Flowering season of sorts (7 pics)

Winter is coming. It's dark when I go to work, it's dark when I come back home. Oh and the sun is rarely shining on weekends. That's a bit annoying after the rainy summer we've had here. Still, some lithops and conos have been flowering and there are currently 4 more lithops buds growing. That's not bad considering the conditions they had to endure this year. Strangely (or not?) the lithops that grew flowers this year are all the usual suspects, the plants they are flowering for me every year, L. bromfieldii 'Sulphurea', L. fulviceps 'Aurea' and L. dorotheae. If not for them I would not have any flowers at all. I'd recommend north-earopean growers to have those in their collection if they want to see flowers.

L. bromfieldii v. insularis 'Sulphurea' C362

L. fulviceps v. fulviceps 'Aurea' C363 

L. dorotheae C300

I kept last year's seed capsule to see if the plant will grow flowers out of the same head every year. This is what it's been doing for several years now. This year however the usual flowering head is resting while the other two are growing flowers.

Conophytums were more eager to flower. I could even catch flowers on the plants that have not flowered before.

Conophytum meyeri 'Leopardium' - that's one very yellow flower!

Conophytum verrucosum 

And of course Avonia quinaria ssp. alstonii was so kind to show some flowers as well. Good timing too - I was able to catch them on camera. I really want to grow these plants from seed. So far I was not successful.

New year, new life for lithops - part 1 (12 pics)

These past several days it was sunny at last and lithops are known to react to that. They're not wasting time. All of a sudden new shiny faces started popping up here and there. What was taking months to prepare progresses very quickly when spring comes. Some still have lots of resources to recycle, others have regenerated completely and are just sitting there, waiting for their first watering to start growing. Most of the plants below are my good friends since years and it's always a relief to see them go through their annual cycle timely and in a proper manner. The shapes and colors are all I can wish for, too. It really is absolutely possible to grow short and flat plants on a sunny windowsill in Europe, don't get discouraged! The trick is in watering timing, substrate and maybe in the small size of the pots, too. But it IS possible to grow them well year after year without artificial light, and if you like these plants you should try it ;)

C363 L. fulviceps 'Aurea' and C384 L. pseudotruncatella v. dendritica sharing a container. I should probably separate them but they're such good neighbors. 

Aureas are very pretty indeed.

So are their milky relatives C222 L. fulviceps v. lactinea.

This one is a bit shy but will spread its wings once watered.

C006 L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. minor are from the bunch of my very first seedlings, sown in 2008. New leaves are glistening in the sun. Love them!

These C382 L. bromfieldii v. glaudinae hatched in 2010 and are always a beautiful, natural sight during leaf change.

C362 L. bromfieldii v. insularis 'Sulphurea' are supposed to get new heads every year. Mine doesn't go beyond four.

C392 L. aucampiae 'Storm's Snowcap' are changing nicely but only when they are kept small. In my experience any fat aucampiae (normally one from a hardware store) will choke on its old leaves. 

L. dorotheae have accumulated a lot over the year, as always, even though I barely water them and never fertilize. Nevertheless they regenerate without a problem every year (good metabolism? :D ) so I don't mind.

C300 L. dorotheae

L. dorotheae de Boer (photobombed by a Braunsia)

I'll post more photos soon!

Lithops don't waste time (5 pics)

Winter has started very early this year. It's gloomy and cold. The plants feel it and react to it: winter growers waking up, seeds germinating eagerly, and lithops are already recycling their resources. I've stopped watering most of them a month ago. They will get water again once they regenerate and it's warm and sunny again outside the window. April maybe. Yes, this means even if they fully regenerate earlier they still won't get water if there's not enough sunlight. No need to wake the roots if the light is not sufficient, unless absolutely necessary (young or small plants that grow visibly thirsty).
In my experience, it will take them a long time anyway :)

Spheroid flowers (4 pics)

I was working overtime a lot lately thus missing all the flowers that were coming up. Not yesterday though!

The L. fulviceps flower opened pretty late and it was getting dark already. The photos have turned out kinda eerie but I liked them anyway. The petals are high-fiving the nearby D. sphalmantoides :)

There should have been another flower coming from the other head but it never developed. This happens a lot. The plants need to rationalize, I guess.

The C. ectypum is still not out of the sheets but is flowering a little. Cute flower of the color I rarely see on my windowsill.

This one,  C. angelicae, has a rare flower color too but flowers at night, it seems. I'll try to catch it tonight. I've removed the sheets myself from this one and badly damaged all the leaves (I was so careful!). People don't ever do that, it's a bad idea. Just let them do whatever they want and whenever they want it.

The proper look (8 pics)

This time of the year is pretty exciting for a lithops fan. The new leaves are starting to show revealing fresh two-heads and all those patterns and colors that appear so new to us because over the last several months we already forgot how our plants actually look like. But before we are allowed to see them in all their glory there's a transition stage to go through. Some might say the plants look especially ugly but for the connoisseur this sight is beautiful and most welcome. It means everything goes well and we can look forward to the new season of inspired lithops-watching. The proper look in March is when they look like old shoe soles.

New growing season!

My dear readers, I'm sorry I have neglected the blog this winter. It's been busy and chaotic during and after the move to my new place but things are getting better, I'm settling in and finally have more time to look around instead of running all the time. I've been using my weekends for shopping (so many things are needed when you move!), assembling new furniture (all by myself and very proud of it) and simply getting used to the new environment (much like my planties). During the weekdays I couldn't take any pictures - I leave home in the dark and come back from work in the dark.

Anyway, this is how the new lithops-growing-place looks like. I'm going to put a panel from one side of the "inner balcony" to the other and shield it from the living room with curtains creating a winter garden of sorts. There will be much more room there for all the new sowings I've been planning for so long. I want to use the actual balcony for summer plant growing as well (much more light there!) but have to figure out how exactly.

I've lost some plants but much less than expected and about as many as I lose every winter. But we're not out of the woods just yet. The first year in the new environment is critical so this year I'm going to find out which plants can grow well here, which need a special care and which won't grow at all. I think this apartment will offer less sunlight but so far I can not see any plant growth assosiated with bad light conditions (fingers crossed it stays this way). And there is a first flower of 2015 - Delosparma harazianum decided to open a flower that's been in the pre-flowering state since months. Does it even have a fixed flowering season? To see it is very welcome and encouraging.

Lithops are doing their thing and regenerating more or less gracefully. L. fulviceps are doing it so nicely again they deserve a portrait. It definitely pays off for them to sometimes start the regeneration in summer already - they finish perfectly in time. And all the fresh two-headed-ness!

Perfect leaf changing performance from L. gesinae v. annae.

Smaller seedlings seem to be doing more or less okay. L. lesliei 'Fred's Redhead' are, I think, in fact doing much better this winter and I hope for a good growing season for them. Others are still in early stages while older seedling are all done by now and just slumber waterless untill it's warmer. Check out the cute smiling L. steineckeana!

I'm not watering any of the lithops yet but some of other succulents depending on their needs (judged solely visually). Avonias were getting a little water all the time (click for XXL pic).

Lithops flowering season (4 pics)

Looks like my Lithops are heaving an early flowering season. I have 4 flowers at the moment and more coming soon. What a happy sight! :)

One of my own L. bromfieldii v. glaudinae seedlings has flowered for the first time and the flower is HUGE! In fact, this is one of these little kids. All grown up now.

Good thing they flower in the afternoon. This way I can catch them on camera even when I come home after six. And even though it is already getting dark the flowers are still brimming with sunlight they've soaked up during the day.

The L. fulviceps 'Aurea' flower looks very relaxed...

... and the one on L. fulviceps v. lactinea is already a week old. It has an interesting shape now but still such shiny petals!

The newcommer, L. verruculosa, decided to bloom, too. This is the first time I see a cream-colored flower on a lithops. It's so unusual. It looks more like red gold to me and fits the color of the plant leaves.