The seeds had been sown for quite some time with limited or no success, but one day in August there was a massive thunderstorm, and it's this that prompted germination en masse. Steven was quite surprised, and delighted of course. My theory was that it's not just the availability of water itself th...

What is the best watering /caring strategie for Calibanus hookerii ? Honestly you could probably grow Calibanus in almost anything, I have an old one that's shrugged off winter rain and even the freak snowstorm we had a few years back. Just standard cactus mix would be fine. Hi Re Phyllanthus -it t...

It looks sorta like a Disphyma to me, though they don't really grow erect like that. I'm only familiar with the New Zealand population(used to be a species) though, it could be one of the South African or Australian ones, iirc there are Disphyma naturalised in Britain. Disphyma also hybridizes with ...

Plants are actually very adaptable and will grow in most things if they have to. Peat would only be a problem if the other conditions your plants grow in are. For example, the area where I live is very moist and prone to mold, so using peat(not that it's available down here) would most likely lead t...

Do you have to obtain written confirmation about the provenance of plants or seeds that you acquire? If the provider of a seed list - say BCSS or Kakteen-Piltz give a field/collection number is this sufficient or do you make further enquiries? You don't have to do anything, some growers just like t...

Not a spider's egg sac by any chance?

If the discoverer does not want to disclose where it came from then simply they should not be able to legally give it a name, but just distribute is as sp. nova. Like it or not science depends on openness and later workers being able to check your original material, habitat distribution and conclus...

It's currently winter here, and some of my plants are on my roof where they're being watered by the storm we've just had blow through. They seemed to be surviving quite well before that even though we've had rain, so it will be interesting to see how much water they can tolerate.

Sedum frutescens is deciduous, they're supposed to drop their leaves and go dormant in winter. However, since it's not winter in the UK at the moment it might be doing it in response to stress instead. Maybe try repotting it, don't water much and put it in a sunny place and see if it starts growing ...

i think they have turned red from bright light, this is the time of year you have to be careful of sunburn. when trees get leaves, there is more shade and the green color should return. Actually both cold and light(as well as other stressful conditions such as salt in the soil) can induce pigment p...