The plant shop had some Nepenthes mix they made today so I got some in order to repot my new Nepenthes in.
The new medium is really cute! It’s moss and tree bark and smells kind of like forest and varnish?
The plant shop got a big shipment of the teeniest plampts and they were very cute…
Anyways, I succumbed to temptation and I have the smollest, cutest Nepenthes, though I am not sure which species it is, and I’m not sure if it’s old enough to be easily identifiable. If anyone is able to lend a hand, feel free to id it!
At least one of the Tylecodons is gettings true leaves! Finally. 😛 If I remember correctly they’re notoriously slow-growers so I’m going to need patience of these ones. They’re still very small and the rocks around them are grains of sand.
They’ve also developed small caudices! The little green dots under them that kind of look like a third leaf are actually spherical stems!
Here is what this species looks like as older adults. (Source: Wikimedia)
It is Tu Bish’vat apparently! Which means Jewish tree appreciation!Here are the pomegranates and a carambola (star fruit) now compared to December around where they first germinated!
I’ve been also noticing something interesting about the oldest pomegranate’s growth, in that it’s been alternating between 2 and 3 leaves per node, while the others have just been adding 2 leaves in opposite phyllotaxis, so it’ll be cool to see individual differences in all of them as they grow up. The second one is much taller with thinner and longer leaves, though I’m wondering if I just accidentally gave it more nitrogen than the others.
Fun question for Plantblr that I am hugely curious about! Does anyone have any plants that are particularly rare or uncommon for cultivation?
I think the most unusual thing I have is my Crassula deceptor. I’ve searched online out of curiosity but can’t seem to find anyone with seeds or plants in stock or even listed in most cases. I think my local plant shop got it from an independent grower, which would make sense as to how it ended up for sale. (It only cost about $8 too!)
Seeds are available online, but the aforementioned Aloe polyphylla and the Mesembryanthemum crystallinum seedlings are also plants I haven’t really seen in cultivation besides a handful of folks.
I’d say my rarest and most obscure plant I have is Autumn Squill (Prospero autumnale, formerly Scilla autumnalis) which were formerly from seed from Cuddy Gardens; I currently have all the now adolescent specimens in two pots in the cold greenhouse which I’m still waiting to reach floral maturity so I can propagate more and even try to naturalize them onto our property. They are pretty obscure in the horticulture industry and I have never seen them sold outside of somewhat questionable websites.
I also have a Pregnant Onion (Ornithogalum spp.) and Easter Cacti (Hatiora gaertneri) which aren’t THAT rare overall but locally is pretty uncommon to rare locally imo. Some of my other succulents/cacti are probably in the same boat. I also have a supposedly unusual Agave from Cuddy Gardens which sadly I do not have the ID for but is a survivor from taking more cold than it should (basically it was given to me as it was marked for proooobably dead) and I for some reason still own.
I’d also speak of my rare native trees/perennials I got from a St. Williams Nursery sale buuuut I’m not gonna until I’m sure they’ll stay alive for me.
Photos of the oldest carambola/star fruit at night vs. the daytime, exhibiting leaf movements common to Oxalis family members. The specific response here is a photonastic response, meaning that the plant is responding to light levels.
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