Monday, October 19, 2015

Even more spheroid flowers (7 pics)

This past weekend I could finally enjoy the lithops flowers and take some pictures. You're probably fed up with my attempts of setting up lithops flowers in a romantic but dark atmosphere but I like it. Also, it's best I can do without any equipment in the dark afternoons we are having these days :)

I got several L. verruculosa v. verruculosa C120 this summer. It never worked for me to grow them from seed so adult plants that are small in size might have a better chance. So far so good. And now even one flower has fully developed and opened. L. verruculosa is one of those rare lithops that have neither yellow nor white flowers, but these creme colored ones. Very pretty.


In contrast to that, here is one of my oldest plants flowering, L. gesinae v. annae C078. The first lithops flower featured in this blog was from this very plant. I've had it for 7 years. 


And here is one of the karasmontanas left that I purchased sometime in 2011, L. karasmontana ssp. karasmontana v. aiaisensis C224. It has produced many seeds in the past and I've recently sown some to give it a mate in the future.


I've mentioned before that the direction of my windows in the new apartment is slightly more to the east than in my old one. It means more sun in the mornings but it goes away earlier in the afternoons. Lithops flowers still open fine without it but it has an interesting effect on the stems. Some tend to grow into gramophones. I don't mind.


Other flowers are at their end and it has a certain beauty to it, too.


6 comments:

  1. That's why I really like verruculosa, different leaves, different flowers = beautiful plants :)

    Very good pics, thanks !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I agree, verruculosa are very attractive indeed. I could not grow them successfully before but with these I'm more confident. I have more experience now too so hopefully they have a long and productive life ahead of them :)

      Delete
  2. I have noticed the stalks on some Lithops flowers. Seems to happen if it is dull just as flowering begins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you might be right. Normally October is still quite warm and sunny but this year winter started at the beginning of October here in Trier. So maybe it's not only the slight direction change of my windows but also mostly the weather situation.

      Delete
  3. Hi...Sorry I have just started planting lithops and will need so advice. Recently all my lithops seems to be ejecting themselves out. Thus I moved them to deeper pots assuming that the long roots are stretching out and growing. Is this advisable?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If they are stretching out it is not a good sign. It means they get not enough light and way too much water. In fact in October they should not get any water at all (until approx. April). So keep them absolutely dry and they'll get wrinkled and and hopefully shrink back into flat shape. The goal is that the new leaves that will come out in March will be much shorter than the old leaves. That's why when you repot them do NOT bury them in the soil up to the top. Just put them in the soil ca, 1 cm of the plant body.
      In general, deep pots are good for them. So nothing wrong with transplanting your lithops into them :) Just keep them dry, don't bury them and give them as much light as possible.
      Also, roots should not grow in winter. They die off in winter because there is no water. They will revive in spring once you start watering again.

      Delete