Thanks Tracy! I quite like them myself too :-) Your E. Obesa must be at least double the size of mine, wow! I hope you will have more luck with the seeds than I've had so far: they've been in the propagator for 2 weeks now and no sign of life so far.

Pagan, you said they were easy to germinate: how long did it take with you for them to get started?

Rick, your Dioscorea elephantipes is extremely cute! The leaves on your plant seem to be so much bigger than those on mine though. As I keep the plant indoors I can't let the vines hang, the cats would have them off in no time, so I've had to train them around a piece of string.

In general, here's a better picture of my tiny Escobaria minima. Unfortunately it had already flowered when I received it last week.

My tiny Fockea edulis

A Pachypodium saundersii that was double the size when I first got it but was quickly halved by the cats

And I can't for the love of me remember the name of this one. It had a stem with gorgeous fragrant yellow flowers on it a few weeks ago but blooming has finished

I have a couple of pachypodium seedlings outside. Will post them tonight. Really must get back to work now...

It took about a week for the first translucent blistery dots to appear, Conny. I was surprised, too. But these were Mesa Gardens seeds which are almost always fresh. They were dots for a couple of months. They really can not ever dry out, which is what happened when I moved. No turning back after that, they were all gone within a week.

Thanks Pagan!

Such a shame they didn't survive. Even as little pin points they look adorable :-)

Conny, all of those are nice. Really like the last one.

Conny what a superb collection. I am so delighted by each one! I'm afraid we might be bad for each other Conny. LOL. Pagan thank you for posting the cute pics, you have prompted me to immediately sow my E. obesa seeds so I can hurry up and wait.

Tonight I am reading this article about Euphorbia and wanted to share the article with you all that I am enjoying. It describes the characteristics of the male and female Euphorbia flowers. While we are OT and enjoying the heck out of this thread! http://www.euphorbiaceae.org/pages/about_euphorbia.html

Sandy what do you think of the Dorstenia gigas? Are you liking some of these other types?

OMG I can't believe I missed that one post---Tracy, yes! I would love to come down (up? I literally have to look at the US map to get an idea where everyone is) and experience a C&S club at least once! Then let's go see Gladys. Of course, if you are ever near the north Atlantic, I'd love for you to come and check out my pergola (once it has a roof, what will it be called then?).

Good luck with the euphorbia. I'll be reading that article too.

P

Awesome Pagan! I will ask the program director at our next meeting if we have any speakers coming into town. Woody Minnich was our guest last month for a 2-day event. He did a program on staging plants with rocks and props. Then another at the monthly meeting he presented on some new discoveries made in the bowels of Mexico. Fabulous storyteller! Here is an article about him, he is holding his favorite Astrophytum the Bishop Cap: http://www.eastmountaindirectory.com/articles/48-A-Passion-for-Succulents.html

Dan Mahr came to visit several months back. He is a professor of bug stuff at the Uni of Wisconsin. He recently converted to an Adenium enthusiast and has placed his first Rinoa order thanks to my help. He did a 2 day program that was also fantastic. Of course we hit it off because we have Adeniums to talk about.

The next event for sure! Or whenever you want to make the trip.

OMG, what I would give to come to this. With the two of you would be such a time to remember and, well I was going to say pick up some plants. Then I would have to leave them with the two of you.

I truly hope this works out for you two to take this in and venture to Drummond's.

Rick

I think your name is Sandy. Hello (spacecoast) well anyway. What is the pic fourth up. It like a crestata of what ever the original is. Maybe not. Just asking.

Marica, If you look further up the thread it belongs to ConnyNL and it is a "E. bupleurifolia x susannae". I don't know much about these plants I just liked the way that one looked. Yes my name is Sandy. I keep forgetting to put my name after my comments.

The name suddenly appeared in my memory again: Albuca Spiralis

Yay Conny! This is a beautiful plant, you have a really nice collection.

Sandy you have great taste. Your 4th picture I ended up taking home with me. Repotted it already because it was busting out of the container. Will take another picture when she bounces back, still a little upset over the repot.

I am off to check for further squirrel damage. They have crossed the line by trampling over my Adeniums to eat my Crested Opuntia. It is wartime baby.

I hadn't gotten round to posting pictures of some of my other than adenium seedlings yet. So here we go...

Edithcolea Grandis:

Zehneria Scabra:

Pachypodium Windsorii:

Plumeria:

Pachypodium Lamerei v Ramosum:

Pachypodium Sofiense (finally started to show some proper growth after I took this picture earlier this week):

Pachypodium Horombense:

Pachypodium Densiflorum v Densiflorum:

I started a few more of all variaties shown here yesterday. And of course I still have some seeds that haven't shown any sign of germination yet.... *sigh*

Oh, Tracy. That is an Adenium. The A. Obesum 'Obese'. Must have mixed seeds :)

Rick

Rick the testa I removed was a round ball. This is the only thing that distinguishes this from my Adenium seedlings. I suppose it will be interesting to watch at least. Thanks for your reply.

How did you get it to germinate so quickly Tracy? How long was it?

I think I'll give my seeds till the end of the month, then I'll five up (need the space in the propagator for other seeds :-) )

Conny it was about 6 days from when I first sowed them but I don't think this is a Euphorbia. I've never sown any from seed so I have no previous reference to go by. I bought the seeds from the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. The seeds look like little round balls. This is what i removed as the casing too. It will probably be a while before we know. I would say by 3 weeks I would have lost patience on the germinating of the seeds. You have much better staying power than me.

Lol, they're pushing their luck though... it's one of the things I really enjoy about growing adeniums: the first seeds usually germinate within 24 hours.

6 weeks ago I sowed some brachychiton bidwillii I got from Australia. I was about to give up last weekend when I noticed the medium pushing upward. On Monday morning curiosity got the better of me, so I took everything out of the pot, and yeahhhh, two had germinated, and already showed quite some growth! These are going to be very precious to me!!

My EO seeds by the way were (erm, still are) little brown balls too, no more than 3 mm.

Six weeks! How awesome it must have been after the wait. Now I need to take a photo of the 5 remaining seeds I haven't sown.

I took a photo here are the Euphorbia obesa seeds. They look legit to me
But as I said I have no previous experience with Euphobia seed. They remind me of Marijuana seeds only smaller. :)

They look identical to my EO seeds, so must be right. I'm puzzled how that seedling of yours is going to grow into e obesa though.

I'm staying well clear of the lucrative business of growing marihuana. The police checks on our (old barn-type) buildings very frequently as they are popular with weed growers (we've been asked a few times to rent them out at very attractive prices...). I already warned hubby that the police will be knocking on our door when the growlamps for the adeniums go up in October :-)

Oh no Tracy, what's happened there? Which one is it?

Conny that's funny, I live next door to the chief of police so there is no MJ business growing here either. I do get some funny looks though because my lights run year round.

The E. bupleurifolia x susannae was in bad shape when I bought it, only I was too dumb to recognize it. I thought the plant was mature and this is why the caudex looked brown. Nope on the dead side I'd say.

Conny you have inspired me to sow more Pachy seeds this week! I adore your Edithcolea Grandis seedlings, such an interesting shape on them already at this young age.

Tracy

Fell in love with some Euphorbia obesa hybrids this week, named Hopeful Monsters. Get a load of these babies. Couldn't decide on one so I bought all 6. Also picked up some E. obesa x suzanne hybrids that are toothy and cool. Good thing they are cheaper than Adeniums.

That seedling might still be a euphorbia, Tracy, just not obesa. As for your other euphorbia....well. Did you water it? This is one of those plants you need to keep dry as long as you dare. I have mine in 60 percent pea gravel and 40 percent large pumice.

They say it goes dormant in winter but I find it to be an opportunist. A tablespoon of water in January kept it in leaf throughout the winter.

Pagan

It got rain for sure. It was so dry when I got it home the first thing I did was water it. I was hopeful but looking at photos it was pretty well lousy when I bought it. Also it was still in Glady's mix, I haven't repotted any of those yet.

Tracy, I just love the pachys. The windsorii has been especially easy in germinating. I really hope that one day they will look like the sample picture. Really that goes for everything I sow....

The edithcolea grandis seedlings are not growing very fast.... I also have stapelia variegata seeds in the propagator, one of them finally germinated this week and look identical to the edithcolea grandis. Makes sense I guess since the flowers look similar.

I actually worried that it was your EBxS, but couldn't quite identify it. Thanks Pagan, I'll have to be more careful with mine. I watered it yesterday but will keep it dry for a month or so now.

Tracy, I love your Hopeful Monsters! Take good care of them :-)

Here's a picture of the brachychiton bidwilii that inspired me to try and grow it myself

They wanted EUR 200 (USD 220) for it, a little out of my budget.

I sowed a few more of them 10 days ago, but gave them an emery board treatment before I soaked them. And hey, 2 have already germinated now, a bit quicker than 6 weeks thankfully :-)

200 Euros?? That's insane. I once had one in my collection, maybe half the size. Bought it for 20 Euros if I recall correctly. It flowered profusely.

That's what I thought Martin, insane. I guess the nursery thought they could justify that price because it's such a unique plant (for the Netherlands anyway).

But hey, I already have 4 seedlings now, and I hope one day (not too far in the future) they will bloom for me as well.

Wow Conny the brachychiton bidwilii is amazing! Also loving the pink blooming plant behind it in the photo.

I emailed Craig, the hybridizer of the Hopeful Monsters to ask him about my seedlings. He said these could still be E. obesa:

"Hi Tracy,

That seedling is obviously very young, it still has cotyledons ("seed leaves"). Pretty much all Euphorbia species look like that at first, so I would not rule them out as obesa. They should lose the cotyledons and start to become more globoid in the next month or so. I have attached a shot of some 2-3 month old obesa hybrids, you can see where the cotyledons have fallen off, then the central stem has started to thicken and get some ribbing. These looked very similar to your seedling in the first couple of weeks after germination."

He also provided an image for me of what they should look like very soon when the cotyledons fall off.

Fingers crossed!

Fingers crossed, and some exciting times for you then waiting forcthem to show their true nature, lol. When I see your seedlings I really feel like throwing mine in the bin... when did you sow them again?

The pink blooming plant in the picture behind the brachychiton bidwillii is a huge oleander. They are gorgeous plants with a fantastic fragrance, but not winterhardy in our climate and seriously too huge to move in and out of the house each winter and summer. (And the smaller ones just don't do it for me.)

They are beginning to look like E obesa now! A third one is germinating. Kind of crazy since I sowed them in July.

Oh Tracy, I was going to ask you how they were getting on, you were one step ahead of me. They're looking fabulous, and indeed starting to look a little more like e obesa than last time!

I gave up on mine and binned them. I did have another 3 seeds left which I sowed 2 days ago, but I haven't much hope...

Conny sorry you haven't had much luck but don't count yourself out yet. Three seeds could produce something for you. I sowed 10 in this batch so the ratio is really low. But I am hopeful that they will continue to germinate.

I'll just admire the progress on your seedlings Tracy!

Wow this thread got long fast! Well I managed to sunburn the hell out out of Euphorbia obesa #1. I have tucked it in between two Adeniums to provide it some partial shade. Didn't know they were sensitive. I am going to have to rethink my garden layout for next year because I have sunburnt Adeniums too.

It turns out even transparent roofs shades a lot of sunlight, Tracy. Before I installed the panels on my pergola I had to double the bug screen where I have my semi-dormant winter growers. After the roof installation I then had to remove the extra screen. Gladys' hoop house looks like it has double-wall polys so while it is bright, that's still a lot less harsh than direct sun.

I should've warned you, sorry. Every time I get plants from Arid Lands I email them back to find out if they have been in a hoop house or under direct Arizona sun.

Pagan

Thanks Pagan. I have been monitoring them very closely, inspecting daily for signs of trouble. This just blew my mind because this week hasn't been as hot as previous weeks. I want to continue this thread so we can share our Euphorbia et al discussion without the need to scroll. I will start a new thread and link to it here. Beginning with a photo of my OT fried EO.

New thread here: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4103352/m=23/my-adeniums-and-their-companions

Wow Conny, Your plants look soooooo awesome. I have a couple adenium, a couple Euphorbia, a couple of standard Pachys and a few other different things like ponytail, fockea, bromeliads and cycads. You seem to collect the rare and beautiful, and they all look so good! I wish i had the time, space, knowledge, and money to develop such a collection. Beautiful!

Thank you Daniel. I don't have the time, space, knowledge nor money for it either I'm afraid.

I only started a few months ago (6 months ago there was not a single plant in our house) and things have totally gotten out of hand. Given up meals out, holidays etcetera....

LOL, I know what you mean! I am trying to keep my little collection to just some of my favorites, as I don't want my love of them to turn into a chore or an addiction, haha. I may need to cut back some too . . there is indeed a fine line.