This year's Aloinopsis blooms

[cjbaker]

Here are some pictures of my Aloinopsis blooms earlier in January. The A. schooneesii were sown in 2012, and the others in 2013 or 2014. Last year was the first year with A. schooneesii blooms, but this year there were lots more, as well as a bloom on A. rubrolineata. I tried pollenating them and cross-pollenating between the species using a paint brush every day they were open, I guess I'll see what happens. The bloom on A. rubrolineata has withered, but several of the A. schooneesii flower heads seem to be fattening. No flowers on A. rosulata yet, only one is surviving as I seem to kill them much more easily (from freezing and dryness). I know some of them have way too many leaves, don't worry I'll let them dry out soon

[TimN]

Great plants and I like the close-ups. I've got one A. schooneesii which has been flowering like mad. I've had some in the past with mixed results. Hopefully this time around will go better.

[kwesiobruni]

Great plants. Here is a A. malherbei of mine that has been booming for about a month now.

[cjbaker]

Thanks, TimN! How about some pictures of your A. schooneesii? I think I've seen your nice Turbinicarpus blooms, but not the mesembs.

Great looking A. malherbei blooms, kwesiobruni! They really have a nice color. The long flower stalks are very different from A. schooneesii, seems like it would help them to not get stuck between the leaves as sometimes happens. I guess I just tend to water too much when I see buds growing, so the leaves sometimes crowd them out, though they did ok this year.

[TimN]

OK, here is one from a couple of weeks back. I got it from Cactus Data Plants a while ago. I wish I had gotten two to make some seed.

A schooneesii 03 09 20.jpg (116.06 KiB) Viewed 1731 times

[cjbaker]

Wow, those are really nice looking, Tim! It's definitely a bit more mature than mine.

I did get some seeds from my Aloinopsis this year. The mother was A. schooneesii, but the father of some might be A. rubrolineata. The fruit on A. rubrolineata itself didn't grow. I let the A. schooneesii fruits shrivel and dry on the plant. I picked one apart and sowed the seeds as usual at the same time as some other mesemb seeds from Mesa Garden last week, but unfortunately only my seeds haven't sprouted yet. Maybe they need more time to ripen, or something.