So I might live long enough .... but probably not

Today's mite count: 1 First of the year. If I've spotted one, experience says there are more, but I searched high and low and couldn't find any. I'll try to find time to look again.

Are they still in bags? Might be time to start getting them used to fresh air, for all except the slowest growers anyway. Definitely no direct sun until the bags come off. Then a few weeks of indirect natural light, you might be surprised how the colour changes on some species. Then some filtered su...

Plenty of rings on other Mammillarias.

Lastly, plenty of pollen in this Echinocereus flower, but nowhere for it to go.

I just noticed your tagline " Fallen out of love with Lithops", so I've posted a gallery of them in the hope of rekindling the love.

New Lithops leaves usually come through with very vibrant colours. This relatively muted not-so-warty L. verruculosa shows the bright colours of the new leaves. verruculosa-0512.jpg And L. bromfieldii var mennellii, never muted but very striking now. mennelli-0512.jpg Even this L. meyeri, hardly kno...

This Echinocactus polycephalus is putting out its two (occasionally three) new aeroles for the year. The red-spined forms are *very* red at this stage (and in the rain). The yellow-spined form behind less red, but still quite bright.

Ominous bulge on the side of this old Echinocereus dasyacanthus. Looks like another arm starting to break through in the messy way they have.

Here's one with pollen. And here's an Ecinocereus with none.