Lithops portraits 2018 (15 pics)

In case you haven't noticed I'm on vacation :)
Which means finally time to take care of my (mostly plant related) hobbies. And I don't have to tell you how much I enjoy the company of my cat. All of it is so relaxing. Playing with Mila, checking on the plants, napping with Mila, taking some plant pictures. It's the paradise on earth. I hurt my back recently (which sucks) but it gives me a legit excuse to just be lazy and enjoy myself.

Now I'm just gonna spam you with some Lithops photos :D

L. ruschiorum. Love their new faces.

L. marmorata. Very slow old leaf digestion.

L. marmorata 'Polepsky Smaragd'. Good shape and color is only possible by very careful watering.

L. localis. These guys start to stretch as soon as I start thinking of watering them. They are tiny but it's the only way to keep them alive.

L. aucampiae are more difficult than you think. I've killed a lot of them so far. This is a really nice specimen though.

L. bromfieldii v. mennellii. Love the texture.

L. lesliei ssp. burchellii (C302). Love the fluid pattern.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. venteri. Nice and flat. Got them as adults in 2011.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. venteri 'Ventergreen' (C001A). These are 7 year old seedlings.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. lesliei 'Albinica' (C036A). Got them in a hardware store in 2012.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. lesliei (grey form) (C008). Got them in 2010.

L. bromfieldii v. insularis (C042). I haven't had a very good experience with multiheaded plants in my environment. But L. bromfieldii are hard to kill so I gave it a try last year. It regenerated fine so it should be okay now.

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.

Growing Lithops, year after year (9 pics)

Those of you who have tried growing adult Lithops know that the first year or two are crucial. The plant you bought might have been either too small and too weak, or too big, overfed and stretched or it just might not have liked your environment and died due to acclimation. I've been growing Lithops for over 10 years now, and the good news is - once a plant has survived those first 2 years and found its most efficient size and shape, it will just keep going. 

(You can find my detailed report on appropriate Lithops sizes and shapes - for windowsill conditions and all natural light - here, here and here.)

I have complained before that it was difficult for me to keep L. julii and L. karasmontana alive long. Looking back, it seems this was mostly because they tend to stretch. Getting a stretched Lithops back in shape is rarely successful. Getting a slightly stretched Lithops back in shape is possible but it takes a couple of years. And if it survives the process it'll be fine. In fact, once in shape it stays in shape.

I've had the below L. julii ssp. fulleri v. brunnea (C179) for 10 years now. This small round shape is, in my experience, the most "safe" one. Once my L. julii or L. karasmontana have it, they stay on course. Last year, it skipped regeneration, but regenerated just fine this year.

This is another example. I've had this L. julii since 2013 (bought in a hardware store). According to my photo records, it took the current shape around 2015 and kept it ever since.

The below two nameless L. julii are from the same hardware store bunch. However, after several stretched regenerations, they got into the round shape only this year. I'm hopeful they are now on the safe side. 

This orange L. karasmontana shares the same story. I bought it slightly stretched in 2015 but for the last couple of years, once it settled down, it's been doing great.

This L. karasmontana ssp. karasmontana v. aiaisensis (C224) has been in my care since 2011. Going strong.

Of course it is best to make sure the plant is short and small from the start. Since most of us order plants online from a list these days, without knowing what they look like, it's not that easy.

Here are some plants I could select myself when I bought them back in 2015.

L. julii ssp. fulleri v. brunnea (C179)

L. karasmontana v. lericheana (C330)

Another L. karasmontana v. lericheana, 6 heads, bought last year. Short as the heads are, it should be fine now.

Hand-selecting is not always a guarantee though. I picked these two last year, and this year, one is very late with its leaf change. If it survives it will be late next year as well. I doubt anything good will come out of it.

As always, sorry for all the cat hair in the pictures.