What a haul, Kate! Congrats!

~Rosemarie

Nice Christmas gifts Kate! I especially like the Crassula.

Jen

Dear Kate,

Rich done good, and so did you. Glad to see them.

You know your Sedum multiceps is a winter grower....and even though the P. namauanum is from the winter-rainfall area of South Africa, it wants to grow most of the year.

My two cents - I'm happy for you that you received some nice plants.

Thanks, everyone! I am in Southern California right now, for the holidays, but I have to devise a way to fit them into our already tightly-packed little car to get them home to Utah. Not sure how that will work out yet, but we'll see.

Jeff...Thanks for the good info. I did know about the Sedum multiceps, but I didn't know the Pachypodium was a year-round grower. That will help a lot!

Its a merry christmas for you...way to go.

Dawn

Good for you Kate, what a lovely gift! I particularly like the pseudolithos... and the pachy podiums... and the crassula... awww what the heck, ALL of them! :)

CP

Oh, there's some choice stuff there. Your husband must know his stuff ... or did you have to prompt a little?

Oh, I was there for the picks. He picked the Bowiea, though. I know absolutely nothing about that one. If anyone can tell me about that plant, please let me know. I don't know what sort of care to give it. The other ones I picked out. They all came from the California Cactus Center in Pasadena, CA. I am excited to get them home, but I will probably have lots of questions about these new babies for y'all. If you know anything about any of them, please e-mail me, or post it on here! Thanks for any help, and for all the favorable comments on my new plants!

Kate

Oh, I was there for the picks. He picked the Bowiea, though. I know absolutely nothing about that one. If anyone can tell me about that plant, please let me know. I don't know what sort of care to give it. The other ones I picked out. They all came from the California Cactus Center in Pasadena, CA. I am excited to get them home, but I will probably have lots of questions about these new babies for y'all. If you know anything about any of them, please e-mail me, or post it on here! Thanks for any help, and for all the favorable comments on my new plants!

Kate

I know a little about the Bowiea. Its grown as a regular houseplant. The bulb or caudex (I think its a bulb but it tends to be grown exposed like a caudex) can grow very large. The stems are twining and need support. It can get small greeny flowers but I've never seen any. Water and sun in summer, dry and dormant in winter. Anecdotally, the bulb should be kept shaded and the leaves in the sun, but that might just be an old wive's tail.

Collectors recognise a second species or subspecies, Bowiea gariepensis, which grows in winter and has larger flowers and a larger bulb.

The Trichodiadema is a fairly straightforward spring/summer growing mesemb with large showy daisy flowers. It grows a thick root that can be shown as a caudex.

Thanks, everyone, for all the help, and sorry about the double post!

I do have another question...are all Pachypodiums anytime-growers, or just this one? I have another one that I am not sure of the ID on (looks like one of the common ones, though), and I feel like I could be doing better for it than I am. Especially if it's a year-round grower! It's probably a lamerei, or something similar.

Another question pertaining to the plants in the above link...What do I do with the Pseudolithos? I am not sure what it likes, and I just see myself killing it right off the bat. Should I treat it like a Lithops, and water it once a year, or otherwise? HELP!

Thanks again, guys...I love the cactus forums. Everyone here has something to add, and I think that's great!

Kate

Nice stuff Kate- I was recently there and grabbed a pseudo myself. I havent had it for long but I found this site with some info and a crazy pic of it -

ToddO

Here is a link that might be useful: pseudolithos

Now THAT'S a Merry Christmas, Kate! I would, however, like to challenge the Bowiea ID. The leaves look more like Ornithogallum than Bowiea. My Bowiea gets one, maybe two "leaves" in late fall that start to branch within a fw inches after they emerge from the bulb, and climb and grow very fast. There are both Ornithogallum and Abluca bulbs that grow more like yours. Here's what mine looks like as the (usually) single "leaf" emerges from the bulb...
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...and here's what it looks like after some climbing...
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I think I would put a question mark next to the ID until I see some more growth. An adorable little bulb, though! I can't get enough of the South African bulbs, myself!

Denise in Omaha

Hi again, all.

Denise...I was really bummed when you said it might be an Ornithogalum, but I think it's labeled correctly, as it just sent out this stalk thing that looks like yours in the above 'climbing' picture! I am so excited that maybe it is a Bowiea after all! Here's a pic of what it's doing.

Kate

{{gwi:490733}}

Dear Kate,

Regarding your Pachypodium, (in particular) and anyone else's (in general):

I don't have a greenhouse, so I don't know for sure, but this plant may stay in leaf year around if given never-below-70F-conditions. If it experiences cold, it may drop its leaves. When given constant temperatures, they may be constant growers - at the very least, opportunistic growers, although I'd imagine the pace is slowed in the winter.

Interestingly enough, as you may know, the one Pachy that comes from the winter-rainfall area of South Africa, P. namaquanum (yep, you guessed it, from Namaqua) is the nearest thing to a year-around-growing Pachy in my little neck of the woods. The opther Pachys that I have (P. succulentum, P. rosulatum., P. lealii) all drop their leaves for several months. I've got two P. namaquanum which aren't out of leaf for more than a month (february, usually) a year. For a plant from the winter rainfall area, it's unusual too for the fact that it's not a winter-grower, as it kicks its botanical legs most high during summer.

Again, Jeff, thank you so much for the great info! I will now be a much better Pachypodium owner! I am not sure what the other Pachy I have is, but this info actually helps on that one, too. Thanks!

Kate

I'll be darned - isn't that weird! I've been growing Bowiea for I-don't-know-how-many years and I've never gotten anything but the climbing growth on mine. Do the two "leaves" that it came with seem to be of the same consistancy, as if it started to send out a climber and then aborted? I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has had this type of growth on their's... How interesting! I'm glad for you - I think Bowiea is a more interesting plant than Ornithogallum. Wait 'til you see the pretty little flowers!

Denise in Omaha

Hi, Denise.

The 3 leaves it came with were thicker, and a little flatter than the climby vine thing. I don't understand either. By the way, it took a little spill this morning, and those leaves broke off SO easily I couldn't believe, but the climbing part is still going strong (I hope). It seems to be okay. I am really sad that this happened. : (

Kate

Hello Denise and Kate,

You see the true leaves Bowiea makes when the bulb is young / small.
The vine is the flower-stem, which can grow to a lenth of 5 - 6 meters.
Leave the bulb alone in its resting period ( there are winter- and summer-growing bulbs, though mine not always follow the seasons ), and when regrowth starts: water and feed regularly ( then again when the soil is dried up ).
Propagation is easy through seeds ( in their first year just a leaf !), or peel the outer skin off the Bowiea, it is layered like an onion, and leave it for some time laying on the surface of slightly wetted sand: small bulblets will form along its edge, which you may pot up when pea-sized.
Also an older bulb makes offsets, which you can leave where they are or sever as you wish.

Jaap in 's Gravenhage

Here is a link that might be useful: some more info: