There is a group in Yahoo, called Stapeliad. Many members there are very active and willing to help, maybe can find some advice there.

Yeah... Cerapegia flowers are so unique, I also like them very much, I only want start some from seeds if I can find, as my old habit.

Well, I don't think he's available to ask questions of, but when you have some time & if you'd like to get even more Ceropegia crazy, please do a search for the site of my friend Sage Reynolds, who has been absolutely stark raving mad over Ceropegias & made himself a beautiful site, very informative & chock-a-block full of excellent pix of them (beautiful designed too, all his own work).

Oh & a month ago, he gave me my first piece of C. ampliata too. I took it home by boat & subway, carrying a long, coiled up cutting w/ numerous (very phallic looking) blooms on it, got very interesting looks & a few commented on its oddity! Enjoy!!

Pirate Girl,

Can you give us a link to his website? Now you've got me hankering for a look-see! I don't grow Ceropegias myself, but I do find their flowers fascinating.

Denise in Omaha

Sorry Denise, I don't know how to provide links, a search for but his name & 'Ceropegia' should find it. Also, it may be linked through Cactus Mall.

Wait, I just found a card of his that cites:

Sage Reynolds Ceropegia Journal at SageReynolds.com

Here it is

Here is a link that might be useful: link to Sage Reynolds websit for Cerapegia

Thank you Sino for the link! Isn't it the coolest place to visit? I was lucky enough to visit w/ him 2 wks ago & see some of these oddities blooming in person, quite the fascinating show!

Well I'm another nut to join you. I love them, I also love the flowers, and there are other species, that are similar in growth, the all belong to the Asclepiadaceae Family. They are a fun group of plants, and yes, very different. I also have about 20 species at this time. Norma /Crasulady2 Norma

Dufflebag,

Cool, you live less then 50 miles from me here in Orange County, so I'd love to know how well they do for you here. Do you bring them in for the winter or do they do ok for you outside? I'll have more questions I'm sure once my order from Shoal Creek arrives (tomorrow or Thursday).

Thanks!
Robert

I got my plants!!!! They all looked good and arrival and have been potted, watered, and sung too (well, potted and watered anyway). I have now joined the 20+ Ceropegia club. We'll see how they do!

I had a brief affair with ceropegias in the 70's! It lasted a few years. I had some greenhouse space, provided by my university, where I had these plants along with much of my other collection. There wasn't that much available then, but somehow I built up a nice collection of a dozen or more. Today, from those years, I only have a few sp. including my woodii, which I've had all these years, along with a green leafed species like woodii, which was called carnosum (circa 1973), but from Sage's site, I think was/is mislabeled. Oh, and another from those days, still with me--smithii. I do hold onto plants.

But, my favorite one is sandersonii. All it takes is one open flower to make this plant fantastic. For much of the summer it has flowers on it. When I got it, I was given a length of bare leafless stem--that is all this plant usually has (only the occasional leaf on a young new growth). I had no idea what to do with it, and I didn't have much faith that I would root it, since I have so many plants, they don't all get exacting care! So, I laid out the foot plus stem around and around in a pot of pumice and covered slightly. It rooted and grew, long after I had forgotten all about it. When I discovered it again, I didn't know what it was for a minute--this green cord running around other plants on the bench. I potted it up in a mix with a high pumice content. Now, I have it on its own little 30" tall trellis in a six inch pot.

Be forwarned Argus. There is one problem with collecting ceropegias! They are twining vines. And, when they twine they don't follow instuctions. Invariably they hunt for the most annoying place to wrap and twine themselves. If you are not aware and not on top of things they will all twine together into the mother of all gordian knots. Then you will spend the next five years trying to untwine them (you thought the rubix cube was difficult....).

A small trellis for each plant probably is the best solution. I forget how Sage handled this. The trellis needs to be anchored in the pot so you can move your plants around. You will find that some species are hardy in S. Cal. while others are too tropical--so read up. I grow mine indoors for the most part--in a greenhouse. Finding a small in-pot trellis is not easy. You might need to make your own, using redwood, or bamboo. Make them tall and narrow, since the vines only want to go upwards. Another solution that is very simple is to take a length of thick wire and make a hoop, then train the vines to grow around and around the hoop, with both ends anchored in the pot. But, you will need to be always winding the new fast growing stems, or they will soon find other places to twine.

When I had my plants all those years ago, I had youthful hopes of hybridizing them. But, those flowers are really hard to figure out. Figuring out how to make a seed pod was too much for me then. Perhaps this is why there are so few ceropegia hybrids.

One other thing--getting these plants at this time of year is good but don't expect much until next spring. For now you will be served well if they root out and establish in their pots before going fully dormant. If indoors they will grow a bit during winter, but outside I would expect them to shut down. At least up here in the SF Bay Area, they would go dormant. I would worry a little about keeping the tropical ones outside. Not growing in your climate I don't know how they will handle the cool nights and rain. They may rot. Good luck.

Jon

Jon,

Thanks for the informative post. I'm not really sure which ones I have are more tropical or not. I have relatively high humidity in the patio, as I grow orchids and carnivorous, with tubs of water everywhere. I'll probably bring all of them in this winter once night temperatures go bellow 60 degrees. There's not a lot of research to be found on them online (unless you speak German), but I'll try to piece it together. The main thing I'm trying to figure out is which ones are hanging, which are upright vining, and which are upright. I know on a couple and can guess on most of them, but some I have no idea.

For now, I put most that look like they can drape down into redwood square hanging baskets (they sell them at Home Depot), with 4 to a container. I figure they can drape if they want or climb up the chain. After I figure out what their inclination is, I can move them to a more appropriate container if needed. Four I put in an 10" azalea pot and made a small wire frame for them to go up, and a couple are in 4" pots so I can see what they do.

As for them growing out of control, I don't have too many plants (live in an apartment with a big yard, but far from huge) I inspect them all every day. I have a growing aristolochia collection, and am religious about making sure they grow just how I want. Talk about a rebellious twining vine! Aristos also only want to grow up (sections die that hang down on most species) but they get over 30' growing a foot a week!

I know I wont have flowers until next spring or summer on most of these guys . A couple rooted pieces were blooming so they might continue after they get established. I felt horrible ripping off all the flowers and buds on an unrooted cutting I got. I assume he left the flowers on so I could see them, as I know you never root a plant with flowers. Hopefully everything makes it until spring.

Thanks again for the info,
Robert

Hi All,

Jon, are you sure that's really C. Sandersonii you're remembering? Sounds more like a stick-like form to me. What I have (I believe from Sage) as a Sandersonii, does have thickish green stems, but always has leaves, a lanceolate type of leaf & thick nubby knuckle-like nodes, sometimes w/ arial roots. Never bloomed for me so can't be certain but I do recall that was his ID.

To answer someone's comment (Jon's maybe) Sage used to use inverted wire tomato cages to contain his Ceropegias as they climbed. Now he's scaled back his collection substantially (limited greenhouse space, etc.) & the few he has left hang all around his front porch. Others are ground in containers out in back yard (weather permitting).

Karen, my sandersonii is a vine. It has climbed up its trellis and reaches out, trying to grab at anything so as to go higher. I bend down the thick wirey stems and they then find the trellis to twine some more. But, perhaps because I grow it on the dry side, it loses its leaves rather quickly. My plant usually has more flowers than leaves (at this time of year), but it does have a few thick succulent leaves on the new growth. I think that there are a number of ceropegias that do this--have leaves only on the young growth. If kept moist and humid through the summer then I would think they would hold onto their leaves, but if dried out or grown in less humidity they will drop their leaves. The stems are green and probably do the real photosynthesis. Give your plant lots of light and I bet you get flowers. All it takes is one! Ampliata, which I also have, seems to grow faster with thinner leafless stems. They are now shooting out all over, and I will have a mess if I don't get off the computer and go do something about it. It has those weird (almost?) obscene flowers popping up here and there. I love it.

Argus, it sounds like you have things under control and understand the potential for disaster. I would be careful about growing more than one variety in the same pot. I like to keep my sps separate so that I can move them around. But, my collection has long since gone on to being overly overly large. In your climate you could probably grow them outdoors. I am not sure of where all the various species come from. The South Africans would be fine outside down there in the south. As for when to bring the tropicals in--I would think that when the night time temps drop below 50, mol. But to err on the safe side is always a good idea (so "never mind" ).

Jon

Jon,

I have an ampliata as well. I would agree that those are fairly obscene flowers. I saw one website have the common name "horney wonder" for them. I have one flower right now on a younger plant. It seems that it takes quite a few months for it to establish itself before sending up new growth. Even now, it only has two new shoots growing up, with the rest of the plant seemingly lifeless.

As for growing them separate, I wish I could. Right now it's out of space considerations that i have them together. They look like they have quite a bit of space, and need quite a bit of growth to encroach on each other. If they get that big anytime soon, I'd be more then happy to try to solve that problem. For now, I'm just hoping they survive being transplanted and don't take months to start growing again.
I think my sandersonii is in one of the baskets, so I think I'll move it to a pot so it can grow up. Since my previous Ceropegias were radicans and woodii, maybe I got the false impression that they like to hang more then climb :-/ I'll ask Shoal Creek how theirs grow.

Thanks,
Robert

Hi !

Are You interested in a special forum only for Ceropegia ?

I created one at http://www.ceropegia.iphpbb.com

I left mine out all winter, we had a mild one. They are flowering at this time but the flowers are small, which means I need to fertilize them immediately. They are related to the Hoya, and I think they could be pollinated very much in the same way if you have a steady hand and I microscobe. Be sure to use a cat's whisker to do the job. Norma

Hi all,
I've joined the Ceropegia Forum already, a really nice site.

Suppose you didn't know that my country Thailand is also a home-land of many sepecies of Ceropegia and Brachystelma.
Most of them are unknown to the collector.

Herewith, some of Ceropegia from Thailand.

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Hi Stephania and others,

I just joined, live in the Netherlands and grow succulents. Also a few Ceropegia, like woodii, conrathii and several Madagascar species.

Stephania, i used to grow C. sootepensis from Mt. Sootep (I think) in Thailand, looked a bit like your second photo.

Robert

Hello all You Ceropegia-Growers and Ceropegia-Lovers !

The Ceropegia-Forum is now in a new place, You can find it here:

http://www.carookee.com/forum/ceropegia-forum

Just have a look !