Contest 49: Discussion and Related Photos

[CoronaCactus]

Please discuss and post related photos for Contest 49: Winter Growing Succulents here.

[daiv]

Hmmm. I blew it on the Copiapoa topic and did not get a post in time, but here I don't think I have anything that would qualify.

How about Christmas Cactus?

[hob]

just like a Hollywood actress I'm always a sucker for a close-up............... runners up for this competition ..........(never could decide what would win)
can i have my spines back please


a long way from home but still flowering..........look at me I'm yellow


no flies on me.........they are all circling waiting to land

[Ralf]

I don't have winter growing succulents.
But all cacti are succulents.

[Shmuel]

So would winter growing cacti be valid for entries?

And would our friends south of the equator have to submit summer growers?

Shmuel

[CoronaCactus]

Yes of course Cacti are valid entries. I just said succulents as they are more numerous.

I could be wrong, but a winter grower is a winter grower. They react from seasonal temps/rains not calendars. A winter growing South African P. namaquanum is still a USA winter grower, despite the flip-flop of seasons.

[Paracelsus]

I could be wrong, but a winter grower is a winter grower. They react from seasonal temps/rains not calendars. A winter growing South African P. namaquanum is still a USA winter grower, despite the flip-flop of seasons.

You are not wrong. The only caveat is that a 'winter grower' usually means active growth in the fall and early spring. Summer dormant may be a better description the 'winter grower'. And of course a winter grower grows in the winter, no matter which side of the equator they live. Summer here is winter there. Plants never get confused about what season it is, no matter where they live.

Brad

[Paracelsus]

I had a hard time deciding what plants to use for this months contest. Much of my collection are so called 'winter growers'. My impulse was to use this Dudleya caespitosa clump because it's native to my county, found within a few hundred feet the shore all along the coast. However, I submitted the photo of P. namaquanum because it is a more dramatic plant. It rises 16-inches above the pot rim, and this alternate view shows the whole plant from the top of the 8" pot. It has grown only 4-inches since 2005. The Aloe is much bigger than it looks in this photo. In a ten-inch diameter pot, it stands more than a foot above the pot rim. It is a very stout plant. I'm not completely certain the ID is correct.

Some of the photos I didn't enter in this contest:

Dudleya caespitosa (June 2010)


Dudleya caespitosa (November 2010)


Aloe distans


Pachypodium namaquanum


Brad

[daiv]

So Dudleya caespitosa counts? I'm in on this one!

[Harriet]

I have a lot of winter growers, and some pictures that are much better than my entry, but there are none that I am prouder of than the poor little Lithops in my entry. Imagine me, serial killer of Lithops, actually getting them to grow and produce buds! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

[Dmyerswny]

@ Daiv I really like that shot. The way the plants in the cracks couldn't look better if someone had put it there themselves!

[peterb]

Rats! I missed the deadline. I just got back from a trip through Sonora and visited with the only known mainland population of Fouqueiria columnaris. Was going to post this:





More pics from the trip in a separate post.

peterb

[daiv]

Nice! So Bojums are winter growers too?

[peterb]

Yes, they really leaf out and flower in winter if the rains are good. They don't seem to mind the cold at all, as long as it doesn't get too far below freezing.

peterb

[Ralf]

Darryl what's the matter? How about the voting #49 and the forgotten December contest?