Lithops News

All the lithops are growing, I think the move and sudden change in weather threw them off. On the plus side they are all at the same stage in growth now and should sync up with the seasons well.

A small Lithops collection

Lithops  lesliei doubling. No flower though, wrong time of the year for it anyway.

Lithops  lesliei

Faucaria felina, also apparently doubling one of it's heads.Reminds me of those stylized evil robot hands from the 1950's.

Faucaria felina

Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa blooms and an almost reconsidering of growing all these plants.

Last of the succulent blooms for the season is Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa. A cheery yellow for the fall that matches the leaves on the trees outside. I'm not looking forward to the winter, but the yellow, orange, and red colors of nature during the fall season in New York have always been my favorite colors.

I've got a few orchids spiking, so I'm really looking forward to those. I'm not taking any pictures yet as I've had more bud blasts than blooms on them this year, so I'll wait until there are actual open flowers before I even start bothering to take pictures.

Every once in a while I think about growing fewer different types of plants and focusing my collection on things from one or two different plant families. This usually happens when I start to get busy and stressed out and wonder why I've extended myself so much as I'm dealing with dormancy preps, rearranging, moving things around and re-potting, on top of everything else going on with work, family, etc., you know....life things.

This year's little "Why am I doing this to myself, I've got too many plants," almost- meltdown was brought to you by a combination of being sick with the flu, filling out endless job applications, taking a sick cat to the vet, and still having to show up for work and real life while the temperatures plummet and the plants all need to go somewhere inside, but aren't ready.

Then when everything's pretty much done and settled in again I remember why I'm growing so many different things, (and am always glad I didn't get too impulsive and start giving things away.) Something is always doing something. As the cacti and succulents will be pretty much just sitting around the house doing nothing or growing slow, I'll have some orchid blooms, (nice because different species bloom at different times of the year,) and the Nepenthes will still be making pitchers and flowering as the North American carnivorous plants are dormant. Always something doing something. Which always gives me something to look forward to and occasionally let myself get distracted on the small and inconsequential, things that can just be for fun, (because at the end of the day, for me it doesn't really matter if a particular orchid blooms or not this year, but it's certainly awesome when it does.)

Faucaria felina blooming

Faucarias are fall bloomers and luckily all my Faucaria had set buds while they were outside this fall. Last week I took everything inside as there was a surprise overnight frost a few days ago. I'm still getting everything organized and setting up racks and lights for everything's winter homes as although there's been no more frost, it's too cold to bother taking everything back out and then in again.

Faucaria felina finally bloomed though, even with the slightly warmer inside temperatures.

We got creative and set the blooming/about to bloom succulents against a window to stay on the cool side while I get the succulent's winter spot ready for them.

Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa, unidentified Lithops, and Faucaria felina (left to right)

Still waiting on Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa, plus there's another 2 buds on the other felina heads that should open within the next week or so too.

Succulents doing things

Looks like I should have some blooms soon. Although it's been a slow month with the cooler weather setting in, the fall bloomers are getting ready to go.

This little unidentified Lithops below will hopefully bloom soon, at least from one of the heads. This one I've had the longest, 2 years, but will be the 1st bloom for me. If anyone has an ID for this guy, I'd appreciate it. Also, I know it needs a repot. Growing mesembs is not my thing and I'm still in learning mode. I've been too hesitant to mess with it. I'll repot it after it flowers though for sure.

NOID Lithops

Next there's one of my Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa. A knowledgeable reader re-identified this one for me as it was purchased under the label Faucaria tigrina. I'm becoming increasingly convinced it's felina ssp. tuberculosa.It's got some weird growths that I'm hoping will be blooms. It should certainly be old/mature enough by now to bloom.

Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa

 Then there's my standard form Faucaria felina. Also making the same growths, (top and lower left heads,) and is about the same age as the ssp. tuberculosa.

Faucaria felina

And lastly how long do I have to wait for this Stapelia to bloom!!! I can't handle this plant right now. If I could stop checking on it I would. Why can't I like fast growing easy blooming plants like normal gardeners?

NOID Stapelia

The bud is bigger, and seeing as how it's still not ready to open I'd put money on it being a S. gigantea or something similar.

Faucaria tigrina

I wish Faucaria were more popular, I had no idea the genus even existed for the first few years I was growing succulents. I started taking the offsets from my plants to share with other people, everyone who likes succulents should have one of these. They look like tiny little toothy jaws, almost as if they were a carnivorous succulent. In fact, "Faucaria" is from the latin "fauces" meanin  "jaws" or "animal mouth." Sometimes the taxonomists are dead on. It should be pretty obvious why I like them at least.

Faucaria tigrina clump and an offset I divided.

Faucaria tigrina is from the Eastern Cape Province, Albany in South Africa. They are fall/winter bloomers, but still need full sun to open. They can go dormant during spring/summer, so I stop watering if they stop growing. These should be watered when dry throughout the rest of the year. I found that even if they go dormant, accidentally watering before you realize they're dormant won't rot them, so they're tougher than some other mesembs when it comes to rot sensitivity. I've seen some places on the internet report that they won't go dormant at all if you continue to water them year round, so there's always that too.

I haven't had any problems growing them in full sun (6+ hours a day) here, but I wouldn't recommend it for people growing closer to the equator during the hottest summer months. The leaves get a reddish hue to them in the summer, which is pretty, but no burning. Although these are stemless and usually grow in mats, over time they can form woody stems and develop some height too. I haven't seen one large enough to do this, so maybe if you grow the same plant and never divide it for 10+ years you might see some stem action.