"Fat Plants" : cacti,succulents, caudiciforms, whatever..

[krisderaeymaeker]

Also first time flowering here : Ariocarpus scaphirostris

[krisderaeymaeker]

Some more Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus ......

[Tony Willis]

Kris

lovely plants to see,thanks for showing them

[krisderaeymaeker]

Kris
lovely plants to see,thanks for showing them

Thanks Tony . You can leave them alone for a longer period when you love to travel .....

[krisderaeymaeker]

Titanopsis calcarea is frost resistant when kept dry.

[penstemon]

Titanopsis calcarea, first flower of the season, last Friday the 24th. Flowers on and off all winter here, outside.

Bob

[johnw]

Lovely penstemon. I can't help but think of dog's paws when I see those leaf ends.  Which state allows you to grow Titanopsis outdoors and flower it through the winter?

johnw

[penstemon]

Colorado. Quite a few mesembs aside from delospermas are hardy here. "Hardy until devoured", anyway. Rabbits and squirrels find them irresistible. You can see some signs of nibbling in the photo I attached.
Once I planted several different forms of Titanopsis calcarea, from Mesa Garden, in a trough, and every single one was eaten before the day was over.


Bob

[FrazerHenderson]

It's on the web the latest issue of Xerophilia

www.xerophilia.ro

It's simply marvellous

[Maggi Young]

Now don't hold back, Frazer, if you think it's good, just tell us! 

 ( and  IT IS good !)

[penstemon]

Pterocactus tuberosus, in flower.
Since the above-ground parts of the pterocactus are annual, this year I'm trying to root them, which is supposed to work ...

[Maggi Young]

I'm sure I'm being very dim here ( it wouldn't be the first time) but what  is the advantage of rooting  annual parts of a plant ? Will they live long enough to produce perennial underground parts?  Or is that the challenge? 

[penstemon]

No, I know that sounds very strange. The authors of Cactus de Patagonia say it can be done, and so I cut the stems when they were still green, and stuck them in a pot.
My understanding is that this is one way pterocacti propagate themselves; if the annual stems fall to the ground during the growing season, they root.
When the plants go dormant, from cold, the stems wither and fall away.

[penstemon]

Business end of Pterocactus tuberosus.
Every time I show pictures of pterocacti it dooms them, so we'll see.

[penstemon]

Just in case anyone thought cacti (not counting Sclerocactus) were difficult to grow from seed, here's a picture of about 600 echinocereus, and escobaria seedlings. In B.E.F. Growers' Pots, of course.
I don't have a greenhouse so these are grown "the hard way", germinated under lights and then grown outdoors for as long as possible. (The seedlings could probably stand -25C in pots but I didn't want to risk it, so I brought them indoors, where they receive afternoon sun.) They grow very slowly with this method. I gave about half of the first flush of seedlings (sown winter 2012) to Denver Botanic Gardens, so I may have germinated about a thousand altogether.
Not sure what to do with all of these.....