Happy New Year!

To all my wonderful readers, have a fantastic New Year's Eve celebration, and a Happy 2013!


Polar New Year, MR, 2012

 May your gardening in the New Year be both joyous and weird! There's always something new to learn when it comes to our chlorophyllian friends....




The Ever-Joyous Babytoes



A Tilly For the New Year: Tillandsia butzii

Ah, Tillandsia butzii, one of my favorites, and one of the "creepier" Tillies. They grow mostly in Southern Mexico and Panama, and they like their humidity and water. The outer leaves form pouches that usually house ants in the wild. The ants will leave detritus which gives food to the tilly, and the leaves protect the ants, so the relationship is symbiotic. Of course, when you grow them indoors, the tropical ants aren't so welcome! When you water indoor butziis, you have to be sure to drain those outer leaf pouches, or the plant can suffocate or rot. You can see a tiny pup on the lower left of the left-hand butzii.

You can see the lovely mottling of the leaves in this closeup as well. Beautiful!

We Three Lithops...

Wish You a Very Happy Holiday!!

The Three Lithops

See you all after the holidays! Have a wonderful time! And don't forget to show your weirdest plants off to your family and friends.

Lithops' Progress

Lots going on with the Lithops Gang this winter! Summers are so blistering hot down here, that most are fully active in midwinter, when it cools down to about 80F or so...sheesh!

Here are a few highlights.

Lithops karasmontana "Top Red"

Top Red is blooming, that white flower contrasted with the brick and pink is going to be lovely.

Many of the Lithops are "re-leaving" now. Sadly, humidity here is always about 50%, and usually around 80%, so even without watering, it takes my Lithops a long time to absorb their old leaves. I think this one will be OK. Audrey the francisci didn't make it, I would have had to put her in a dehydration chamber....




Lithops seedlings, 10 months

 The seedlings are doing well, about half now have their first adult leaf pairs. Each one looks quite different from the others, and I've even got a Conophytum calculus growing at the lower left. Party crasher!

Pensive Tuesday: Who Doesn't Fit In??

Sometimes, I have to take a look at my growing collection and think, who's not fitting in here??

Not that any of my plants are in any way disagreeable to me, not at all! It's just that some seem to need to be...somewhere else. That's what my outdoor cacti/succulent garden is for. That's what friends are for. For some plants, like the Mother of Millions, that's what other planets are for!

Happy Somewhere Else....

How do I define if a plant isn't doing well with the others? Well, of course, if it's ailing, I try to figure out where it would be happier. Often, that's outside. Sansevierias, for example, do better outdoors. They even bloom out there, which they pretty much never do inside a house.

For some, I just have too many. Kalanchoes grow so quickly, and every leaf can be the start of a whole new colony. That's what friends are for, right? That's what holiday gifts are for! I think everyone I know has at least one baby Panda Plant from my garden....

How do you manage your collection so that your house doesn't become a full-time greenhouse? Or are you busy knocking holes in your walls so you'll have more windows and windowsills for your plants??

Another Bloomin' Monday!

Not just another pretty face, my Mammillaria hahniana is now in full, crowning bloom. Wonderful!

Many Mammillaria cacti have a distinct "crown" of flowers, usually in the pink-to-purple range. Here's a closer look at the crown:

And never one to say "No" to a flower party, my Fenestraria is...doing what it always does. I love that delicate shade of peachy pink with the bright yellow center. The other Babytoes is getting ready to bloom as well; they usually bloom in tandem.

More Lithops are starting to bloom also, as are some of the Tillies. So more flowers to come, stay tuned.

For All of the Families and Friends....