Minty- I know that you know that i've tried everything i could think of from the mexican border to the State of Washington in a little town called Puyallup. Nothing! If these "rarer" succulents are here, i presume they're gracing some collector's home and only sharing within certain circles as i've been told that's exactly what happens.

When i went earlier this year to visit my youngest brother in Washington stationed in Fort Lewis he asked me if i came to visit with the family or visit every nursery in the state. I had o think very carefully before I answered, lol.

He has a few more days of leave before he has to go back in the field as they call it..somewhere 2 hours from his house in a town called "Yakima." The army gives them 10 days of leave when they have a newborn. But, when he gets back from that...he has to decide where his next tour is going to be!

His choices so far are: Germany, Upstate New York, and Korea! I am as you may have guessed, encouraging KOREA!! I have a suitcase at the ready!

Yeah it makes sense that the finest plants stay in certain circles, its an exclusivity thing. The thing is these plants do exist, and are in circulation, the caveat is that they're very far away. Well Neil you have to do what you have to do lol ! Got a few days left for you to convince him to do your bidding... err go to Korea. I have a longtime friend living out there, and while she's not into plants she tells me the food is phenomenal. I wonder how easy/difficult it is to bring plants back. Has anyone here tried?...

If one had the resources it would be nice to open a specialty succulent/cacti nursery out in CA, import plants, make different hybrids, etc etc etc.

Minty: I just recently purchased a cotyledon arborescens for under a dollar!

I recently just moved to S. Korea. Yay for having a husband in the military so I can travel! But yes, I see many of the reds, corals and purple colored succulents here. Succulents are plants of choice here and there are many plants in every shop's window. Many of which you can buy for under a dollar. Next time I go to the market or local nursery, Ill take pictures of the different colored succulents.

Haha Neil unfortunately it is not mine.. and if it was I'm in ct so that's quite a trek!! Just one of the many plant pictures I have in my weirdo folder on my phone ( pics that I like online and save and then show at local nuseries and look like a crazy person.) As around here u can only find a few basic succulents at most if the garden centers....

Tiffany- I'm with you, i do the same thing.

Maria, it would be wonderful to see all of the local varieties you have there! Lots of pictures :D ! Any plans to come stateside anytime soon ;) lol

Maria- Yes please post all the picture you can for us right here. And if a few leaves or cuttings wind up falling in a mailbox or something.....i'm just saying. sometimes these things happen : )

Minty, we could be here for as little as 2 years to as long as 4 years! But I have friends who send me plants and I've ordered African violets off eBay and from the The Violet Barn. I've tried my hand at growing succulents but they seem not to like me as much lol. I'd think if it's easy receiving them, it'd be easy to send them back to the states. I can find out what's allowed since we send mail out via USPS. If anything, I should be allowed to send cuttings and leaves.

Here's the one I've recently bought that cost under a dollar.

Love it.

This is great, can imagine Maria buying up beautiful succulents then sitting at home dismantling them leaf by leaf to send back.

Just want to be clear I'm not discouraging this behavior :)

Neil, Haha! I'll see what I can find out about shipping plants and you never know you might receive a box full of succulent cuttings ;)

Maria- The weather forecast predicts you would most definitely receive some greenery from San Diego : )

Maria what a pretty plant :) !! Succulent cuttings you say, me too , me too *jumps up and down*

Here's another to add to our list Minty!

How about this one? We should call this one Lemonayde : )

Can anyone ID that gorgeous yellow succulent (above)?

Beauticus lemonadicus

Rhamel- That name is waaaay cooler. Let's hope Minty likes it too!

Does hoffmans still come around your area?

Amazing pictures. Keep posting :)

YES :D!!! Such beautiful coloring. Where did you find that plant Neil ? These plants need to be more readily available, this is so frustrating :/ ....

I would love to believe that the pretty pale yellow one is real, but the strong tint on the potting medium makes me kind of suspect that picture is of a very pale succulent under a strong yellow light source, which is also tinting it's surroundings. I sorta think the plant actually looks like:

Minty- OMG i don't remember now was so excited to post it on here to show you. Not that it matters, it seems these will be out of my reach : ( I do know that its from Mexico so, i don't understand why i havent' seen it before.

Rhamel thought up a great name for it : )

Dreamstained- I agree i could tell from the source of light in the picture I posted. Yours is a more accurate representation. I still like it a lot though : ) would you mind advising me on the other photos too? i hope they have not been altered.

I do agree that it's pretty awesome looking, and I would still absolutely love one! Not sure what it is, though.

I had better luck with what I shall lovingly refer to as Fuzzy Pinecone of Awesomeness Plant. I translated "Sedum versadense v. Chontalense" off of a page with it, and got various colors coming up on Google so it looks legit! :) (I want one of those too, haha).

Dreamstained thank you for the clarification. I would like to nominate you to be the HouZZ GW Forum Photo Alteration Investigator. it's 80 hours a week one hour lunch and no pay. I hope you accept!

Haha, I am still but a poor newbie with my succulents, but I do tend to be very nerdy about things, and sometimes this helps spot abnormalities. That, and there's nothing worse than seeing a dyed flower and getting your hopes up!

I know exactly what you mean... I use photoshop too and what i do is give my images a nice background. I don't mis-represent my plants. If they don't look good and a lot of times they don't, so what. I use some colored foam backgrounds i bought at a craftsman store. I understand why Retail does it though and spray-painted succulents...ggggrrr.

Spray painted succulents is horrifying but if I ever saw one i'd have to resist wanting to save it because then it sells for them and they'll keep doing it. Preying on people's pity works as well as 'Oo look, shiny' too. :(

Also have read articles about certain growers hyper stressing some succulents so buyers will think it's a rare hybrid, due to stress coloration. That makes me rather sad, for a plant you have to be careful not to love to death in the first place!

Spoke like a true plant lover. My main concern is for the well-being of the plant. I remind people quite often that they are also living creatures.

I actually know someone whose winter plan for their succulents after acquiring them this summer when I kept warning be careful you have enough window space for all of these come cold weather, is pretty much 'I'll just replace them next year. It's cheap'.

I find that a real shame.

OMG i cringe when i hear stuff like that.

Neil, what is it?

That is indeed quite beautiful, Neil.

I don't want rare hybrids, I prefer rare species...even if they "look boring" lol.

Looks like Crassula 'Buddha's Temple' to me. That's a great looking plant.

Agreed it looks like a form of Buddha's temple. Would love just a normal one as well :)

When I first started looking into succulents, that crassula Buddha's temple really stood out to me! Especially the really well-established ones with undulating sides and those flower bunches.

Sorry for sidebar question! When going to a diff country with cool succulents, you can't actually bring them back right? Do you guys actually mail leaves/cuttings back..in a padded envelope? And pay extra because it's a plant?..

I totally never thought about it...ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (missed opportunities).

Sorry you guys- it's called "Crassula pyramidalis variegata." which translates into Buddha's temple variegated, lol.

I thought that was the real name :p Neil you have shown me plants I didn't know existed, and I'm happy they do!!

Rhamel- I sincerely hope you can have some of your plants while at school.

Neil! Way to hold back the name from us (just kidding).

Just an aside that Crassula 'Buddha's Temple' is Crassula pyramidavar x Crassula perfoliata var minor. I think the difference is the size and amount of branching?

Mayo- Between you Oksana and Brad, I don't even feel as smart as a 3rd grader!

Thanks Oksana

Good call Oksana! C. corymbulosa looks even closer to it.

Crassula is such a large genus of that I'm seeing new species all the time.

So...does this mean it is NOT a Buddha's temple Variegata? The owner thinks so, but i guess that doesn't mean anything anymore, lol. Taxonomy gives me a headache!

Thread revival~ I really have to ask, was there an I.D. for the first pic that Minty posted? I re-read the thread a couple times and I'm pretty sure the IDs were for the other pics. I pretty much only know the basics so I kept googling stuff like: sedum arborescens, graptoveria, graptopetalum, echeveria (not close I know), pachyveria.

Basically, what do you call those cute mini echeveria/sedum things on branches? Ugh that was the best way I could frame my question..

thanks!

I believe the plant you're talking about is a graptosedum. It could possibly be a 'california sunset' cultivar grown in full sun which intensifies the red coloring. The size of the stems tells me that it is not a very young plant. However, i believe with several be-headings of the rosettes, they grow smaller around the stem..sort of like when someone removes larger leaves of jade plants.

Neil,i want in on these plants!!!! Those are gorgeous and i've not seen anything like them,if i ever do,i sure won't hesitate to at least buy a small one,unless they are out of range of my bank account..LOL

Just Gorgeous.

Kathi

Thank you kathi : )