The sun came out!

[iann]

Haven't seen the sun for a while, but there it was again today.

Titanopsis calcarea.

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Fenestraria 'Fireworth'

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A very late Lithops lesliei

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Also a Lithops that hasn't flowered yet, but it perfectly on time.

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[Kamos]

Great pics ian! I love the color of the Fenestraria bloom. I'm hoping for blooms on my T. calcerea soon.
Titanopsis are particularly bizarre, and interesting little plants.

[Ivan C]

Fenestraria 'Fireworth'

Ian. Is there a benefit to burying the Fenestraria? The leaves on mine are at different heights and I don't know if I would harm them by a bit more cover. I suppose it doesn't show the split if it does happen, though.
Same flower colour as mine but the leaves appear a bit bluer. Very nice.

I love the T. calcarea also.

[C And D]

Burying, or growing the plant deep like Iann has done is easy for advanced growers.

But will fail if you use a rich potting mix, water at the wrong time, or don't give the plant enough sun.

The more sun, the more compact growth, and the easier for the plant to not split or rot from being grown deep.

How Ian can grow such well grown mesembs in England is amazing to me, the Sun Gods must look favorably upon his Greenhouses.
here in Southern California it's sunny almost everyday, so it's easy.

[iann]

Burying, or growing the plant deep like Ian has done is easy for advanced growers.

But will fail if you use a rich potting mix, water at the wrong time, or don't give the plant enough sun.

The more sun, the more compact growth, and the easier for the plant to not split or rot from being grown deep.

How Ian can grow such well grown mesembs in England is amazing to me, the Sun Gods must look favorably upon his Greenhouses.
here in Southern California it's sunny almost everyday, so it's easy.

I agree absolutely. This is an aesthetic choice for me, but requires some care. The leaves are buried only in grit, with the roots in a very gritty soil below that. Fenestraria have huge roots. In habitat the leaves would be buried in a fairly dense sandy mix, but that simply holds too much water in against the leaves for my climate. Again in habitat, any leaf that pokes its head much above the sand will be dessicated or fried off, but they will happily do it in England if I give them half a chance. 'Fireworth' is a good candidate for this treatment because it is more thirsty than most Fenestrarias.

[iann]

The Titanopsis just keeps getting better.

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Here's the difference between the two plants.

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[KittieKAT]

My Lithops are still blooming even without Sun or water... the flowers haven't been that great due to lack of Sun so i didn't get to cross pollinate any but theirs still more about to open, should i give them one last drink when the flowers dry up or just leave them to keep getting wrinkly, they look so wrinkly right now, but i kno not to feel bad and give in cause i may kill them.
I hope my fireworth seeds i gathered sprout, i love the color of the plant and bloom!
My other F. baby toes is about to bloom if we ever have the sun out for more then 2 mins
My argy is splitting and I'm sure the lithops are going to soon.
My dianthus pubescens is splitting too,the cheiridopsis are looking a bit sad but that's prob cause they are forming new leaves aswell (i think) my Glottiphyllum pygmaeum looks like he's got some leaves drying up producing more I'm sure!
Seeds are sprouting I'm feeling good about everything so far

[iann]

I wouldn't dream of watering Lithops (except maybe L. optica 'Rubra' if they were very wrinkly, but they're actually very fat), but then I don't live in a desert near the equator. Some Lithops are showing new leaves, but most aren't. Plenty of wrinkles! Although most of the larger plants are still pretty plump. Mine are all still in the greenhouse. Just dipped below freezing last night, but no sign of real cold yet. Cool temperatures and high humidity means they won't get really wrinkly for a long time, and they may even start to get fatter as the leaves inside grow.

Cheiridopsis are winter growers. You should aim to keep the leaves fat at this time of year, although that won't take very much water. When spring comes around you will probably have an inner set of leaves and an outer set, so you let the outer set start to dry up.

[KittieKAT]

Yea the outer set are getting crunchy looking on the cheiridopsis, i thought i gave them to much water cause one smaller set of leaves turned a brownish color, but I'm not sure if that's cause it's changing leaves or I'm an idiot lol! But they look alright except for that one set if baby leaves.

I tried to pollinate my Lithops that were flowering at the same time, not sure i did it correctly but i noticed the flower stamen aren't poking out that much today (could be cause theirs no sun?) And the flower looks like it's closing up, soo we'll see..i guess