Stapelia gigantea blooms!

A really, really, huge flower.

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!

Stapelia grandiflora, some more pictures

I sent some pictures around and everyone polled was of the opinion that my unknown Stapelia is indeed grandiflora and not a hybrid. So here's some more pictures of it now that the flower has opened all the way!

I like how it curled around the pot

This is my favorite picture of all the ones we took

Busy day for flies

So hairy!

Gross!

If I stick my nose real close to the flower there is a faint bad smell. I was almost hoping it would be worse, only because then I could smell it in all its rotten glory. It's nice that it's not that bad though, because it will have to some inside shortly, the lows have been dipping into the mid 30s (2.2° C) at night sometimes.

The fact that I have fly eggs on it makes me want to leave it outside as long as possible though. Ick!

The Stapelia and Lithops Flowers Opened Today!

I was out all day today, but remembered to text my husband to take a picture of the unidentified Lithops flower when he got home from work, because I was sure it would be open today. I'll be gone all day for the next two days too, so if the Faucaria opens, I'll make sure he gets us some pictures of that too.

NOID Lithops flower, a little chewed.

To my surprise, the Stapelia had opened as well today. He thought I meant take pictures of the Stapelia, (which is why there's only 1 shot of the Lithops flower,) as I had texted him the generic, "please can you take pictures of the succulent on the front stoop, a little one in the front should have a flower open today." He doesn't know the names of anything so talking about a Lithops wouldn't have made a difference. When I got home I found out he had been waiting for the Stapelia flower to open for as long as I have. Fascinated by how big it was getting, he was excited to take pictures of it and took about 50. When I got home he insisted on showing me the pictures he took right away, because the flower looked like "hairy skin."

So without further ado, some of the Stapelia photos my husband also took today:

Opening!

Flower color in natural light. Husbands thumb for size reference

Strange, it only has four petals!

A little Macro shot for you

Cat inspection! Or in our house, this happens so often we've shortened it to "Catspection."

So, thanks for waiting patiently with me for pictures of the Stapelia. Now clearly I was off and it's not S. gigantea. I'm thinking it S. grandiflora, (or a hybrid?). If anyone can confirm or deny, I'd appreciate it. I'll take some more pictures when it's fully opened when I'm home on Monday, or maybe I'll let him seeing as how now I know he gets excited about taking pictures of the flowers. Oh, and no smell yet, I'll report back about that 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.

My NOID Stapelia is going to bloom

I bought this at a Home Depot in the spring. Although I prefer to buy labeled plants, (or at least ones I can ID,) I figured this one would be a fun surprise to see what species or hybrid it ended up being.

I then had the idea to email Costa Farms, my Home Depot supplier, and see if maybe they could ID it early, (Patience is not my strong point.) I wasn't sure if they'd answer ID request emails, so I sent them a basic request for maybe just the list of what Stapediads they sold/grew/whatever. I got a reply about a day later asking for a picture to ID it with, which originally exceeded my expectations.

I sent them a few pictures, and then never got a reply. Just to see if maybe that was a fluke I emailed them for a cactus ID about a month later from a different email account (including pictures) and got nothing back about that one either. Maybe if I asked a really general culture question about a very common plant they would be able to give me a generic reply letter back and all would be well. Why bother asking for pictures if no one can take the time out to ID one of their own plants anyway?

Anyway, now it is growing buds. They are supposed to be fall bloomers, so the temperature decrease as of recent must've triggered it.

Close-up of the buds

The whole plant, buds on the stem farthest right.

These are my favorite succulents and the reason I started growing them at all. Stapelia, Huernia, Orbea, etc., all the succulents that bloom with interesting, although possibly stinky flowers. For pollination most of these species flowers smell like rotting meat to attract types of flies. What's not fun about that? I'll keep it outside though because carrion isn't exactly the scent you want to perfume your home with. I realize this isn't my most thrilling post, but it's my 1st Stapelia flower ever, plus the 1st one I'll get to see in real life, so I'm pretty excited. My fingers are kind of crossed in hopes it turns out to be a Stapelia gigantea, because although I already have one it's a one stem cutting that hasn't done anything but be a one stem cutting the whole year or so I've had it. Anything else would really be fine too though, I've never been less picky in my life.