fulvi greenies

Fulviceps 'Aurea' tend to turn pale or bluish over the year with the new leaves being more green. Actually they're never really green like Albinica is for instance. Mine are in their mid-year stage right now. I like their shape very much, chunky with a nice flat top. They were recently put in the corner to prevent them from getting too much sun, I think they like it better this way. 

steineckeana babies

These are actually not that young anymore (ca. 15 months). They have changed for the second time and are the most unusual looking Lithops I've ever seen. I assume they will only get stranger with time so I'm really looking forward to it (strange is good!). The patterns vary a lot. Most have this steineckeana marble stone like lines and the color to match (pic 3, left) but several clearly show some pseudotruncatella heritage. Sometimes it looks like the steineckeana pattern was pulled open in the middle to show the pseudotruncatella undergarments (see pic 2 middle and pic 4 upper part). There's even a plant that has steineckeana shape and sides but a pseudotruncatella top (pic 5)! I find it quite interesting. Speaking of shape, don't they look like some sci-fi alien sandworms smiling at you out of their earthholes? Not a nice thing to say probably, but I think it's absolutely adorable. : ) 

Look at the plant in the left corner - the fissure is just a small dot.

more greenies

The more common but not less beautiful lesliei greenies Albinica have also regenerated nicely. Some of them look big and strong enough so that I hope for flowers this year. The sun shines really bright these days. I've moved some of the greenies to the right and left corners of the windowsill. This way they should only get give or take 2/3 of the sunshine.

This is a 7x7x11 cm pot (with an Astroloba skinneri leaf to the left)

getting used to the sun

Because of a lot of direct sun on the windowsill my greenies tend to turn yellow or get pale. When I first bought these bromfieldii v. insularis 'Sulphurea' they seemed to be shocked by the new sunny conditions losing all the green color in favor of yellow. Looks like this year they've learnt how to deal with it. They have a strong chunky shape I like a lot. The color of the newest leaves has also turned out really nice and stays this way even though it's been very hot and sunny. Now only the fulvi 'Aurea' need to understand they won't get any shade no matter how pale they get.

Titanopsis primosii

I already own two cute Titanopsis calcarea plants but the leaf structure ist so interesting and unusual that I got another one. This one is a Titanopsis primosii and its leaves look like they were adorn with cyan colored beads. How does nature produce this stuff? :D

not wanting to grow up

This is one of the first plants, a lesliei of course, I've bought as adults and it had some growth issues from the start.
First it kept the short fissure for years. Then, last year, I've discovered it's getting two heads and thought "Finally something's happening." But as they came out they looked small and miserable, snuggling up to each other. Both heads had a half-fissure so that it looked like they're "sharing" it, clinging to their juvenile form. It wasn't until this year that it got over this stage.

Maybe it will even be ready for flowers in a couple of years. ;)

I've known them since they were seeds

My very first seedlings finally look like grown-ups. Now the only thing left is to see the flowers. Fingers crossed for this year ;)

Lesliei present a nice shape and a uniform color.

Aucampiae couldn't be more different despite the same Cole-Nr.

And there's only one from the pseudotruncatellas left.

(To see their progress click seedlings 2008 below)

unexpected find

Browsing through the succulent section of the local garden store lately I was very surprised to find this lovely specimen among the regular green salicola plants. Doesn't it look quite like the Bacchus cultivar? It's very small and a bit too long. Knowing my luck with salicolas its chances to thrive aren't that high, but way better than in the flower shop.

Yes, they sell lithops here sometimes but mostly very poorly grown, overwatered and hopeless. 

japanese julii

Remember the julii v. fulleri 'Kikushōgyoku' I got last year? Their old leaves looked very unimpressive back then but I knew they were real beauties. Now, after the leaf-change, you can finally see it!

I'm not a friend of julii. Meaning, apart from a couple of exceptions, they don't live long under my care. That's why I'm very careful with these guys. I think I've only watered them once since I got them, because I most certainly lost the others to overwatering. Seeing how beautiful they are I hope I'm doing things right this time.

Frithia humilis 2

While the Lithops aren't changing much these days I'm watching the development of the Frithia flowers. It's been ten days since the flower buds appeared and it seems to take ages for them to grow and open. Still, it looks like it can happen any day now.

Frithia humilis

I'm getting more and more interested in other mesembs but having very little room I'm now trying to buy the tiny ones. It's been a month and I still haven't introduced you to this Frithia humilis. It arrived very shriveled, probably still in it's winter sleep. Soon after it has lost one of its three growing points for some reason (condition change?) but the rest is growing just fine. If I'm not wrong there's also a flower coming up at the moment so I'm hopeful about it. It's very tiny and cute and has these tentacles growing out of its leaves making it even weirder looking.

variegated hallii

A couple of days ago I've discovered that one of the hallii has regenerated into a variegated specimen. I've read about this phenomenon and in lithops it is something that stays for a year and goes away with the next leaf change (even though there are exceptions). It looks interesting.

Speaking of hallii, there is a new tenant on the windowsill. As if I could visit a nursery without buying at least one lithops, and such a nice one. :)

one windowsill - over three hundred plants

Welcome to my "greenhouse"!

I've mentioned before that I grow lithops on my windowsill so this is how it looks like. ;) Luckily Lithops are small plants you can arrange compactly so that one windowsill full of them seems to be almost enough. Almost. ;) Allthough there are mostly Lithops, I also have a huge Crassula rupestris that will probably overrun the whole place one day, two lovely Titanopsis calcarea plants, a surprisingly fast growing Rabiea albipuncta, a cute little Frithia humilis, a crazy Sempervivum, a strange looking Haworthia limifolia and an ananas-like Astroloba skinneri, which are the most treasured presents ♥. I didn't want to sow this year but you can see there is a container with germinating aucampiae seeds anyway (the one with a plastic see-through cover), it's a curse. The most pots are 5x5x8 cm and the labels are in plastic sticker-pockets deliberately on the opposite side to not be seen immediately. 

By the way, it's been raining almost the whole day and even though the sun finally came out there are still rain drops on the window. :)

a sea of flowers

I've been to the Kakteen Haage nursery again last week not realising that the cacti would be in bloom! It's an incredible sight. Of course I've checked lithops and other succulents as well but how can you go past that? Anyway, I've taken a lot of pictures of the beautiful flowers so I'll let the photos and plants speak for themselves. :)

Click read more for more~