The big, phat golden shower surprise and what's in the box?

in Succulent growers3 years ago

notocactus.jpg

Notocactus 'Parodia" submammulosus has been budding for a while and at lunchtime, I went outside to this - the flower is almost as big as the cactus and there are more on the way.

I've had this small Astrophytum myriostigma quadricostatum for about 3 years and it's made buds every spring but then aborted them. I've been watching the latest for a while and today was also the day they suddenly opened up. This plant has been difficult to grow and I almost lost it to mealiebugs a year ago so it's great to see flowers and a plant that's finally thriving.

astrophytum.jpg

The local Succulent Society had its show this weekend but it was really far away, with a large entrance fee: falling off the damn scooter has made me all lazy to drive a round trip of 60km so I decided to stay home and bought some plants online and got them delivered to my door instead. A case in point: this little Mammillaria had a lucky escape, it was in my backpack when I fell and got a bit squashed but seems to have survived the tumble better than my leg did. I like the way the spines hug the plant, nothing spiky

mamillaria1.jpg

This turned up today, overnighted from the Cape

box.jpg

Succulents travel well if they have the soil removed and they are packed in such a way that they don't get banged around. When they arrive, they can be potted up but it is wise not to water immediately because they can develop rot. The plants are fine without immediate watering and they can be left in a cool place out of the sun for a week or so to recover from the shock of travelling.

plants.jpg

I use a commercial cacti and succulent mix which is quite sandy and drains really well and I sieve it to take out the larger bark particles that are added and then add more crushed quartzite particles.

Below are Haworthias, clockwise, from top left: a spiny form of Haworthia cooperi, H. hammeri, H. maraisii and a clear form of H. picta

haworthias.jpg

The new cacti: The cute little fuzz is Mammillaria but I don't know what the front two are, time will tell

cacti3.jpg

These conophytums are just about to go dormant for summer so they are losing their colour as they develop a new set of inner leaves and the old leaves harden into shells to protect them from the worst summer heat. They will wake up and start growing at the end of summer

conos.jpg

Finally, a Sceletium tortuosum: I have quite a few indigenous psychoactive plants in my garden, I will feature them in my next post

sceletium.jpg

So the lame and lazy got some some plants and flowers, even though they didn't go the show. Not bad!

Sort:  

This kind of flowers I have never seen before, they are beautiful 😍.

 3 years ago  

They are! It's the first time that these plants have flowered for me

Manually curated by EwkaW from the @qurator Team. Keep up the good work!

 3 years ago  

Thank you @ewkaw

So beautiful 🤩👏🤩👏
🥦 !LUV 🥦

 3 years ago  

Thank you

<><

<><

LUV

Connect

Trade


@nikv, you've been given LUV from @mizuosemla.

Check the LUV in your H-E wallet. (2/10)

The second picture looks as though those beautiful yellow flowers are growing out of some sort of rock.
With the addition of all of the succulents you just purchased added to the ones you already have, you're on your way to being able to charge admission to see your succulent heaven.
The beautiful flowers they produce continue to amaze me.

 3 years ago  

The plan is to grow and sell some. Plants are like tattoos. You can never have just one 😁

Really beautiful flowers!!

 3 years ago  

Cacti are spectacular 🌵🌵🌵

I never saw succulents like that, succulent in every country is different? But I particularly liked the second. Bloom very beautiful :)

 3 years ago  

Many of the succulents grown worldwide are from my country but there are many more here

Yep, South Africa is famous for it's succulents and as soon as our 24 hour flowers bloom again this year, I will show it to you.

You have a great collection here.

 3 years ago  

Thank you. Please tag me when you do :)

Surely will and it is in the echinopsis family.

Great post @nikv,

This is a beautiful collection you have, and great advice one how to handle succulents after shipping shock!

There's really no shortage to the wonders that nature has to offer us.
I'm fascinated by those star like patterns encompassing the Mammillaria, they look like little throwing stars :D

I can't wait to hear about those psychoactive plants :)

 3 years ago  

Thank you. Coming up tomorrow!

Do you know them by heart or you hooking up the names online before doing the post? Really fascinating!

Second question, what's that golden shower you're referring to? 😁

 3 years ago  

I'm a mine of useless information, I know them
I didn't include this because the lighting was bad but maybe you get my point 😁
gs.jpg

Super! Congratulations!
Astrophytum can stop the development of the kidney and then continue even the next year!
Some hooligans :-)))

How is your leg! I hope everything is OK!

 3 years ago  

I'm getting better, thank you. Astrophytums have always been a favourite of mine

Excellent, let him get better soon!

Yes, Astrophytums are beautiful.

Tomorrow I'm leaving on vacation, I'll be back on November 7 :-)
Today my son helped me to delegate HP for my vacation, I should have done it earlier, because due to a lot of things I did not have time to post.

My computer doesn't work, so I'll take it with me to fix it so I don't waste time.
Now I'm writing on my son's computer :-)

 3 years ago  

Have a great trip!

What a quantity of cactus you have purchased. What a success! They are so beautiful, small and prickly. But the flowers they give you are the best.

 3 years ago  

Thank you. Cactus flowers are the best!

Yes, they are.