long to do before progresses in no time. The new leaves are getting bigger every day and the old ones disappear. 

Quite some of them have gotten two-headed and I'm especially glad to see the plants I grew from seed do that ♥

Here come the stories!

These two L. lesliei v. minor C6 belong to my very first lithops sowing back in 2008. Yes, they are this old! Under windowsill conditions and without any doping they mature very slowly. They haven't flowered yet but this year there were dried up rests of flowers inside so at least they tried. Maybe they'll have more strength this year. After all the chances have doubled now ;)

A random L. lesliei 'Albinica' C36A. It doesn't have any stories to tell yet. You can see my finger nail on the photo for some scale XD

I got these L. hallii v. ochracea C111 in 2010 as tiny seedlings. They are still quite small but at least there are more heads now.

These L. bromfieldii v. glaudinae C382 you know from their very young age. :D Sown back in 2010 they turned out to be very grateful plants with the most agreeable character. One of them has now two heads.

Other bromfieldii, L. bromfieldii v. insularis 'Sulphurea' C362, all went two-headed last year. This year one of them went triple. I read that Sulphureas eagerly grow multiple heads.

This L. julii ssp. fulleri v. brunnea C179 is actually a miracle. I could never keep any other L. julii alive for more than a couple of years but I have this one since 2008! It always regenerates properly and without any problems and never changes much except for this year. This change needs to be documented :)

The rest don't have stories yet. They are more or less new tenants, arrived in 2012 and 2013. 

And finally, the long-awated moment!

I guess I'll stop calling it "seedling" then :)

Nicely uniform

These lesliei v. minor C6 are also from my first seedlings bunch back in 2008 and still haven't flowered yet. They make up for it by being so uniform in their color and markings. The one that is different is regenerating early every year so that the leaves are now "older" and paler.

Own seedlings became two-headed

I was sure I've already shown you this year's photo of these guys but I surprisingly haven't. These two lesliei 'Storms Albinigold' C36B (green body/yellow flowers) are my own seedlings from 2008. Yes, they are 5 years old already! Quite small and short though. This year they both regenerated into two heads making me very proud. 

Breaking news!

This is going to be the event of the year among lithops! :D

Finally a plant I've grown from seed is going to flower! Such a miracle. I'm so looking forward to it. Just like I've been looking forward to it for 5 years.

None of the flowers you get from plants you bought is as precious as a flower on a plant you've grown yourself. :) One of the reasons - if not the main reason to sow.

I've known them since they were seeds

My very first seedlings finally look like grown-ups. Now the only thing left is to see the flowers. Fingers crossed for this year ;)

Lesliei present a nice shape and a uniform color.

Aucampiae couldn't be more different despite the same Cole-Nr.

And there's only one from the pseudotruncatellas left.

(To see their progress click seedlings 2008 below)