I have been going a little troth Garden crazy this spring. Some of these are hardy to different degrees . We will see what lives in the cold hardy to twenty dish next Spring.. I am testing out info from a source on the web. Some I don't believe but I am going to "act as if". I just could not stop buying Graptoveras, Echeverias, sedums and the rosette forming succulents. Many of my plants are tiny and invisible. I have some brown echeveria and graptovera babies without a name nessled in the gravel There was a question about mixing different mesembs, alionopsis, pleiosipilos,faucarias in a dish. I have included those pictures at the end too. Beachplants (or anyone), I have a question for you, the alionopsis malherbei in the last picture has a babble of tiny growth in ithe center of the rosette. Is that meristem damage, desease, next years growth, flower buds? It is the last picture I kinda blew it on my fertilizing Here are some old troth or CALDRON gardens and a smaller cactus troth that I am always changing up . I have two more A. victoria-reginae that are to be inserted into the cracks of the piled rock. They like to grow on cliff walls in Nature. href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36613107@N05/7271657012/" title="Pleiospilos nelii and Echeveria by marasri, on Flickr"> Here is the photo with the Alionopsis question about the plant's center.

Welcome to this fabulous hobby - as you're finding out, these plants grow well in temperate zones (at least in the summer). Once you get these down, you'll want to expand your collection to include cold-hardy stuff, too, but what you have is a good start. 1) Because they worship at the altar of Mammon and don't really care about the plants. 2) Warmth, some air movement and bright light (most of the day), along with a daily spritz, will get these cacti pieces rooted - then you can pot them up. 3) Pictures would be great, but that sounds all too true - they're called glufers and I hates 'em forever (said in a Gollum voice). It sounds like you're doing things right - you might look at some of the posts here which have lots of responses, as it offers you a greater chance to turn your sponge into a Shamwow and get a lot of exposure to these plants of ours.

Ellent, cacti don't need to be watered frequently, but their containers should be thoroughly drenched on watering days. Little baby sips are not good for cacti any more than for other plants. If you are going to grow your cactus in a shallow container, it's even more important that you are able to water freely though infrequently.

Just to mention that all cacti are succulents (but not all succulents are cacti). I think that they should grow easily, just make sure they are not in dense, slow draining/water retaining soil (can't tell from your photos what they are potted in). I don't know what you call dirt - no plant should be potted in dirt (but I understand that some ppl call soil dirt :( Succulents need well draining potting mix - garden soil doesn't in containers.