I'll admit I'd been semi-ignoring this plant (that's one of the best parts about growing succulents...low maintenance, you can do that.) Last week I was watering when I noticed the bud. It was so heavy it was tipping the whole plant over. Or maybe it just needed to be repotted a long time ago.
More pictures to come when it gets all gross and covered in flies!
Beautiful plant Melody! Definitely one for my wish list.
ReplyDeleteThanks! They are so easy to grow and don't need much care at all, I'd highly recommend Stapeliads.
DeletePlanta linda, cor maravilhosa.
ReplyDeleteabraços
Thank you!
DeleteHola Melody..tu blog es muy interesante, me ha encantado y desde hoy tienes un seguidor más.
ReplyDeleteTe felicito, buen trabajo.
Saludos desde España.
Thank you so much, I appreciate the interest!
DeleteOh wow that is so cool Melody, I'm so jealous of your succulents.... but at least I can admire via the blog :D
ReplyDeleteExactly, then you don't have to smell how bad these smell either!
DeleteI am very impressed that you have a flower on your Stapelia. I have had mine for 4 years now and it is a big healthy plant but never flowers. I wish I knew your secret. Surely not just benign neglect?
ReplyDeleteChloris
Well, yea and no. I grow mine outside and they get morning light until about 1-2 in the afternoon, more than that at my last place. S. gigantea is a summer bloomer and should bloom mid to late summer, when it's hot and light is at it's best. I also have an S. grandiflora (pictures of that one on here sometime last fall) that is one of the fall blooming Stapeliads and will only set buds with a temperature drop in the fall. So I let the seasons do the work and cue the plants to bloom. If you have a fall blooming Stapeliad and aren't growing it outside or someplace where it gets enough of a temperature change with the seasons, you can give it the best light and perfect amount of water and it still won't bloom. If it's a summer bloomer, the heat of July did it for this one. I didn't update as I was busy, but S. gigantea has been sequentially blooming one flower after another all summer. It only just stopped putting out more buds now, as our nighttime lows have dropped into the 60's-50's. So make sure yours is getting enough light and water to support blooming, then maybe evaluate the temps where you grow it? Not sure how you're growing it now, if none of that seems to be the issue, there may be other things.
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