delosperma & aizoaceae

[mark smyth]

David look here  http://www.pottertons.co.uk/pott/browse.php?folder=66

[ruweiss]

Mark, most of them are from the Nursery Trade, we are lucky here in Germany to have some gardeners
which have a good amount of species. Try to google, if you are not succesful just let me know it. There is also
a  nursery in Bavaria with no Internet connection, he offered 19 species in his last catalogue!

[iann]

I finally found the article by Panayoti Kelaidis about the 'Gold Nugget' Delosperma.  He explains that his original use of the name D. congestum was incorrect.  Unfortunately in my opinion he then decides to call it D. basuticum which would explain why it is occasionally seen under that name.  It is also clear that it isn't D. nubigenum, so plants with smooth rounded leaves being called 'Gold Nugget' are also wrong.  I keep it with the name D. sp Lesotho, not very catchy but none of the existing species names fit.  Kelaidis describes finding the same plant in profusion at Two Gun Pass at 11,000'.  Mark's photos show this plant with its triquetrous almost ciliate leaves.

Coincidentally in the same article he discusses the cooperi-like Delosperma from the Naude's Nek Pass area which I believe is the same plant that Rudy shows.  It is perhaps closer to D. brunnthaleri, but it isn't clear whether it is a different species or just a high altitude form of an existing species.  The J. Halda form is again similar.

Mark's D. brunnthaleri photos are confusing me a little.  The plants with the rose-pink flowers look to be something else, perhaps a cultivar.  D. dyeri?  The last one in the pot looks correct.  I have this species in the garden although it may have inherited some extra genes.  It is extremely vigorous and hardy but sometimes seems to flower itself to death.

I also have Rudy's last plant, D. esterhuyseniae, in the garden although it only seems to survive in the most favoured spots.  Also attractive for a pot since it is a smaller plant.  My largest is less than a foot across after a number of years outside.  This is not as hardy as some, but just about any Delosperma can live outside in the UK provided it has adequate drainage.  The most tender I've found are D. napiforme and its friends from the Indian ocean islands, but even they survive 20F if they are kept dry.

At the risk of confusing things even more, here is another alpine Delosperma from the Sani Pass.  It can be found as D. sp Sani Pass (sometimes #1) in Europe, but seems to be going under the name D. daveyi in America.  D. daveyi doesn't exist and D. davyi is a different plant   Like many others, hardy in my garden in wet western England provided I can keep the slugs off it.  This is just a small seedling, it grows into a large mat very like D. nubigenum.

[iann]

Here's another species that nobody has mentioned.  This one is from the mountains of the Arabian peninsular, D. harazianum.  The first form is perhaps the most common, maybe because it is self-fertile and scatters seedlings about everywhere.  This is a small tuft-forming species on a woody taproot, but the blue leaves with pink flowers are nice.  The second form is known as the Glabrous Form.  The smooth green leaves are different and even the flowers are different, although the two forms are full compatible.

[mark smyth]

Ian only D. brunnthaleri is named as such. The others are unknown Delosperma

[iann]

I wonder if the pale pink one is the one known as Delosperma. sp. Beaufort West.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hello,
How many nice photos of Delosperma...I have one of D Harazianum grown from seed but it's now very weak. It seemed to suffer when planted along with other species so I put it in a pot, alone. But it's now more difficult with watering problems to which it's apparently very sensitive. Iann: could you give tips?
The second one is Cephalophyllum ssp ( sorry, the label is difficult to read now ) which has flowered episodically all summer. It doesn't produce a "sea of flowers". It survived last winter.

[iann]

Delosperma harazianum seems to be more seasonal than some other Delospermas.  It doesn't like to be too wet in winter, and it doesn't like to be too dry in summer.  They can survive in my garden only in the very driest areas under the eaves.  Although this means almost no water in summer, the woody taproot must go down deep enough to find some.  In a pot they need to be watered regularly in summer or they will die.  You might get better results in a dense rocky soil.  Full sun.  Warm days, cool nights.  Extremely easy from seed.

I don't have any Cephalophyllum plants.  They are nominally winter growers, that is they come from areas with winter rainfall climates, but they adapt to summer growth in cooler climates.  You may find they are most active in spring and autumn, and they may become dormant in hot summers or if grown in a greenhouse.  They are nothing like as vigorous as Delospermas and will only produce a few flowers at once before doing some more growing.  Many of them are quite large spreading plants and you might get good results trying them in the ground, but they are really xeric so pick a dry spot.

[fermi de Sousa]

in reply #27 here:http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1042.msg24578#msg24578 I showed a pic of D. kofleri. It hasn't flowered since but is still alive!
cheers
fermi

[iann]

I don't have D. kofleri.  It isn't popular in cultivation for obvious reasons.  You might try a larger pot and fresh soil.  Delospermas are fairly greedy plants compared to many succulents and alpines.  D. kofleri will grow to a fair sized semi-upright plant if you give it the space.

I do have some hybrids between D. nubigenum and D. kofleri.  The flowers vary from yellow to white but they are more or less intermediate between the two species.  One plant has a curious reversion to a D. nubigenum pattern of growth, including the flower.  I have repotted it and it is just a branch from the main stem.  The third photo compares the reverting plant with D. nubigenum and the last shows the flower it produced on that stem.

[Lesley Cox]

Today on the way home from a visit to my son's place further north, I saw what must be the harshest, most brilliant, eye-paining magenta ever seen by man. I should have stopped to take a picture as I did have my camera with me. Not sure if it was a Delosperma or not, but something very close, maybe a mesembryanthemum. It was on a clay bank about a metre high and maybe 50 metres long, this solid, apalling colour. I nearly ran my car off the road!!!

[iann]

Appalling neon magenta sounds like Lampranthus.  It has larger flowers than Delosperma, somewhat more intense colours, not so hardy, and is nominally a winter grower for spring flowers (but grows as summer bedding in the UK!).  There are others too, but Lampranthus is the most widespread.  The annual Dorotheanthus has even larger and even brighter flowers.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

And Lampranthus often grow  higher  than Delosperma. Don't they?

[iann]

I wouldn't like to generalise, but just this once   Lampranthus do tend to be a bit stiffer than Delospermas but are still basically sprawling plants.  Some Delospermas are pretty upright.

Probably Delosperma lydenbergense, grown from seed found in an Australian garden

[cohan]

lori and simon had both mentioned they were trying Aloinopsis (spathulata?) at the end of last winter, i dont recall whether we ever got an update?
did they survive last winter?
i'm thinking about getting seed from alplains.....