I confess, I am a Steven Hammer fangirl. This man just amazes me with his incredible knowledge (firsthand) of growing mesembs of all kinds. Back in 1995, he published one of the most thorough articles on growing Mesembs, with a particular emphasis on Lithops and Conophytum, in the US-based
Cactus and Succulent Journal. It's now online thanks to NYU, and I have been reading it in sections (and trying hard to apply the knowledge therein) for over a year. I hope you all take a look, if you haven't already done so....
https://files.nyu.edu/ms689/public/AGM.html#sec12
And now, a few mesembs photos from my increasingly organized archive:
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| Clockwise from top- Argyroderma, Crassula, Faucaria, and the Inevitable Blooming Babytoes |
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| Blooming Lithops Basking in the Sun |
And here's the man himself:
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| Steven Hammer, Mesembs Expert |
Happy gardening, everyone!
I echo all of your comments about Steven Hammer and his writing. Not only does he know succulent plants, his writing is interesting, witty, and just plain enjoyable. I've had the pleasure of meeting Steven several times when he worked with Steven Brack at Mesa Garden and again when he was in Washington, D.C. speaking at one of the Eastern C&S Conferences. He is soft spoken and generous and a great figure in the world of succulent plants. I bought my first lithops seed from him. I still have one of his original lists of seeds, hand written on a single sheet of paper. I've recently bought his new book "The Titanopsis Group" and it's just a good as the others.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'm jealous! Those C&S conferences sound pretty darn good. I'm afraid that if I bought the Titanopsis book, I'd start collecting Titanopsis madly. And I have too many Tillies and Mesembs taking over my house as it is. Steven Hammer is very enabling when it comes to plant collections, his enthusiasm is infectious.
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