I have two Aloinopsis malherbei. Bought at the same place, cared for identically by me. Yet one prefers to live indoors, and the other is a wildnerness lover. Who says plants don't have personalities? Here's my indoor Aloinopsis:
All peachy flowers (gorgeous!), new leaves, as happy as can be. But my other Aloinopsis was sort of yellow (it was yellow when I bought it, but I wanted 2), not really growing, just skulking about. So as an experiment I moved him outside. I'm Zone 9, and they are Zone 10/11 plants, and these dunes are harsh. So he has a north-facing spot which still gives plenty of sun down here, and we only freeze once every few years, and never a hard freeze, either. So we'll see. He gets extra waterings from me with acidified water, and I upped the acid content of the outdoor soil. He's definitely been perking up, a few new leaves showing, not nearly so much yellow now, the leaf tips have gone green. Maybe he just likes living next to that cute Nananthus....
Speaking of which, what is going on in the Wild World of Plant Names?? I know DNA studies have been changing everything, but it seems like Nananthus and Aloinopsis are used interchangeably at the moment, what's up with that?
UPDATE: I am just starting to educate myself on the workings of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (more discreetly known as the APG)- the third paper came out about 3 years ago, so I'm catching up, and it does seem as though Nananthus and Aloinopsis are indeed related, but not interchangeable.
Nice looking plants.
ReplyDeleteThank you, they are really fun little plants.
ReplyDeleteJust found a dried up seed pod on my plant, what do I do next ?
ReplyDeleteYou can soak it and remove the seeds, dry them, and plant them. There are some videos on YouTube that show you how, it's pretty fine handiwork, but can be done. You can email a couple of the cactus nurseries and ask them for specific how-tos on seed removal/preservation.
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