New Lithops

So it hasn't been a very plant-y or blog-y summer. Between my thesis, cottaging, camping and the sadness from losing 2/3 of my lithops collection this spring, I just haven't had the heart to blog :(

I'm still pretty disheartened over the beating my collection took. We've had a much drier and hotter summer here than last summer, but also so much more humid. And I was stupid and put one tray of lithops outside on a bench that critters could easily climb. And climb they did, climbed and nommed a bunch of plants. Poor plants.

On the positive side, I have a ton of lithops, mesemb and caudiciform seedlings just waiting to be planted.

So why haven't I planted them yet? Well, THV and I are moving in a few weeks. Super excited to have our own place again. Once we are settled in I'll be planting like mad. No point in have fancy seeds if you don't at least try to turn then into fancy plants.

My local nursery finally got in some lithops plants this week (after a year and a half of waiting!). Surprisingly the plants are of much better quality than you usually see for nursery lithops in Canada. They even had L. dorotheae! The top picture is what I brought home with me - three dorotheae and a mystery lithops that I haven't identified yet. I'd have gotten a few other pots, but at $20 each it was too expensive, particularly with the upcoming move.

I did bring my camera with me and took some shots in the nursery:

L. marmorata (I think):

More L. dorotheae:

A whole pot of the mystery 'thops (sorry for the poor picture quality), can anyone identify it?:

Hopefully this post will break my blogging slump. I've missed it!

A visit to Humber Nurseries: the lithops section

The title of this post is kinda misleading, since there really wasn't a lithops section so much as a tray of sad, over-watered 'thops. I didn't find any gems that I wanted to risk my money on this year, although looking at the picture I kinda wish I had picked up the middle one on the far right row.

Maybe next year I will get lucky and arrive when the tray is new and not picked-over. I don't know why I have this urge to hunt for adult lithops when I've managed to amass a huge seed collection in the past year - far more than I can possibly grow with in my current setup. Must be the thrill of the hunt and the desire to rescue the poor things....but only if they look worth saving.

There was also this bigger pot, with a multi-headed clump:

Not bad, all things considered, but still overfed and over-watered. At $20 I just couldn't bring myself to go for it with so many other plants to tempt me.

A visit to Humber Nurseries

Spring is returning to Ontario, and with it my urge to garden, grow and generally think about all things plant-y.

Last weekend we made our annual trip down to Brampton for family visiting, a trip that has gotten even better since I realized that one of the largest nurseries in the province is only 15 minutes from our hotel! I had great success during last year's visit and was exited to see what I would find this year.

I was positively vibrating at this point!

The Tropical House - by far my favorite place! Also pretty much the only place I've seen at Humber, since we always seem to be really pressed for time when we visit. 30 minutes just isn't enough time to take in even a fraction of the nursery grounds!

Inside the tropical house! It's huge! Many times the size of the tropical greenhouse at the one nursery in our area that actually bothers to carry tropicals. And the plants at Humber are much healthier and cheaper.

A whole shelf of air plants. The grey ones in front are huge!

Bonsai section. I didn't linger too long here - my New Year's resolution was to not take up any new hobbies this year!

I'm not sure these guys would really qualify as "rare and unusual" since you can buy them at Home Depot and Wal-Mart pretty easily.

Tucked at the back of the tropical house - rows and rows of herb seedlings, waiting for warmer weather.

Love the maroon patterning on this guy!

An agave! I'm not usually an agave fan, but this one appealed to me and I really wanted to take it home....

until.....

$25?! Yikes no!

Now, I'm a bit of a hypocrite here, since I did end up buying a plant that cost $33, but it's all about spending your money on what you really want. Right?

It's alive!!!!!!!

We were eating supper the other day when THV excitedly pointed out that two nearby plants weren't dead.

So much faith in my horticultural abilities that boy has :)

I'm thankful I was warned by the lovely lady who started these seedlings for me that Jatropha podagrica loses it's leaves in the winter. I was a bit surprised they did it while still so young and likely would have tossed them out at Christmas time without the advice.

I wonder if they will get very big and fat this summer?

Lithops fulviceps lookin good!

L. fulviceps, a bit dusty after a winder indoors, but looking healthy!

The weather here has be unusually warm....like 10 degees (Celsius) above normal. The snow is melting, the geese are coming back and the wonderful smell of warming soil is getting me excited for spring!

I took all of my lithops out from under the grow lights for the first time in months and inspected each one. A few seedlings have died, but it looks like all of my adult plants have made it through their first winter with me just fine. Most are busy changing their leaves and getting ready for another summer basking in the sun.

Can't wait until I can put all the lithops outside and free up room under the lights for starting seedlings. I've amassed a big collection of lithops seeds over the past year, and have no room to plant them!

Stubborn Lithops pseudotruncatella

So this guy has been done changing his leaves and sitting around encased in a dried wrapping for, oh, a good 4 months now. I've given him two good drinks of water and he has been completely uninterested in breaking free.

I finally noticed why this morning.

The little bugger was busy making another set of leaves. Wtf plant? Kinda like Rika's confused fulviceps.

I got out my finest tweezers and cleaned off the old, dried leaves. Not sure if I really should have, but I really don't think the plan needs them anymore.

Voila:

Hopefully he doesn't die.

Well crap.

Looks like my sago palm is on its' way out.

I've never had any luck keeping these plants alive. This is probably the 4th one I've tried to grow over the years. Just can't seem to figure out what the trick is with these guys. This one was outside all summer, the leaves stayed green and healthy-looking, but it never grew any new leaves. Just noticed it starting to brown up and die the other day.

Any advice?

Dioscorea elephantipes update

Just posting a more recent picture of my oldest Dioscorea elephantipes. Lots of heart-shaped leaves, and he keeps growing at a slow and steady pace, even in the face of my currently spastic watering schedule. Man I love this plant! Still have three others tangled together in a pot and it doesn't seem to bother them in the least.


Obligatory caudex shot - it's small but there!

The little flower machine

I don't know much about Faucaria paucidens except that they grow like weeds. I wish all mesembs were so amiable. This Faucaria has been more or less constantly in flower since late September - you can see the older flower heads to the left of the current one. I wonder when he will get tired and take a rest for the winter?

Peeking

L. lesliei C1

Lo and behold, things are happening even in the depths of winter! Some pictures of my lithops changing their leaves. Many more in my collection are doing the same thing, just picked some of the more interesting ones. Looks like a few will be becoming two-headed this year, which saddens me since my favorites are always large, single-headed plants. But I guess it means they are happy.

L. hookeri

L. halli

L. gracilidelineata (C261)

.

Winter blues and bugs

Wow, I really didn't think it had been so long since I last posted. It seems like my urge to post dried up when I brought most of my plants in for the season and they are mostly crowded around windows or tucked away under the grow lights. 

Plus I've switched computers (again) and I'm always slow about getting my camera software setup on a new comp and all the settings arranged for maximum posting ease.

Working on it though, in between family illnesses, thesis, Christmas shopping, making Christmas gifts etc. etc.

Should have something to post soon - did my first detailed plant inspection in awhile and some of my Huernias seem to have contracted a bad case of the mealies. They are crowded in with other succulents in one of the few west-facing windows in the house, so I forsee a vast bug-murder spree in my future. I also suspect red spider mites are kicking about too. Argh!

Sigh I hate dealing with pests, particularly in wintertime when it's hard to spread things out.

Luckily my beloved lithops and other mesembs are kept in a completely different part of the house from the rest of my plants so they seem fine for now. 

Mystery lithops

I got this guy back in the spring, from a nursery, sadly unlabeled. I know that nursery lithops aren't supposed to be that great and often die unexpectedly. Much to my surprise this one was happy enough to flower! And a pretty white flower at that.

Still stumped about the species though I'm hoping the flower colour will narrow things down. Maybe a L. karasmontana?

Anyone have a suggestion?

A little bit of luck

Some background:

I have all of my mesembs under one 2 bulb, 24" fluorescent light fixture. You can fit a lot of 'thops in a small space, but things are really tight under there right now. I was barely able to fit everything back inside under the lights once the weather started cooling down. If some plants hadn't died over the summer I would have been in a real pickle.

Needless to say I've been coveting this:

image from: http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?cat=2,44716&p=10549

The three-tiered one of course.

Actually I've been wanting one since high school.

The price has always stood in the way though: at $525 that is far outside what I can ever justify spending to light my plants.

So my plan was to make a do-it-yourself one when I move out, a la Gayla

And then I got lucky: the lovely lady mentioned in this post also had a three-tiered Floralight she was looking to sell.

For $100.

I might have squealed.

The bottom light fixture wasn't working, but my wonderful, talented dad had it fixed in 15 minutes.

And now it sits in pieces, in the garage with the rest of my life. Waiting for the day when THV and I move into our own house. I get giddy thinking about all the seedlings I can start in this thing. And all the lithops that will fit on it!

One day.....

White lithops flowers! finally!

Sorry for the disappearance - am in the middle of finishing up my M.Sc. thesis and headed to the cottage for a few weeks of quality writing/editing time - with no distracting internet. Or central heating. Or running water.

I actually took these photos before I left, just haven't had a chance to post them. My L. juliis have white flowers! So beautiful. Today the flowers are all shriveled and dried, but I'm hoping my attempts at paintbrush pollination worked and I'll have seed pods.

Another one of my 'thops flowered while I was gone, also white. I'm not sure what species it is, but white flowers seem to be rarer so maybe it will help me narrow things down. I'll try to get a picture of it this weekend.

Another pic, cause they are so pretty:

More lithops flowers to come!

L. juliis starting to show flower buds

More lithops flowers to come. I am particularly excited about these juliis. Both are developing flowers, which means I can try and pollinate them and get a seed pod. Mind you this plant came to me with a seed pod, which I saved, so I'm not sure I need more seeds...but what the heck.

Also if I peer deeply into the maw of my L. marmorata v. elisae it looks to be developing a bud too.

Crevasse of L. marmorata v. elisae.

I hope one of these plants have white blooms!

Lithops flowers!

L. terricolor "localis" in flower

WOOT!

Came home from a thesis hideaway to find that my three lithops have flowered! Took the pictures right at sunset; I really like the quality of the light at this time of day, will have to try sunset picture taking again.

I swirled a paintbrush (aka surrogate insect) around the flowers for the heck of it. I know hydrid lithops aren't supposed to be very vigorous or interesting, but I figured what the heck, why not try to get some sort of a seed pod.

L. dorotheae flowering, but stubbornly closed

My L. fulviceps has already finished flowering - I didn't take a picture of him since the flower was shriveled.

The plant that should be underwater, but isn't.

Thats right! An adult Bowiea volubilis! I've only been wanting one of these guys since high school, only recently started seeds to grow my own.

And lo and behold, there were several awesome looking bowieas at the plant sale I've been posting about for the past few days.

I was good.

I restrained myself to one.

A small one at that.

But what an awesome looking plant! And thanks to my awesome high school plant buddy for reminding me of what we called these guys as we poured over houseplant books, dreaming and plotting and yearning for unusual plants. The plant that should be underwater but isn't.

Check out the bulb (caudex?):

Sigh, I can die a happy plant collector now.

What am I going to do if all 8 of my bowiea seedlings survive? Giveaway?

New succulents and caudiciforms - Part 3

Part 1 & Part 2

Aloe ssp.

This guy was brought as a giveaway that no one else was interested in (seems like pups of this plant have made their rounds of the club before). So I took pity and gave him a home, even though aloes really aren't a strong interest of mine. Someone mentioned the species name, and of course I forgot to write it down :(

Oxalis ssp.

Not a succulent. Not a cacti. Not a caudiciform. Not sure what possessed me to pick this guy up. Love the red leaves, not sure he will survive long since I have a tendency to under-water cacti and succulents. Normal plants don't usually stand a chance with me.

Yet another euphorbia...

...neat plant! neat pot!

Crassula ssp?

I think this is some type of crassula (same genus as Jade plants)....so tiny and adorable!

Trichodiadema bulbosum - I think

This guy needs a haircut, but ignoring that - check out the roots on him! Gorgeous!

That concludes my tour of all the new plants I picked up....with one exception, one I am so excited about it deserves its' very own post!

New succulents and caudiciforms - Part 2

See Part 1

Fockea crispa?

The tag says Fockea crispa, and google seems to support that it's a fockea, not convinced its a crispa though, the leaves seem more like other species of fockea. An adorable little caudiciform! Pictures of more mature plants are spectacular. Gives me something to aim for with this guy!

Dorstenia ssp., flowering!

I have a weakness for caudiciforms if you haven't noticed already :P Love the flowers on this guy! Technically it's an inflorescence, I think. 

Jatropha podagrica seedling

After my trials and tribulations growing these from seed (undocumented on this blog apparently), a club member kindly started on for me!

A euphorbia!

Seems similar to my beloved Euphorbia obesas. Man I love strange plants!

Lapidaria margaretae

And finally for this post: a very mature Lapidaria margaretae, I tend to prefer to look of these guys when they are young and only have one or two leaves (aka they look like rocks), but couldn't pass up this old gentleman.

Continued in Post 3