Friday, July 20, 2012

Babytoes Blooms!

I really love Fenestraria. It's a much tougher plant than its lookalike, Frithia, much easier to care for, and has a beautiful flower as well (though it's not showy magenta, like Frithia's). It's a monotypic genus, all out there alone. The subspecies aurantiaca has yellow flowers. They hail from South Africa and Namibia. They are known as "Babytoes" here and are very popular; new shipments usually sell out in a couple of days at the local nurseries. Do any of you like or grow Fenestraria?

8 comments:

  1. Always a fav. as you mention. Looks nice in the pot. They love mistings, they grow in the mist belt, never more than 40km from the coast.

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  2. Beautiful plant and flower. Great photo too! :-)

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  3. Oh, btw, here's a recent photo of one (yellow flower) in its habitat on Flickr; http://www.flickr.com/photos/selectasucculents/7611623108/

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  4. So pretty! Didn't expect the flower to be sooo big :)

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  5. LE,
    When do you mist them, morning or evening? Or both? I mist the Tillandsias twice a day already, I can add these "misty mesembs" no problem. Thanks!

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  6. gaianursery,
    Thanks, and thanks for the link! Nice photo.

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  7. Rika,
    I didn't expect that, either- I thought it would be quite petite...a happy surprise!

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  8. I mist in the morning mostly - one of those who do not like water sitting inbetween mesembs at night. Some differ.

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