Very wide petals and sepals and a glowing color. The form seems unusual to me.

I like Calculated Ambiguity and Atlas Shrugged and the garden "dog" :D Can't see much in the spider pic. I have a lot of spiderwebs all over my dls. Not very pleasant when they run on your hands when you deadhead, brrr.. And thanks for answering about Forever Redeemed on the other thread!

Thank you Richard. I'll bet your garden isn't the flop you say it is. Every year I'm totally amazed at how the garden will 'spring' back with cooler weather. I'm hoping yours has done the same by now. I want to add a picture. This is the first bloom on the Brug Kathy gave me earlier this year. It is very fragrant. As you see there are more to come. Bat faced cupheas are growing beneath it ... In the background on the right is the papaya that came up from seed this spring. It is loaded with fruit, but I doubt that it will make it through the winter. But anyway I've enjoyed its stately presence through most of the year.

Nik - Glad to see your other thread got some traction and hopefully results! If you haven't cut off the distorted growth on your cacti, I would do so. The pests really like to hide in the crevices and even inside growth masses (often they have internal folds). Stush - Thanks for your input. Many mites are host-specific as you say. Eriophyid (Aloe mites) are probably the scariest thing I've ever dealt with. There don't really seem to be many success stories or solid advice out there, other than destroy/discard the plant immediately. Plantspace - Yay, thanks! It does appear very grim online and these plants were so hard to get. I couldn't give up on them so I did a crazy amount of research instead. Here is my Ultrasonic Cleaner. It's capacity is 600mL, which is a decent size for small plants. You can get bigger ones, but they cost more than $40. If you are curious, there was a really good study by the Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: Ultrasonic Treaments to Control Surface Pests of Fruit. The reason I went for ultrasonic miticide application are as follows: Ultrasound destroys mite tissues and kill them (10 minutes+ bath). Ultrasound knocks the mites off the plant and many of the eggs too. Full immersion of the plant in miticide ensures full coverage. Ultrasonic agitation enables the miticide to penetrate deeper into crevices where mites like to hide. Ultrasound cleans debris from the plant, making further close inspection easy. My ultrasonic miticide application method: Bare-root the affected plant. Put the plant upside-down in a small glass jar or beaker. This saves the amount of miticide necessary and keeps the main bath clean for other things (jewelery, etc.) Mix the miticide of choice in a separate container. Warm water is better along with a little surfactant or insecticidal soap. This improves cavitation significantly. Place the small jar with plant in the ultrasonic cleaner. Fill the small jar with miticide up to the bath fill line. Try to not have any bubbles in the leaves. Use a metal chopstick or similar to move the plant around. Fill the main bath portion with warm water. Make sure you don't fill too high or else the jar and plant will float up. Run the ultrasonic cleaner for 10 minutes for maximum effectiveness. Once done, set the plant to air-dry and then repot. Leave out of bright light for a week and then reinspect. The biggest risk that I was worried about was phytotoxic damage from the ultrasound to the plant. It was a non-issue. Based on scientific studies, the ultrasound does not penetrate deeply into the plant tissues so they are not damaged. In practicality, some of the finer root hairs are probably destroyed in the process, but overall I saw very little difference. The leaves all looked and grew fine after the ultrasonic treatments so I don't think there is much to worry about. The miticides I used were Avid, Bayer 3-in-1, and Schultz Insect Spray (Insecticidal Soap plus Pyrethrin). This was extremely effective. For future mite treatments, I would also consider Floramite and Sevin for rotational purposes. I have more import buys currently on their way. =) My biggest frustration with these plants is that I paid for phytosanitary inspection and certificate, yet the plants never came with the certificate and were not clean. So I am doubtful it was done properly. For any new additions, I always inspect carefully with a loupe (sometimes microscope) and quarantine if I am suspicious of anything. A watchful eye has been the most important asset of mine.