Bihai !! Absolutely terrific ! What a great deal of effort you put in to make this rock garden so eye appealing. I just keep looking at the photos over and over. In that 4th photo,are the two small dyckias on the left of the varigated plants the D.'Sea Urchin'from Rare Exotics? And those D.'Moon Glow'[yellow glow?] are really something.Great color.The whole display is worthy of a Botanical Garden rating. Great job,keep us updated with photos when time permits. Bob C.

Fantastic Bihai !!!

I would like to create that xerophytic garden in my yard, but my lovely dog, a real digger Labrador Retriever, he always recreate my garden!!!

And what is the blackish Dyckia in the 2nd pic, it's really nice.

As you are an expert amongst us, could you please advice me how to take care of Ortho. navioides. I just got, my very first time, a small unrooted pup from Michael. Should I grow it like a Dyckia or a semi-epiphyte as someone recommend.

LOL Stephania I wish I WAS an expert at something but alas I am just a regular Joe. There is an O. navioides in this Rock Garden, in the photo with the Dyckia Moonglow, those red leaves hanging down are O. navioides. Its only a single plant, I got it as a trade somewhat like you describe (rootless pup) about 2 years ago. I have always grown it like a Dyckia, as a terrestrial, and it has gotten big. I hope for pups soon.

Here is a listing of the plants in these pictures.
Photo one:(Overview)
extreme top right and going counterclockwise: Anthurium Nikki, Dieffenbachia Sparkle, Callesia (I think), Billbergia Baton Rouge, almost invisible behind the fern is Ae Aztec Gold, then a group that has Bil. Borracho, Neo Big Red and an unknown Bil, coming around the banded brom in front by the dead palm trunk is Ae fasciata "Sangria" albo-marg., the banded one by that is Canistrun sp. cf seidelianum, the little green one a very immature Ae JC Superstar, then Bil Fantasia "Red Clone", the small palm is a very rare palm from New Caledonia Island--Alloschmidia glabrata, in front of that is Dyckia Sawtooth, beside Sawtooth is Brittle Star, the Dyckia that looks kinda like its under the palm is Snaggletooth x Brittle Star, directly back from that is the "black" one, which is a dark form Fosteriana hybrid, then the little regular plant with green leaves is the Brownea macrophylla, and then the D. fosteriana (regular)

The 2nd photo is a closeup of the regular type of Fosteriana in the Left corner, the dark Fosteriana hybrid, and the little Brownea tree

The 3rd is D Moonglow with the edges of some D marnier-lapostollei and the leaves of the Navioides

The 4th, from top left corner going CLOCKWISE is D. dawsonii, Neophytum Shiraz, Galactic Warrior (there are 2 of these) in the right lower corner Cryptbergia Rubra, and yes those 3 little ones are D. Sea Urchins.

The 5th shot shows:
Large potted Birdnest type Anthurium, the Bils in front from left to right are "The Artist", amoena rubra "Seaborn", and the really red one is "Baton Rouge", the little bitty palm in front of Baton Rouge is a Red Sealing Wax palm, the highly white spotted Bil in the lower right corner is Borracho, and next to it the Ae fasciata Sangria albo-marg

the 6th pic is a better view of the Bil Borracho, in front of that the very small Gasteria x haworthia "Royal Highness", the Dyckia in center is "Rosy Glow", next to that is Pukia Sparkle, there is a containerized Neophytum "Ralph Graham French" leaning on a dark colored NOID Billbergia (anyone know its ID?)

and the last pic is a closer up view of:
Bil Fantasia Red Clone, Alloschimidia glabrata palm, Dyckia Sawtooth, D Brittle Star and D Snaggletooth x Brittle Star.

I have at least 3 other rock gardens with Dyckias to make through out the greenhouse. The plants are planted, I just have to add the rocks and some other accents.

Very eye appealing Bihai. Looks like a display at our major Garden Show (Del Mar) down here. A+ on the different textures. After seeing your Dykias, along with Ischan's collection, I've got new respect for that genus. You're gonna love the Cyrtostachys. I pity the first weed that decides to take up residence in your creation, it won't be long for this world. Nice to see the results after hearing about how the construction has been evolving! Status updates and photos on a regular basis are required ;-)

Bihai...Thank you so much for your advice and the fine descriptions, so I can expect my want list in the next shipment. I do love that little cute Dyckia 'Sea Urchin'.

Sometime, it hard to imagine how the plants look from the only thier name in catalog!!

Gonzer...you are finally hooked by those spiny.

You know its funny to think of how this particular greenhouse space has evolved over time since the greenhouse was first built. The first plant in that space was a red Alpinia purpurata ginger. It was containerized, and had grown so large in the container I had to plant it into the ground or sacrifice it to the cold in winter. So I put it there by the door. Then I made a major mistake and planted a 20 gal container of Heliconia rostrata beside it over by the exhaust fan. Dumb and Dumber couldn't have made a more fatal error, because as the alpinia and the rostrata grew they began fighting each other for space. And, they were located directly across from 2 huge stands of Heliconia stricta Bucky and Heliconia stricta Firebird. All these started to grow towards each other and it was a real mess. They all got much larger than reference books said that they would, because they are in a zone 11 climate in there yearround.

I ended up removing first the rostrata, then later, the Alpinia purpurata, the Firebird and the Bucky, and have used that space for many many other different plants that are not huge growing. The space where Firebird was now has my mottled leaved Pinanga palms, and a variegated Monstera, and the Anthurium regales and a few other things.
The space where Bucky was has lots of Billbergias, Ti leaves, a small manageable heliconia Yellow Christmas, a lot of Vreiseas, and the Salacca magnifica. DEFINITELY an improvement, much more character and different shapes, textures and colors to catch the eye.

This rock garden will stay the way it is, hopefully getting better and better as the plants mature. I hope to die a happy death before I ever have to change it.