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A little drop of sunlight on the windowsill :) Here a size comparison. I have more A. rubrolineata pictures. Would it be an overkill to post them? XD The flower is so big and pretty *__*

Just a quick update on how some of my lithops seedlings are doing these days. :) As you can see seedlings from 2012 are much bigger now and should regenerate shortly. Interestingly they all have had only one regeneration so far, being on an adult leaf change schedule right from the start. Jk, they are simply slow. ;) Quite big though (aucampiae) and desperately needing larger pots (bromfieldii). Seedlings from 2011 are also about to change their leaves. The pancakes are such gems. Can't wait to see their next leaves, they must be much more adult-like. Seedlings 2009, gracilidelineata, are already far along. As always, I hope for flowers next season.

I just got this one recently with a flower bud already so the credit for this lovely flower goes to the previous owner. :) In any case it deserves a portrait. Also, the Titanopsis flower opened today. I'll take a pic tomorrow~

This one sure looks... peculiar! That's probably something everybody thinks when they first see it, including the person who named it. Looking though the pictures online I still can't tell how exactly it grows. Is it like - first it grows those floppy leaves, than some fat round-ish ones with flowers inside and than floppy ones again? Does it have two monilaria-like sets of leaves?  It does get a nice lilac color in the strong sun I'm very much looking forward to.

Another photo of the pretty flower. This time an artistic one of sorts :)

It's quite a large flower! :) Still a little shy though. I will update once it's fully open. Can't believe it's finally happening. Persistence is worth while in many cases, even with tiny mesembs :)

Btw, one of my Titanopsis calcarea plants is growing a flower, too. Let's see how it goes. With my plants I never know if they'll change their mind at the last minute ;)

I've been complaining a lot about this plant to you over on twitter. Now it's time to show it. This is the one Aloinopsis rubrolineata that is always trying to flower but never makes it. It grows a flower bud to a certain stage, then dries it and grows another one right away which then also drops. At the moment it has grown one flower bud to a considerable size and is growing another out of the top. No idea if it will be able to open at least one of them this time but if it does there will be a huge celebration. :) I guess, if only the sun came out for a couple of days it would be enough...

Now to today's pics - all dark and gloomy and gray. That's what the plants have to put up with these days. This Faucaria I got as a present almost 2 years ago definitely received wrong care last winter (even though I'm still not sure what the right care would be). Probably too much water while having it too dark (as usual): new leaves grew very slowly, badly shaped with almost no teeth; old leaves dried up quickly leaving ugly stems. In the spring I've cut off a couple of "heads" and rooted them hoping for a new start. The plant took it slow and didn't like the summer heat at all. But as it got cooler it suddenly started to grow new and very meaty leaves with nicely long teeth! Now I just need to figure out how to keep it this way. *headscratch Beside it you can see two leaves of an Adromischus greenie I stuck into the soil to get new plants (gotta love this way of propagation). I've recently bought one - these plants look really interesting, how could...

I read about this substrate mix (also, @LeatherSolis uses it whose plants look amazing!) so I've decided to try it, too. Don't get me wrong, I love pumice and I'll keep using it, but I just need to satisfy my curiosity. Both Akadama and Kanuma substrates are mostly used for bonsai in these parts of the world. Apparently in Japan it's beeing used a lot for mesembs, too. The qualities of both substrates seem to be similar to pumice. Akadama (brown) is slightly acidic, Kanuma (yellow) - more. I'm going to try it with a couple of adult plants as well as for sowing (more Akadama, less Kanuma, maybe with some vermiculite mixed in) and report on my observations. 

These pics were taken a month ago as it was still sunny. The good days. :) Now it rains all the time. It appears that these two lithops have developed seed capsules after flowering. They didn't have a partner except for each other. White and yellow don't mix with lithops but any mesemb pollen can occasionally induce selfing. If there are indeed seeds inside I'll keep them to sow someday when I have the room for such experiments.

This is the time of the year all you northern hemisphere lithops growers have already stopped watering your plants. Basically, the best time for it is as soon as the beginning of October. If you have you might already catch a glimpse of the new leaves on some plants, especially if you peek inside. The first species to show new leaves at my place is usually L. fulviceps. They started early and are quite far along already, too. All in all, with lithops, the overwintering situation is quite clear (speed-read this part): you stop watering in October and start when the new leaves have emerged and the old leaves are completely gone. So, no water until April or even May, depending on the weather i.e. light conditions. As you know I got more and more interested in mesembs other than lithops and have acquired or grown from seed quite a few over the last couple of years. How to properly care for them during the darker months is still a mystery for me though. There is not much literature on this ...