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.

Lithops gracilidelineata (2 pics)

I have started to water these L. gracilidelineata (own seedlings from 2009) and they have inflated immediately.

They are so dreamy! ♥

The photos are very large so make sure to click them.

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~

Gracilidelineata seedlings first to regenerate (5 pics)

My 2009 L. gracilidelineata seedlings are first to fully show their new faces this year. They looks so fresh and spotless. Since it is still dark outside I am not watering them and luckily they seem to be in a stasis for now, also waiting for the spring.

lithops seedlings update (4 pics)

Just a quick update on how some of my lithops seedlings are doing these days. :)

As you can see seedlings from 2012 are much bigger now and should regenerate shortly. Interestingly they all have had only one regeneration so far, being on an adult leaf change schedule right from the start. Jk, they are simply slow. ;) Quite big though (aucampiae) and desperately needing larger pots (bromfieldii).

Seedlings from 2011 are also about to change their leaves. The pancakes are such gems. Can't wait to see their next leaves, they must be much more adult-like.

Seedlings 2009, gracilidelineata, are already far along. As always, I hope for flowers next season.

gracili kids update

Sown in 2009 these gracilidelineata seedlings finally all present a long fissure of an adult plant. It took them four years. Everytime I see my seedlings from 2008, 2009 or 2010 I can't believe I got them as seeds. I wonder if this feeling goes away once you start growing hundreds of them. I don't think so.

Gracili kids all grown up

... or almost grown up. :)

It's the time of the year when our plants don't get enough light and - most importantly! - the camera doesn't either. :D It's all dark without a flash, so I've taken a couple of pics with it (allthough I normally try to avoid it) which are now too light, oh well.. I've sown these gracilidelineata back in 2009 (check out the old family photo!) and there are eight plants left now. Last year they've grown a bit too long but got corrected with this regeneration. The thing is they've regenerated recently but have the whole winter still ahead of them. I'm not watering to keep them from growing until the light situation is better. But I guess I'll have to water them if they get too wrinkly over the next months and just hope it won't ruin their shape. We'll see.

gracili are growing (probably too much)

It's spring for everyone. My gracilidelineata kids (2009 seedlings) are getting more and more massive (the largest plant is 2 cm) but also a bit too long. I'd have to correct that after this season, probably with a strict diet. Still, they have the most gracelful and smooth faces!

gracili seedlings

I've sown these beautiful gracilidelineata sometime 2009. There were seeds with four cole numbers C189, C261, C309 and C373 all in one pot but separated. Long story short, it got knocked over and the small seedlings got mixed up. Now, two years later, the survivors are doing well and, interestingly enough, look very uniform so that I'm guessing only one cole number survived. The question is which one? I bet on C261. What do you think?
(click for xxl)

little gracili

Continuing the posts about seedlings, here come the gracilidelineata which are one year younger than the plants from the previous post (more here).

There are three more of them but weaker and therefore in the "magic pot" (It IS magical! I put all the weak plants in it and they just start to thrive!)

regeneration

The gracilidelineata seedlings should be around 21 months now. I don't know how often they changed their skin during the time I wasn't around but they've decided to do so now and the newest leaf-pairs almost have the features the adult plants would have. While the most of them are still small and their markings blurry (see the plant on the right on the group photo), four seedlings are larger and more adult-like. The one on the first pic just has the most beautiful face!

Back then I've sown C189, C261, C309 and C373 but they got mixed up so that I don't know which is which. It'll probably take a while before I can tell. But, don't the kids on pic 1 and 2 look like siblings? :)

PS: I finally have internet connection at home!

tadaima

I'm finally home! :) It was a long long flight that left me badly jet-lagged. Good thing it's still summer break and plenty of time to adjust... and to take lithops pictures of course!

Today's inspection ended in plenty of washing, transplanting and bug-spraying. But nevertheless there was almost no damage that can't be fixed, and all in all the plants look much better than I expected. And how they've grown! I was expecting them all to be cucumber-shaped but found mostly the opposite which was a huge relief. My mom took good (appropriate) care of them.

Since the most of the older plants have a mealy bug problem I've decided to repot all of them in the next days and finally switch to square pots while I'm at it. Pictures and reports will be posted asap. ;)

To start on a positive note, I'd like to show you my youngest gracilidelineata seedlings (around 16 months old). You can see last year's picture here. The half of them survived and have grown nicely (up to 1,4 cm in diameter). I'm so glad they've made it!

(click to enlarge)

gracilidelineata kids

These are my youngest lithops "hatched" in April. They didn't get much care from me. I've potted them into pumise stones as they were 3 or 4 weeks old and treated them as grown-ups ever since. I think they've turned out quite well though.

It's a mix of C189, C261, C309 and C373. Because of a small accident, I can't tell which is which now. (Maybe when they're big enough?)