nice!

Absolutely beautiful photograph Al!

CP

What a unique plant! I really like these small, unusual ones.
Amy

Gorgeous!!! I love those little guys: Conophythums.

Thanks for posting,
Rodica.

Very nice, Al. You must have quite a collection of Conophytums tucked away on that top shelf :)

24 hours later the tiny flower is open.

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That's a great picture of the open flower. Here's its friend, Conophytum wettsteinii, slightly singed on the right edge. Just for scale, that's a 3cm (1 1/4") pot.

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Oh how SIMPLY perfect! Yours too, SnB!

~Rosemarie

That's a tiny pot for the wettsteinii. And it appears to be clay. No problem with lingering moisture there. You have a neat little gem.

Al

Hi everyone...

Are Conophytums like Lithops? I have bad luck with Lithops, but I love the way they look, and was wondering if these are any less fussy? Currently, I have 3 living Lithops (knock on wood), and would like to try some Conophytums, if they are less picky!

Al and S&B, your plants are perfect!

Kate

Al, the wettsteinii (actually two separate plants) was a cutting from a friend's plant this summer.

Kate, Conophytums are considered tricky, by me anyway! They require frequent but light watering, extremely light during summer. Hence my tiny clay pot, which contains very gritty soil. It would be impossible to water a cactus sufficiently in summer in such a pot. There are around a hundred species and I've found water needs to vary hugely between the species.

Conophytum spend summer shrivelled to a dried skin (this happens in late winter or spring in England and the new leaves will sometimes emerge during summer or even in spring) but still require very small amounts of water. As the days shorten, new leaves emerge from the husk and they need more water. They would like to grow right into winter but don't always do so great in northern climates. The ones most often found in cultivation adapt by growing strongly and flowering in autumn.

Thanks for yet more education my friends and teachers. I was not familiar with the Conos either. They sure are neat looking little plants, but probably too fussy for my habits...
Bill in SC

That's a great photo of your plant S&B! I think the attraction for me is in the challenge of growing these, and growing them well, such as the above photos demonstrate. I first started with cacti, then the "easy" succulents, and now I'm venturing into the more difficult plants. Who knows where this obsession might lead!
Amy