Wonderful plants, beautifully grown, great aesthetics with the pots-I've got plant envy.

Way up above, the unknown ID given was an euphorbia of some kind. I think it may be an Asclepiad. They both have a white sap but euphorbia is much more toxic and really bleeds out when cut. Picture of one of my seedings;

My newest arrivals! Unfortunately it was already dark yesterday when they were delivered when I got home, and same this morning when I left for work, so no daylight pictures yet...

Haworthia reinwardtii:

Haworthia fasciata variegata (I just had to have a variegated haw, but I'm still desperately hunting for a limifolia variegata):

Anacampseros sunrise (can't wait for this one to get an even deeper pink in the summer):

Love your collection. Just a tip, Get help or if you already have some great! My collection was getting out of hand and was great for me until I ended up sick and in the hospital. Leaving no one to care for my plants. Also when I came home, was in no condition to care for so many. Lucky most are succulents and can go with out care or water for months if must be. Most did ok and some even did great! Like all things in life, you need a back up plan.

I'm already beyond help Stush... ;-)

Joking apart: hubbie has a real go at me every time I come home with more plants or when another parcel is delivered ("do you really need more?"). But nothing can stop me I'm afraid. He is my back-up, and is already left to take care of the plants whenever I'm away for work (up to 2 weeks at a time). The problem is: he won't listen. In his experience any plant needs thorough watering at least twice a week, preferably while left in the pot.... :-(

I might do better moving all succulents to the office whenever I'm travelling: my colleagues won't water the plants not even if ask them to.

Wow, we are the same! My wife says the same thing with me. Now I'm retired so my addiction has gotten worse. I am trying to make a portion of my basement into a mini greenhouse. With succulents, it is kept dryer and so I don't have mold issues to deal with. Outside is just to costly to heat during winter.

A few more shots of plants I keep in the office:

Euphorbia horrida (I've decided this one's coming home with me today)

I LOVE love LOVE all of your plants and pots, they all look gorgeous and so tidy!

*sigh*.... I discovered another garden centre only 35km from home, where we'd never been before. Excellent for a Sunday morning outing!

Extremely pleasantly surprised with the size and variety of their selection of cacti and succulents: I felt like a kid in a candy store. It seems that hubby's been bitten by the bug as well now: some of the below plants jumped into to our trolley with his help.

Closer views.

Some more Euphorbia:

Aloe:

Haworthia (finally got a limifolia twister! (left; on the right a concolor)):

And a cactus:

And now I must really stop for a while: I'm out of pots and out of window cill space....

This trip today already stopped me from my planned adenium seedling repot session, which I now have to postpone until next weekend...

I love all your plants and the pots. Beautiful variety. What am I going to do among all the temptations when I go to Holland next year? I think I am allowed rootless cuttings, so I might buy some and turn them into cuttings ?!?! Hellup!!!!

Bring big cases :-)

Don't worry about that ;-). It is getting them in legally...

Conny, Wow, and such healthy well grown plants at that. Most I see around here are tiny small starts. Haworthia being slow growers, they are many years old already. Great find.

Trouble with spouse getting involved is you have to put up with their (weeds) plants. Seldom do both me and wife find and love a plant together. (joking of course)

I guess we're lucky to have some really good cacti & ducculent growers in this country Stush. As such we can usually get good size plants at very reasonable prices, but it does take time to find those bargains. The big-leafed crassula at the bottom of my first post today only cost me EUR 6. I considered that a bargain as most of the time I see this plant with no more than 7 leaves for EUR 4. I don't often pay more than EUR 4 to 5 for a plant, most of the time less (the average of today's lot was in fact less).

Now I am willing to make one exception at the moment, both in price and in adding one more plant to the collection: a haworthia limifolia variegata. But it's been mission impossible so far, except for offers on eBay, but the costs for shipping are outrageous unfortunately, so I'm still hoping to find one locally and hopefully some time soon.

I repotted the Haworthia limifolia twister I bought last week as the pot felt a bit heavy (as in wrong medium, too much moisture: I was right). But lo' and behold, look what I found:

Although I was as careful as I possibly could be cleaning the roots, the big pup broke off. Luckily with plenty of healthy big roots on it, so I've given the pup its own pot, completely covering it with medium, so hopefully by next summer I should have a nice extra plant coming up.

I'm afraid I also ended up buying again this weekend as well.... hubby wanted to get some bird feeders from the garden centre, so.....

Crassula marginalis:

A breathtaking Conophytum (haven't figured out yet which one it is), the favourite of the lot for sure:

I lost one of my Crassula Buddha's Temple last week. I couldn't resist getting this replacement with all the pups:

And 4 more Euphorbia obesa, just because they were so tiny and cute, and had such lovely colour variety:

All were repotted today, as some of the above pots also felt like bricks... (what's wrong with these people).

The post tried to deliver a package yesterday while we were out shopping. Couldn't think of what it might be, but then I remembered I've got a few plants coming from Spain. They didn't leave the package at the door, so it should be here tomorrow.

Love those Euphorbia obesa. Like snowflakes, seems no two alike? Got to get some myself.

They are addictive Stush! Just picture me standing at a table with a good 200 of them, trying to limit myself to just a few... *sigh*

Conny

Your plants are gorgeous - I am really impressed by the quality of them as you get them in garden center or whatever place you find them. Very healthy looking and bigger than I see in stores around here (as many also mentioned). And I thought Netherlands is famous for bulbs only, haha. Have to add succulents too!

With so many plants (you mentioned hundreds of adeniums) - may I ask where do you keep them all? Do you have greenhouse - sunroom - plant shed? (beside the house, office...) What is your general routine for keeping them so good looking? Hope I am not asking very personal questions - if so, no need to answer.

Thank you Rina!

I guess you would call our garden centres nurseries, it's just that most of the garden centres here don't grow their own plants, and most of the nurseries don't sell to private people (there are a few who will open to the public one day a year only). But yes, generally the quality of the plants is very good (apart from the medium and the care they get at the garden centres, where most staff don't have a clue about their products/plants in general). It's frustrating sometimes to see that nurseries grow specific types of plants for export only, and I can't get them :-(

Of course I don't mind you asking about my routines! All adeniums are now overwintering in a detached heated building. The adults are in (semi) dormancy at 15-18 C, the 700+ seedlings under T5's in growtents at 25C.

As the adeniums moved to this building our house (actually quite small) started to look very bare, that's when the succulent craze started. I have a 2m side table/cabinet under the window in the conservatory/dining room. This is where most of the succulents are now. The rest are on window cills in the living room and bedrooms, on shelves and on the dining table (so no room for dinner guests this winter) and in the porch. I will take some overview pictures in daylight this week.

We are planning on building a relatively big greenhouse in the garden over winter, where most of the succulents and the adenium seedlings can go when spring arrives, and so the adult adeniums can move back into the house for the summer.

As for routine: each weekend on either Saturday or Sunday I spend from dawn to dusk inspecting each and every single plant in the house. At first I thought winter was going to be a breeze for me as the succulents need little to (most of them) no water, but as the collection grows it takes more and more time. I just love checking and seeing how each plant is doing, and every now and then I will sit down with a coffee and just admire the beauty of nature :-) until hubby calls me for dinner, another day gone.

The seedlings in the tents get a thorough watering every 3 days, which takes about an hour (including progress checks), apart from the youngest and the cuttings: they are kept on a heatmat inside the tent and are therefore watered every day, which takes about 10 minutes.

But hey, winter has only just started, and I'm still very new to this, so maybe my plants won't be looking so healthy anymore in 6 months time, we'll see. I am reading up on how to best care for all these plants every night though, especially here on the forums, so I am going to do the best I can :-)

Conny

Thank you very much for detailed description.

I don't think your 2m side cabinet will be enough the speed you are going - of course, I mean it in best possible way. Can't blame you for getting all these plants as they are really beautiful. I sometimes joke that I got rid of kids in order to home more plants, lol (really, they left on their own!) I am constantly adding shelves, stands, whatever, and staying away from any store with plants for now.

The variety you can get I am really envious of. We have quite poor choices here comparatively. Stores, just as most places, are the same - plants are just watered "willy-nilly" and many plants are in poor condition. One has to be lucky to be in the store day of/soon after new shipment to get them in decent condition. That happens sometimes even in garden centers, and similarly - they do not grow them just get them from growers/nurseries to sell. Garden centers will have little better choices, but again - nothing to compare with what you seem to be able to get.

Hope you'll post more photos, and when your GH is finished - would love to see that too. I believe that you'll have them looking as good if not better as you seem to be extremely committed. Best luck and lots of enjoyment over the winter.

Looking forward to many more photos.

I'm having a row with the cats over the space on the side cabinet, Rina. There's little room left for them to sit on the cabinet to watch the birds in the garden. Two nights in a row now they have stepped onto the Sinocrassula yunnannensis... half the plant has been damaged, I'm so cross.... :-(

Conny, Reason why I don't have a outside greenhouse is because our winters are too cold. Cost of heating them is too high and wasteful use of energy. I'm in zone 6 here which can go to -10 degree F. (-22 degree C.) How cold does it get where you are and how do you plan to heat it? I had a friend who had a big greenhouse that had it heated with a hot water boiler feed by a wood burner and he lived in a wooded area. It was a lot of hard work thru out the winter and one mishap and you could loose all. He lived in zone 5.

I am still going to install a greenhouse and have at least 8 to 10 months use out of it. Someday! Nice 8 ft. X 10 ft. sold around here for about $700. Almost got one for $50 but someone beat me out of it. I would have paid $200 if only they knew.

Stush, -10 C (not F) is already an extreme here, will only happen a few nights a year at most (I'm in zone 8b). I'm not planning on heating the greenhouse though.

We're (read: hubby) going to build it ourselves, once we can afford the materials. Until then the adeniums and seedlings stay in the heated annexe, and the succulents in the house. Worst case scenario, if the gh is not ready by the end of April, I will use the plastic gh's again for the time being.

Oh my god. That collection. And those pots. I'd die of envy but I'm busy admiring your green thumb and terrific taste. I'm printing this entire thread and hanging it on my walls to inspire me whenever I feel like giving up on my succulents. (Not really, but I'll probably visit this page again...)

Thank you R!

You should never give up, but at the same time please try not to let them become an obsession like they are for me....

Conny, I'm obsessed as well but at least it's better than most any other vises like gambling, drinking, drugs. Thank God that I don't have. Now if I can control my spending!

This week acquisitions:

On Monday I took some time off from work to drive to the garden centre near the airport to get some more Pleiospilos nelii "royal flush" (I'm totally in love with the beauty of this plant). I got three more pots, so now I can play with the care for it and see what will work best.

This Echeveria jumped into the trolley too :-). I've never had much success with Echies, but I couldn't resist the colour.

When I got home my order from Spain had been delivered, my long-awaited Haworthia limifolia variegata:

and a Haworthia venosa granulated. This one doesn't look very healthy, we'll see how it goes:

Then mid-week, we went out to a local garden centre as I wanted to check out these gorgeous pots they had in their brochure of this week. They weren't available as empty pots, so we "had to" add two Sansevieria to the collection. I think one is a samurai dwarf, the other I haven't been able to ID yet. I am planning on making the same style pots but smaller myself with clay. Another project...

Today I drove past a garden centre I hadn't been to before on my way to a meeting in the southwest. Rescued this little fella, but have absolutely no idea what it may be. Any help will be much appreciated!

Ledebouria socialis, I have quite a few myself.

Thanks very much Garrett!

What an interesting plant. I'm glad I picked up the pot with 3 bulbs (in the picture above one is hidden), not the one with the single bulb. They are tiny nevertheless. It looks like having a big bowl of them is the way to go.

Love the flowers too. Do they smell like the common hyacinths?

Will do some more Google research this weekend.

Conny

Ledebouria will grow quite easily - they have more than doubled-up since gifted to me earlier this year:

That looks very promising Rina, thank you!

Nice echeveria you got, Conny. They are very "jumpy" plants.

Today's acquisition: Haworthia marginalis 'Royal Albert'

I quite like the thickness of the leaves.

Also got this Pilocereus azereus. I always admire the blueness in this species. How do I get it as blue as possible, lots of sun?

Conny, I think mine might be the same as your new Haworthia marginalis 'Royal Albert'. Had it about a year now. Very similar to H. pumila but next to a H. pumila shows some differences.

Another one called 'Little Circles';

Shame that my H. limifolia var doesn't pup true. So far, just all green ones.

These are just a very few of my Haw collection. No space left to get or keep any more. Wife is ready to throw me and my collection out. (joking)

Looking thru Google, Can't find H. marginata 'Royal Albert' but did come across H. pumila 'Royal Albert' and does look like ours. Being a cultivar of pumila makes sense.

Haworthia marginata var mariatii is also a possibility. But then again I don't own much haworthias so I can't be sure.

Stush, I think you're right there about the haw being a H. pumila. I so wish that nurseries would label their plants properly, grrrr.

Looking at it now, it appears I also have one here at work (which was just labelled as "succulent"...)

That limifolia variegata of yours is a stunner! I got myself a tiny one recently, but when spring is back I'm definitely going to get myself a bigger one from Thailand!

This is my favorite thread and I look forward to each new post in it. Thanks so much for these wonderful pics of your beautiful plants!

Are there different sized varieties of sedum rubrotinctum? I have never seen one that big! :-)

Garrett, Looking up Haworthia marginata var mariatii showed two different pictures on Google. One with white tubercles (one side only) and the other like the book describes smooth both sides and whitish skin, while pumila has white tubercles on both sides. Both are in different groupings in Pilbeam's Book on Haworthias. Pilbeam discussed the big trouble ID'ing with so much interbreeding in the hobby. With each other plus with Aloes and Gasteria. You see the almost same plants with just the least little difference and then someone puts in in a new class. I currently have about a dozen Hawothias that need ID'ing. Waiting for them to get some size and age to tell them apart. I am pretty sure now with Conny's help that this is the correct ID but will keep it open for discussion.

Conny, I purchased my limifolia variegata from 'Out of Africa'. Cost & trouble of shipping overseas is always a problem. If not, I would try to get you one. We trade a lot here in the States.

Imliyanger

If you are referring to pic #3 in op, it was correctly ID-ed in following posts (I guess you just looked at the photos? - if incorrect ID, usually there will be correct one given by other posters - it helps to read following posts. I know it could be lots of reading sometimes :), photos are very nice to look at).

Thank U so much, Rina. I didn't notice that. My bad. I'm still struggling with using the touchscreen on my new smartphone. Keep clicking on all the wrong places! LOL! ;-) I definitely might have missed while scrolling down fast, as I still haven't learnt how do it in a controlled manner on this phone! ;-)

Thanks for your thoughts Stush. Yes, costs of shipping is often what holds me back as well. In case of the Thai H. limifolia variegata it won't (within reason) it's just that I must really wait until winter is gone, wouldn't want to risk it getting damaged by frost whilst in transport.

I've been doing some more research on my newest haw: the label on the pot said Haworthia mar. Royal Albert. I automatically translated mar. to marginalis, but just now I found on http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCCULENTS/Family/Aloaceae/26159/Haworthia_margaritifera that I really should have read that as margaritifera instead, and guess what: H. margaritifera is a synonym for H. pumila! So once more: yes, you were right all along!

As for the Royal Albert part: perhaps it's a hybrid name used by the (Dutch) nursery Ubink. I found that Uhlig in Germany has it as well.

I will hunt for an exact copy of the variegated limifolia of yours next spring Stush, I'm in love with it! That attenuata caespitosa is quite a looker too, hm.

Familiar scene on the window cill too. I'll take and post some pictures of ours this weekend, so you can see how I'm driving my other half nuts.

Speaking of which: I took another quick trip to the local garden centre near work this afternoon. Once a week or so they receive a small tray with 20 more unusual mini plants. Last week I got the cryptanthus, this afternoon a Pleiospilos nelii and two Titanopsis took my fancy.

In real life the Titanopsis look like two different varieties, in the pictures not so much. If any of you can direct me to the proper names I'd be much obliged!

I'm going to miss this garden centre... Although it's part of a national chain, they are franchisees, and I visit this particular one near my office weekly. However, we're moving offices next month, 120km away from here, so it's coming to a halt...

Such nice plants again, Conny. And you will have to find a nursery near your new office... or two... or...

Both Titanopsis look like T. calcarea to me. A different clone? I want T. hugo-schlechteri!!!

Conny, My mistaken ID on that attenuata caespitosa from Smoley's was corrected to be H. attenuata variegata from SMG Succulents. Got vendors mixed up. It was quite cheap in fact. I purchased two of them.