Lithops karasmontana 'Micksbergensis'

Today I did get out to take some pictures and the greenhouse rewarded me with some nice Fall/Winter flowers. First up is Lithops karasmontana 'Micksbergensis', still putting on quite a display. The sheen on the petals doesn't quite come through, but impressive nonetheless.

Enjoy your plants!

Willamette Valley views

Once in a while I'll depart from photos of succulent plants. I was browsing some old pictures on the  computer and came across these shots of scenes in the central Willamette Valley here in Oregon. We know this area so well we seldom take pictures, but on this April day, we did. This is an area just south of Albany where there's a lot of sheep raising. The third shot down shows the Three Sisters in the background and the last shot shows a stand of old Valley Oak trees.

 

Lynn-Marie's folks owned a farm not far from here but on the other side of the river and north a bit.
Back at you with succulent plants next time.

Hatiora salicornioides

As they say, "There's no rest for the wicked." Therefore, I must be wicked, as we've been swamped recently, with orders to China and South Africa, as well as various points within the U.S. Haven't had time to do any photography, not that there are a lot of flowers right now. But there's always some interesting plants. I'll certainly try to make time to take some new photos in the next few days.

In the meantime, here's a photo from a couple of years ago of our ancient old plant of Hatiora salicornioides, AKA "Drunkard's Dream". We've had it for many, many years, and it's survived a huge variety of different settings and still thrives. And flowers...as dependable as you can get.

Lithops optica 'Rubra' seedlings

A couple of shots of a couple of batches of our 'Rubra' seedlings. The top batch was seeded in February and the others in the previous year. It's great watching them grow up and get their own personalities.

Enjoy your plants.

Winter in the Greenhouse

The days are getting shorter and shorter and on an overcast, rainy day we sometimes worry about the plants getting enough light. The the plants do better than we do sometimes. We've had a really heavy bout of rain in the last week, but it finally let up today. That's good, 'cause I'm getting tired of slopping through the muddy puddles to walk the dogs and care for Ladybug, let alone prepare plants for shipping. I'm native to this area, but I admit that there are time that I can hardly wait for Spring.

But, no, that yearning will have to wait 'till January. I really enjoy the Christmas season too much. But after that, the sooner Spring comes the better!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a brief note to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are observing this holiday at this time. We'll be celebrating quietly by ourselves tomorrow and having our family Thanksgiving gathering on Saturday. 

Echeveria 'Culibra'

I just couldn't resist taking this photo. It's the end of a leaf of Echeveria 'Culibra'. Sort of like something out of a 1950s science fiction movie! But hey, if you didn't like a little bit of weird you wouldn't be doing succulent plants. Seriously, would you?

Tiger Jaws

It's late, so I'll just post a couple of photos taken today by Lynn-Marie of an old clump of faucaria (Tiger Jaws) that we've had for...it seems forever. It doesn't get preferential treatment; therefore, it often goes without water for long periods and gets placed wherever we can find room. But - as you can see - it doesn't seem to mind.

Enjoy your plants!

Orostachys japonica

This has been one hectic day. Earlier today I discovered that our nursery website wasn't working properly. But after a few calls to the server's tech staff, I finally got it all sorted out. I hope. I have no specific training in this sort of thing (my training is in philosophical theology, existentialism...even logical empiricism ... but nothing about html, web site design, etc., anywhere to be found!) So I sort of stumble my way through it.

 With that said, here's a cute little plant. And "little" is an apt description. It's Orostachys japonica ex Tsushima. In this case the plant is infinitesimally smaller than the flower. This is a 2.75 inch pot filled with young seedlings. And one is flowering. And like sempervivums, the plant will die after the flower is finished. I guess it wears itself out!

Aloe 'Jimmy'

The final post in the series of Aloe hybrids this week is Aloe 'Jimmy'.  It doesn't say "Hey, look at me!!!" as much as some of the others, but in its simplicity it stands out.

Enjoy your plants.

Aloe 'Silver Ridge'

And we continue on today with another Kelly Griffin hybrid, Aloe 'Silver Ridge'. During the summer, with more and brighter light, these have more  of a silvery cast to them, but they're taking on more green with winter's overcast skies and with the sun quite low in the sky.

The weather forecast for the next few nights is for it to be considerable colder, probably getting below 32F (0 degrees C) for the first time this winter. We'll see.

Aloe 'Marco'

Another of the newly listed (at our nursery site) is Aloe 'Marco', another Kelly Griffin hybrid. Not as heavily textured as some of the others, it stands out in its own way. I'll be posting a couple more of these this week and then on to some other plants.

Enjoy your plants!

Aloe 'Vito'

The next one in the series is another Kelly Griffin hybrid, Aloe 'Vito'. Like many in this series it is characterized by raised lines on the leaves and a distinct jagged edge.

 

Aloe 'Rico'

The second Aloe cultivar which I'm posting is Aloe 'Rico', another one of the Kelly Griffin hybrids. It doesn't take much to understand why these have become so popular.

Aloe 'Pink Blush'

I haven't posted for a few days; it's just been too hectic. And I've been busy posting new plants to our nursery website, specifically to the Aloe list. So what I'll do in the next few days is post a few of these plants.
First up, Aloe 'Pink Blush', a Kelly Griffin hybrid that I describe as living impressionist painting. Really impressive.

Orbea hardyi

I understand that in its natural habitat in northern South Africa this plant tends to grow in dense shade and it tends to be more a speckled green. In our greenhouse it turns out to be much more red. It's a rambler and kind of looks like worms squirming all over the potting soil. So, of course, we grow it. Need I say more?

Crassula 'Tom Thumb'

I posted this plant last year but the flowers were so profuse, I couldn't resist. So, here it is. An old time favorite: not rare nor hard to grow, but certainly worth having around. As I mentioned before, we've had this plant around for 40 years or so and, even though it tends to get ignored much of the time, it thrives in spite of us. What more needs to be said.

Aloe deltoideodonta var. candicans

This is a lovely, small growing Aloe from mountainous slopes in South Central Madagascar. Its 6-8 inch long, 2" wide, leaves are streaked with white and the leaves are edged with small triangular teeth. It clumps from the base, eventually forming a small mound.

Enjoy your plants!

Mammillaria hahniana 'Superba'

Lynn-Marie just potted up a few trays of one of our favorite cacti: Mammillaria hahniana 'Superba'. It has a lot of pluses going for it; it's easy to grow, not prone to rot, and eventually makes a magnificent show plant, with clumps of plump, white-haired beauties.

The picture below is the normal form, showing the flowers, but also the relatively small amount of white "hair". Still an interesting and beautiful cactus, but it doesn't have the "wow" factor of 'Superba'.

Miscellaneous Succulents

This is a view of a miscellaneous group of plants on a side table in one of our greenhouses. It just caught my eye so I took the photo to share.

Haworthia 'Manda's Hybrid'

A nice, stocky hybrid Haworthia that's quite easy to grow and is quite attractive, it appears that the parentage is unknown. However the name -Mandy - seems to be a reference to a New Jersey grower and hybridizer of some time ago.

Mammillaria gracilis 'Arizona Snowcap'

No, it's not flowering now. This was taken last March of little thumb sized starts of Mammillaria gracilis 'Arizona Snowcap' (Syn.: Mammillaria vetula ssp. gracilis 'Arizona Snowcap'). These will be forming nice clumps of this very unique cultivar of gracilis, which makes an outstanding, easy to grow, pot specimen.

They've had their summer growth spurt and now they'll get their winter dormancy... not that we're really getting Winter weather yet. We've had a couple of mild frosts (37 F) but no killing frost yet. And certainly no snow like in the Eastern Rocky Mountains and in the Northeast. Brrrr.

More Haworthia truncata crassa

A couple more of the same seed batch of Haworthia truncata 'Crassa'. Some very nice plants came out of this cross (a cross of two large growing truncatas).

We spent a nice quiet Halloween with our grandson handing out candy to the trick-or-treators as they came to the door. The majority of the children in this community head up a few streets to a large Victorian house which gets transformed into a Haunted House on Halloween. Admission is a couple of cans of food for the Oregon Food Bank and they must bring in thousands of cans for this good cause.