That confused me! One of the photos didn't load the first time but I see it now. I still can't get used to seedpods that close when they're wet and open when they're dry, seems most unnatural after growing Lithops

Yup, labels. Its a pain to shape cling film over a four inch plastic label!

Maria, you should have mentioned your lifelong love of Stomatiums when you went to see Lindsey. They don't take up much space

Mine was out too today. It has a more red eye in the flower and some areoles have three spines.

If its anything like recent winters, there will be a huge difference between frost-free and keeping it at 10C. Your heater will only be needed on a scattering of nights to stay frost-free but will be running all winter to stay at 10C. I don't think 1.9kW will give you 10C on cold nights in an uninsu...

Yes, El Aguacero is in Chiapas. This subspecies used to be known as Mammillaria chiapensis but it has also been found in Yucatan. There are other cactus around but not very common. Most of the ones you will see will be in planted rather than wild :) If you are talking about the tourist coastal strip...

I think the Gymnos are liking August better than July

Indeed it does, Frank. Nice plant to have found without a label :) Julie, your old leaves keep going soft because the plant is trying to suck them dry. Let it. I'm assuming when you say "old leaves" that you have some "new leaves"? You should be aiming to have only one pair of le...

Very nice. L. schwantesii? This flower is very early, Julie. September is typical for most species, and some in October. New plants may not have their timetable fully set, plus the stress of repotting and changing environment, so they don't flower so well the first year. Lots of sun and good summer ...

[quote]Prevent a human being from sleeping and he will die. It is the same for cacti.[/quote] This is the worst kind of anthropomorphism. The comparison is horribly flawed and in some cases just not true. Many plants have a dormancy within their natural annual cycle (not always a winter dormancy), a...

I seem to have missed a few replies on this post, I lost it completely. I agree also that -2C seems unlikely in the situation you describe. Standard glass greenhouses are astonishingly bad at holding heat and there is relatively little daytime heating during the winter. On clear nights heat seems to...