Schlumbergera and Haworthia

The Schlumbergera and Haworthia have taken a place of honour of sorts in our living room.  I'm delighted that these two are growing quite nicely, and the Schlumbergera has even decided to show off and put on a delicate pink display in the middle of our cold winter season!



This is my Haworthia.  I was attracted to this species due to the veined pattern on its leaves.  I thought this was going to require more attention than my normal cacti but, as you can see above, it's thriving very well! I started out with just one rosette, and look how much it has grown!

Succulent collection update: Adenium and the end of summer

I haven't acquired a lot of new cacti / succulents lately, but there's a particular plant that I am excited about, which have a small specimen of - the Adenium.

Also called the Desert Rose, the Adenium's unique characteristic is its thick caudex (or rootstock).  This makes it appealing to those who would like to grow bonsai, without the "specialist" care required of the commonly used trees (such as the maple, pine, and the Japanese cherry tree).   An added bonus is its beautiful flowers (Google Adenium and you'll find some wonderful specimens).  Mine has a looong way to go but I'm not in a hurry.

Cacti and Succulents in bloom

The past few weeks took an interesting turn at our windowsill as some of the plants decided to flower.  I was surprised with a couple of them, actually - I thought they don't bloom at all.


This is the Peanut Cactus, so called because of its shape.  I had this for quite a while now, and I have successfully propagated this.  Quite a hardy plant, this one.  From out of the blue, one of the smaller plants suddenly flowered - it's quite beautiful.




This one is on a really small ceramic pot, but it bore a beautiful flower just the same, with multiple yellow petals and a rather large pistil area (recalling my grade school Biology here).

Titanopsis galore

Although the name implies mammoth proportions, the Titanopsis is actually quite small and fagile-looking.  What I like about it most is the curious way the tip of the leaves look - knobby and mottled.  It makes for an intriguing specimen.

Luckily, I found one that was ready to flower, and after a couple of days, it rewarded me with 2 flowers!  They're like a breath of spring in the middle of winter.

Cactaholic part 2

Frithia Pulchra
There's this group of cacti which prefer to lie low on the ground and disguise themselves so as not to be seen by plant-eaters.  I'd like to have some Lithops, but have not seen one yet.  In the meantime, I have the split rock cactus (previous blog post) and the frithia pulchra.  At the end of each tubular leaf is a 'window'; I suspect that in the wild this helps them blend in.

The cactaholic

I guess it just starts with one, which gets followed up by another, then another, and before you know it you're hooked.  Collecting cacti and succulents, that is.  I am no stranger to gardening, though.  Back in college, my friends and I worked part-time at the Library and growing african violets by the windowsill was a favourite occupation amongst the Librarians.  We brought home leaf cuttings and soon we were cultivating other plants and frequented the Orchidarium to feed this latest obsession.  I had a number of bonsai that I was quite proud of.

So growing cacti and succulents isn't really a new thing for me.  Even better, these plants are more forgiving and require less care so it's easy to become enamoured and attracted to collecting these.

As of last count, I have around 35 different kinds.  I will feature them all on this blog in batches.  And here's the first set.

Astrphytum ornatum var. marbellii

I was attracted to this cactus by its symmetrical, twisting shape.  Only in cacti can you find such amazing living sculptures.