The Annual Garden Tally: So What Am I Growing, Anyway?

I finally got around to my annual plant tally this week, and here are the results:
Type of Plant/Number of Plant

Lithops: 48. About a third now live outdoors in the ground rather than in pots. The seem to like it out there.

Tillandsias: 97. Yup, I'm closing in on 100. Good grief, somebody stop me! Most live indoors on my CD tower scaffolding, with about 7 living outside. Here's a shot from watering day (done outdoors, obviously).

Mesembs-That-Are-Not Lithops: 28
This includes quite a few Pleiospilos, Aloinopsis, Argyroderma, Marlothistella, and of course, Babytoes (Fenestraria). Others, too. About half live indoors, and half live outside.

Cacti: Mostly Mammillaria or hairy types, 17 all together....

So that's the tally, and obviously, I'd better get to watering these guys! Though my plants don't demand a lot of attention, with this many, it does add up. But hey, there's always room for one more, right? And we all need oxygen....

A Great Read for Mesembs Gardeners: Steven Hammer Online

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:

Clockwise from top- Argyroderma, Crassula, Faucaria, and the Inevitable Blooming Babytoes

Blooming Lithops Basking in the Sun

And here's the man himself:

Steven Hammer, Mesembs Expert

Happy gardening, everyone!

Pleiospilos Plethora, Part Two

The usual Pleios I see for sale are, of course, Pleiospilos nelii, the regular green kind, or with a slight magenta flush. The first I ever bought was this species. It's growing a new set of leaves right now:

And here's the top view, so you can see the newly emerging leaves a little better.

And as I mentioned in Part One, everything gets the same nametag, "Pleiospilos nelii"- even when it is clearly NOT a nelii!

Check out the one on the left. If that's a nelii, I'm Dr. Who!

Even the pleio on the right looks a little suspicious to me, the leaves are angled and not entirely round....

So I re-read the section in Doreen Court's excellent tome, "Succulent Flora of Southern Africa", to try to figure it all out. The revised edition just came out, so it has all the new names and explains what has been moved to where. On pg. 47, for those who are following along in their books, many Pleios were sent to genus Tanquana in 1986, while 3 others were exiled to Titanopsis Land.  Pleiospilos now has 2 subgenera. The first, Pleiospilos, is unbranched or only slightly branched, and includes nelii, bolusii, and simulans.  The second is branched and is called Punctillaria. There is only one species, compactus, which has 5 subspecies.

At this point I admit to some confusion as to what I am actually growing....But hey, they are all cared for in the same way, and they all have those wonderful polka dots.

Now is that a "come hither" look or what??



Pleiospilos Plethora Part One

My Lithops aren't doing much of anything at this time of midsummer--they really are imitating rocks, so I thought I'd look in on the Pleiospilos gang, which are doing a whole lot of new leaf generation this time of year! Here's the pink beauty of the bunch, Pleiospilos nelii, variety "Royal Flush".

She's posing with the Bloomin' Babytoes, and an Aloinopsis schoonesii.  Pleios are from the Karoo, so hot and dry is the way they like it. Even when actively growing, like this one is, Pleios don't seem to like much water. They love a good misting in the morning, then a sparse watering every 10 days or so. They have soil similar to my Lithops- very well-draining, lots of pumice/perlite. Granite chips on top to prevent rot. Light colored Lithopot so they can be getting lots of sun outside without the roots overheating.

Now here's a mystery.  Our local nursery, the only one that sells Pleios, labels all of them, every single one, "Pleiospilos nelii"--even those that clearly belong to a different species. The question for me, since I'm not an expert, is WHICH species?

So what do you think this one is, simuluans, compactus, or another?? I am thinking simulans, but I'm really not certain. It has some of the lovely pink of the "Royal Flush", so it could be a hybrid, actually....

I'll have more Pleios to show later. For now, try saying "Pleiospilos Plethora" ten times fast! ;-)

Frithia diva blooms!

OK, that's not the real name, it's a Frithia pulchra. But she's such a diva! She likes to have all conditions just so....Sometimes she gets pale and limp, then perks up and blooms right when I think she's a goner. She likes LOTS of morning sun, but not much afternoon sun or she limps out again. She prefers a nice glass of Viognier in the afternoon, to sip in the shade. (OK, I made that up, but it wouldn't surprise me....)

I read on Steve Hammer's website that Frithia really need an acidic environment with quartz in the mix. So she's got her quartz gravel in her soil now, and I'm adding vinegar to her water to make our very alkaline tap water (which I filter first) a pH of 6. That seems to be her perfect pH, at least for now...but maybe she would like me to move the house a little to the left??

An Excellent Read: Mesembs of the World

"Mesembs of the World" was penned by a host of well-known authors- Smith, Chesselet, Jaarsveld, Hartmann, Hammer, van Wyk, Burgoyne, Klak, and Kurzwell. Each one has a great love and huge store of knowledge about our favorite plant family- the Mesembs! Published by Briza in South Africa in 1998 in English, this substantial book has over 400 illustrated pages of pretty much every mesemb known to people at this point.

The book is divvied up into types of mesembs, such as "weedy", "tongue-leaved", and so on. This can be either useful or frustrating, depending on whether you want to look up an identified plant (frustrating), or are trying to identify some cool plant you just found (useful)! But if you're trying to find info on Aloinopsis, for example, there's a handy index in the back.

Each plant is described thoroughly and succinctly with excellent instructions on how to grow it at home. Even recommended soil types are given. The photography of each plant in its native habitat is extremely helpful. Each genus has a map to show where it grows, and a complete list of species.

It took me a while to find a copy of this but I'm so glad I did, it's really a treasure trove of information, and it's just a lot of fun to read!

Please Don't Call Me Lithops (Though I'm Awesome, Too)

I can't believe I found this mint-green cutie at a big-box store in the spring. They only had one, and it was labeled as a Lithops. It's an Argyroderma, or "silver skin" mesemb, and ain't it gorgeous?? Despite the cool and refreshing color, Argy seems to like a LOT of sun, so it's outside to catch the morning rays, then inside during the hot afternoons. Seems to want about as much water as cousin Lithops, in other words, not much. I'd love to find more of this genus someday. They hail from Namaqualand.