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These are some seedlings of the Japanese cultivar julii v. fulleri 'Kôsôgyoku' (紅窓玉). I've had this cultivar before but the plants didn't make it. The seedlings were sown exactly one year ago and some of them have their second real leaves. The coloring and patterns aren't clear yet but might develop into something interesting, I think.

Can you believe this? Last time I've posted photos of this plant ( July 3 ) it was just getting its 3rd pair of leaves. Now look at it! I understand this Mesemb is better to be grown outside but unfortunately there's no "outside" for plants where I live so a (probably bigger) pot must do. Anyway, at this rate I hope to see some flowers very soon. :) There are new branches coming out of every "old" leaf!

I didn't expect it to be so tricky to catch these flowers. Now I know more and can be prepared for the next time. :) The first time I posted a picture of Avonia's flower buds 4.7 and it took them whole three weeks to arrive at this point. It would have been quicker, I guess, if the weather had played along but it was dark, cold, and rainy up untill two days ago. That's when the plant obviously decided to take advantage of the good weather window. Yesterday morning I've discovered that something has changed - there was a little white blob between the petals, and it grew bigger every hour (click the pic for larger version) until around 17:00 the flowers finally opened! Three or four hours later they have closed to never open again. It is a short-lived beauty. :)

More photos and the whole story will follow tomorrow. :)

It didn't take long. Here is the bromfieldii 'Sulphurea' flower. :) I hope others will flower more timely. I can also see a flower bud on one of the Green Horns but knowing how both plants droped flowers last year I'm trying not too spook it.

I've put my Aloinopsis rubrolineata , the one with the thickened roots , back into the ground for now. While my other Aloinopsis plants only react to water but don't grow new leaves yet (summer rest?) this one is showing new growth. The newest leaves have grown larger and there's also something coming out of the side. What do you think - a new branch or a flower? :) PS: There's a new page in my blog with seeds for sale. Please check it out some time. :)

These were sown 24.06.2011 and still have their first real leaves on ( pictures back in April ). They all seem to have different and quite interesting patterns I'm looking forward to see when they're bigger. Some have open windows, some are dotty and some have nice dark window-lines. The burchellii feature of flowing lines around the edges can be visible on some specimens, too. Amazing how 48 plants out of 50 sown seeds have survived. I like lesliei for this strength :) You can see on these gloomy pictures how dark it is outside. It's rainy and cold, no sign of summer yet.