Blutarski, that's odd. The reason I say it's odd is, IL's planting time used to be April 15th. Sometime in the last 10 years, they changed planting dates from Apr 15th to May 15th. A whole month later. I like your time better. LOL Green there was Snow in July??? Wow, that must have ruined the 4th of July party. What do you mean, the bottom dropped out? You set out Epicias? That's scary. They dote on warmth. How are they doing? When I think of LA, heat and humidity come to mind. You guys grow citrus and palsm year round. Lucky you. Chandres. Has spring arrived in VA? I would think VA has much shorter winters than we do, yes/no? When electric goes, nothing works. I bought an old-fashioned phone w/cord so we have phone service when electric goes. No tv, computer, lights, HEAT, (have to worry about birds) oven and stove. Burners can be lit w/a match, but it's a pain. Did you mean to say, you're in the country, your mom's in the city? You have service when she doesn't? Living in the city, you'd think it worked the other way around?? Josh, which state are you in? If you don't mind me asking. Zones 7/8 is pretty warm, short winters, long summers. Even though it's been cold here, Snow Crocus, Tulips and Hyacinth have sprouted. Several years ago I planted an Alum, think that's its name, that does great in cold, but as soon as temps heat up, (over 75) that poor plant goes dormant, but resprouts in last autumn, when temps cool. I'd love seeing it grow its full height plus flower. Since we've had it, it's never once flowerd, but leaves are so pretty. Variegated. It's not as warm as yesterday, even cooler tomorrow. According to the WC, it's going to drop a few degrees each day, then back to 70's Monday. I set two plants out front. Geraniums and tree Gardenia. I'm considering setting out a Key Lime, too. It depends on temps...if they don't drop under 40-45, all 3 will stay out 24/7. Thanks, and Happy Spring!!! Toni

Another percale lover here. I am a fan of the Classic Percale collection from the Company Store - they come in a ton of colors and are crisp and cool. I have a few of their other lines of percale sheets too, but these are my preference. I originally started buying sheets from the Company Store because they were one of the few places that offered fitted and flat separately. I never use flat sheets and I was tired of buying sets and letting the flats languish in the closet. However, I learned a nifty trick for making pillowcases out of flat sheets recently, so I no longer have to avoid sets! I prefer my pillowcases to have a pocket top closure anyway, and that is very hard to find (and usually PRICEY), so I'm thrilled to be making my own.

Sure, Rina. I'm in zone 8b. The pacific northwest of the USA. Usually I mention it in my posts but was distracted with my repotting. I will add it to my name after this post. (NM. I tried to and the page doesnt update and reflect the change. I'll try it off phone later) And...lemme see. It's has been in gritty mix for about a month. My plants are all inside with about 47-53% humidity and under a T5 light for about 14-16 hours a day. They may need to be closer, and I've been very cautiously moving them. I'm...not sure how long one should watch the plant before more adjustments to light are tried. About a week, like with watering and transplanting? How much I water? About once a week I soak. I think...I may have been soaking too thoroughly in the past. I wouldnt just wet the mix, I would make sure every rock was a wet color. The water would run through the bottom and I would continue watering until it.was.soaked. It does look like underwatering to me too, but I'm just very cautious about watering since I've caught myself doing both. It's one reason why everything is going into terra cotta to finally stabalize, hopefully. I pick up the plastic pots and peer at the mix on the bottom and honestly, cant really tell by sight. There IS a lack of that transparent yellow aquarium/pond water look that I've seen on rotting ones, you're right, Frank. Hmmm. I also do know I'm prone to underwatering some. My poor neon breakers roots had dried to papery thin wisps. It's all droopy for now too. These plants are demanding a surprising amount of water, but it IS also around 77 degrees in the grow room. Thanks again for chatting about this, all! I absolutely love talking about plants and the back and forth convo helps it all sink in more efficiently. I'm also noticing patterns like my aloes and then my gasteria needing more water.

I think they look pretty normal considering the time of year and they’ve just been shipped. Mine look about the same, like crap;). They’re all in the process of absorbing the old leaves for the new. If you very lightly squeeze each body you should be able to feel the new bodies underneath. If they were mine I would put in a window that gets good morning or afternoon sun and leave them be. Don’t let them get cooked if the window is too warm. Once their old leaves have dried out you can give water. Idk if this is right, but this is what I would do:). Once the dog days of summer come you can let them sleep if you want, but I’ve read on Llifle that C. bilobum if given a little bit of water during the summer they will continue to grow. They warn if given too much water the epidermis will break and cause not so pretty scars, but that goes with most succulents. Your question had me thinking why are Conophytums so hard to read and figure out. I think it has everything to do with how they do everything underneath the old leave set of leaves. Other mesembs will look like crap, but we can see the new growth. So we know everything is ok. But many Conos stay hidden until the outer leaves are completely absorbed. So they look like crap without us seeing the new growth. Like this, pic came from Lithops stories Lithops stories is a good place to go for mesemb inspiration because sometimes as mesemb growers we need it;)