Wow... you have a lot of nice things I have a very hard time keeping alive (all my stuff either lives outdoors... or it doesn't (live). Good photos, too... nice details, particularly of the fuzzy stuff. Particularly nice for a zone 7... I live in a better zone but cannot match that. Thanks for the pics!

Awesome pics...you are Sooooo lucky I don't live next door, I would be bugging you for cuttings all the time, lol!

I see some types here I'm going to have to try to find, thanks for sharing!

What's this 'lots of pictures' you speak of? More like not enough!

In my zone there's not much that'll grow very nicely, but you definitely provide some inspiration and motivation with your beautiful plants! Always love seeing them!

That is the best old plant collection I have seen in a long time. Kept beautifully and loved and WOW can you take pictures. What in New York? This a real achievment most people don't know how to grow plants in New York. You did a great job, now I can tell people with conviction that you can because I have proof. Congratulations to you and your plants. Thank you so much for taking the time. Norma

Very fine collection.
What is the age and size of the Aztekium ritteri?

Fantastic and beautiful pictures!

You are certainly someone to learn from and I still remember your kindness from the past...

Thank you for sharing and everything.

Mike..:-)

Thank you for the beautiful pics. Someday I'll have a collection like that..... :)

Thank you all for the kind words. I love my hobby and am happy to share with everyone.

Something I realized over the years is patience. Sometimes you see something you like, and you want a big one and sometimes there are big bucks involved. Well, if you have enough other plants to enjoy, then go get some seed or small plants for a fraction of the cost. After a few years, while the babies are happily hiding and growing in the corner somewhere, you will eventually wind up with some nice stuff and in the meantime you learn the plants habits.

Take my Mammillaria luethyi for example - I bought seed from Germany some years back (pre-eBay) for cheap. Back then all I saw for sale were ugly grafts. Germination was poor and sporadic but now I have 2 nice plants that have bloomed.

I bought lots of little stuff from Mesa Garden for a few bucks each, and now they are much bigger. And Mesembs: there's no reason to ever have to buy a plant, they are very easy from seed.

tjicken - the Aztekium is about 8 yrs old, I can't remember exactly. They are in their original 1.5 inch clay pot so they are still tiny. I wonder if I was to transplant them and freshened the mix, they could grow a little faster? Does anyone have any experience with speeding up Aztekium growth besides grafting?

x

Thanks for posting these! They are great!

I'm just a succulent newbie for now, but your wonderful collection is inspiring! Thanks for the comments about patience too, I haven't been patient enough yet to try starting from seed...but now you've got me looking, know of a good place to get seeds from?

X,

Thanks for sharing your fabulous collection with us. The breadth and maturity of plants is mighty pleasing.

Awakening Cyphostemmas are a soft spot for me - were the pics taken some weeks ago? Two of my three immature ones awakened in February.

I am sitting here in awe!!!!!
Fantastic plants and great pictures!
Thank you!

emailing address and shipping instructions ;)

Such beautiful plants and pictures! Really brightened my afternoon! Thanks for posting!

I've never taken enough interest in cacti or mesembs to grow them, but after seeing these, I may have to start my collection.

Wow.

In addition to all the properly WOWs you got before I have to say WOW! also to your seedlings of Blossfeldia and Aztekium!

Jordi

Very nice!
I appreciate the fine show, as well!

Those small-leaf Jades....no collection is complete without them... ;)

Josh

cactusmcharris

These photos were taken within the past week. I don't rush my Cyphostemma because if they started growth to soon, I wouldn't have a place to put them!

x

Awesome! All the pics help me prove to my other 1/2 that I'm not all that bad LOL, BUT on the other hand I always see a plant I don't have but absolutely NEED!
Even more impressing where you grow them.
Tally HO!

Well, I knew the pics/plants would be 'good' when I saw the name of the poster, but honestly these were truly AMAZING, congratulations!! The results you get surely must be result of true dedication, your plants are out of this world.

OMG.I've never seen such a beautiful collection,and all look sooooooooooooooo healthy as well.You're to be commended for all your hard work,i'm sure you love every minute of it.
TFS
Kathi

EXCELLENT "photo rampage", Xerophyte! Just the kind I love! Reminds me of my visits to Cactus Jordi's or Steve Hammer's. I keep coming back to "spy" another morsel in the pix. Nice seeing lots of plants I have or ones I want. :) The variety in your collection is amazing! Thanks for taking the time & effort to post them all! Enjoyed the bunch!!

Ok, now that is nice... So I guess my question is do you have a green house or what??? what zone to you live in and or waht type of soil do you use to get such luscious looking plants, do you fertilize or does nature just do it's own thing, again very nice collection and I'm sure you enjoy every minuete of the time you put into these plants.

Ok here's a question for all you cacti & succulent lovers I am trying to get my "Euphorbia polygona snowflake" to grow faster than it has while living in a pot, so I amended my soil ( In the ground) with Sunshine #4 mix placed it in a all sun location and I am now hoping for some faster results in the growth pattern, any advice or comments are all appreciated. OH yeah, I'm in zone 9 by the way.

Truly amazing stuff. Aztekium, big P namaquanum, Astrophytum caput-medusae! And the size and epidermis on that Copiapoa cinerea. Crazy, sick (in all the good senses of those words)!

Absolutely amazing! Now I need some Adros!! And some Cyphostemma too! I feel myself being drawn to caudiciforms lately. Amazing textures. I'm looking forward to more pics soon! (nudge nudge)
Matthew

An old post was resurrected! I have been swamped with life (work, kids, etc.) this year, that's why I haven't been contributing much of late. My apologies. I have also been involved with another somewhat related hobby: developing a reef aquarium. Let me tell you, many coral and other reef animals absolutely rival succulents for color and form.

Yes, I do have a greenhouse, which serves 2 purposes: it protects plants from too much rain - especially my Mesembs during the summer and cactus during the cool time. I keep as many plants as I can outdoors unprotected during the spring-summer-fall. I overwinter pretty everything except the true tropical plants (Adenium, some Pachy) in my unheated garage.

Soil mix of choice for mesembs and other smaller & slower species is a formula with various proportions of turface, garden coil, fine gravel and pumice. Everything else is in a mix basically of 50-50 turface to perlite.

Fertilizer is diluted liquid algoflash for most plants. Bigger things just get a healthy dose of Osmocote slow release + micros in the spring plus added Mag + gypsum.

x

Well I'm glad this thread was resurrected as I seem to have missed it the first time.

Gosh X, the variety of form, color and particularly (for me) texture make this collection an absolute wonder to behold. Thanks much for the tour!

x, amazing pictures of amazing plants! I'm with PG on being glad of the resurrection. Also, I was going to ask what your mesembs mix was...but you beat me to the punch and answered before I asked haha.

How do you think I would fare, in the long run, with mesembs (lithops, specifically) in Al's Gritty Mix? I've read that Lithops have finer roots and may grow better in something a little less gritty. I have two grades of silica sand that I can add to, or substitute for something in, the gritty mix. What are your thoughts?

Crikey! You must be a very busy man...

Beautiful stuff, X.

T

phongdor - I have grown Mesembs in a grittier mix, they don't grow as well as the ones in a denser mix. The soil dries out too fast probably. The mesembs don't look bad or unhealthy, just not as plump or colorful - I would almost say they are stunted. Maybe if they were watered more often it would improve things - but I don't really have the time to play around.

Limited growth is not always a bad thing, especially if space is at a premium ;-)

x

Xerophyte (or anyone else), I know this is a terribly old thread, but do you know the species or cultivar name of this Mammillaria? I love the spination and neeeeeed one. Have you ever gotten seed from it?

Sue, this is Mammillaria carmenae.

Wow, I am sure glad this old thread was resurrected, I enjoyed it so much! What a fabulous collection x has.

Thanks for the ID, cactusjordi!