Current batches of Westland No.2 in the south-east are 'good' for me :smile: Remember different parts of the country may get 'different' Westland product - I think - they are not all manufactured at one site, reflecting legacy companies, and to reduce transport costs, so are dependent upon local qu...

Sheffield Botanical Gardens had about 6 Aloe striatula planted in a small bed last year. By the end of the winter they all looked awful, 2 still had some signs of life. The apparently dead ones were dug out, which may well have been somewhat premature. One of the survivors lost it's growing point bu...

The last one (No. 6) looks as if it's the Cleistocactus straussii. No. 5 looks to be Mammillaria Uno Pico.

Not my plant Nothing in my criteria to prevent that. most of which are quite young and not impressive as individual plants. It's the photo that I'll be judging, not the plant. So a young plant is fine. The photo competition is a chance to post photos that may well be of interest, and maybe generate...

Last night's Zoom talk prompted the idea of Aloes as a topic. Searching through previous topics, it doesn't seem to have been done before. There are plenty of Aloes around in collections, with choice of plant or flower (or both) photos, so it's Aloe for August.

Thanks, Aiko

Seems a bit odd to win something for mistreating a plant

Now I need to think a topic for August.

Nice looking plant, Mike. Mine produced a succession of flowers through the summer, but early this year I discovered that it was just a mass of dried up dead stems. Maybe a victim of the cold spell in December. Definitely added to the 'wants list'. I would stroke this often, though I've not yet enco...

This first Conophytum bilobum photo was taken in October 2021. It does give a slight impression of wanting a little more water. Perhaps 'desperate' rather than 'slight impression' on further consideration. Cono bilobum.JPG Same plant 2 days later. I took pity on it after taking the first photo. Cono...

I think you're right, Chris. The last photo on that ICN page, with the 2 subspecies side by side, seems pretty conclusive. The seed came from Silverhills just labelled C. mesembryanthoides. I'll do a label amendment.

This Crassula mesembryanthoides shoot was very keen to grow some roots. One is fairly conventional (green arrow). The other (red arrow) started out normally but took a detour into the leaf before then exiting.