Raising Baby Succulents
Two months ago I had a brand new lighting setup and a hankering to test it out with some seeds so I sowed three packets that had been sitting around for a year: lithops, mixed succulents, and mixed cacti.
Succulents
Lithops Seedlings Closeup
At about 2 weeks old. I’m not sure if they are developing colour due to age or the lighting. They were much greener shortly after germination.
Teeny Tiny Lithops Seedlings
I’ve had my new lighting setup in place for a while now, and last week I finally got around to sowing the lithops seeds I purchased almost a year ago. Here they are this morning, a few days after they first started to emerge from the soil. Based on the size of the vermiculite, you …
Flowering Lithops (Yellow)
Back in July I posted two photos of lithops plants my friend Barry grew from seed. Here’s one of the plants blooming for the first time! Worth the patient effort don’t you think?
Medusa Head
I bought this Euphorbia a few months ago at the local Cactus and Succulent Society show and sale. It’s called a Medusa Head (Euphorbia flanaganii). I knew I had to have one when I saw my friend Barry’s potted up in an old clay mortar (he drilled a hole in the bottom for drainage). It’s …
Echeveria Pot
I love this pot I photographed at Paul and Uli’s garden in Etobicoke a few month back. It uses a tender Kalanchoe as the centre feature and is stuffed full of tender echeveria (the frilled varieties are always my favourite), and pencil cactus (lower right). This is a pot anyone can grow as long as …
Barry’s Lithops
Can you distinguish the plants from the rocks? Lithops, aka stone plants, are a favourite botanical freak but I am very tentative about growing them. I’ve killed a fair share and even though I have an intellectual understanding of their needs, I still don’t feel like I truly “get” them in practice. I currently have …
Roof Garden Tour (Back Wall, June 2010)
Click the image to see full-size. As I begin to get the gardens sorted, I figured it was time to start showing what I’ve been up to all of these months. I’ve been growing on the roof since March; however, in a small space I don’t have a hidden area to put the in progress …
Grow an Orostachys Pot
This year, for a myriad of reasons, I have rapidly expanded my succulent collection, most especially sempervivums, which I just can’t seem to stop myself from buying. I bought and/or acquired by other means 25 new semps this year alone in addition to a few other related succulents, many of which are hardy and some …
Planting a Sempervivum Trough
Sempervivums or Hens and Chicks as they are commonly called, are an incredibly hardy, and drought tolerant succulent that can take a fair amount of abuse, yet when I was starting out on my roof, they were the last plant I wanted to grow. I’d come to associate them with the few that had been …
Skirt Aloe (Aloe alooides)
Click title to see full photo.