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Conophytum bilobum gracistylum There's a man who holds monthly WhatsApp sales and he offers conophytums from time to time. I was late for the sale and surprised to see that everyone was going made for

Adromischus are an extremely variable genus found throughout the drier parts of Southern Africa and the hotter, sunnier and drier it is, the more they like it. They love my greenhouse and are happiest

The succulent society that I belong to always gets a stand at the yearly bonsai show and those of us that wish to sell plants can do so, in return for being there over the 3 days that the show runs and

Although we think of deserts when we think of cacti, there are a group found mainly in tropical America that colonised the trees. Epiphytic is the name given to plants that live on trees and we usually

Springtime is when the cacti bloom and here are some more Turbinicarpus flowers. The first is T. alonsoi and the second T. schmeidickianus Sulcorebutia is still quite pale, it hasn't fully woken up but

Wut, is she taking me somewhere again?!? Toffee is about 10 years old and was part of a group of 3 cats living rough on the mountain when I moved into my house. Unfortunately the other 2 died before they

This has been a week of repotting and bug spraying as the plants wake up from winter dormancy. I also have some of the Astropytums that are considered less collectable but I just love them all: Astrophytum

This winter has been brutal and killed off a few of my plants because we had quite a few nights of minus temperatures. Most were inside or in the greenhouse but the ones in the ground suffered. Thankfully

For context, see here: When I first started feeding Milo after she gave birth at the end of September, there was another man living at the house with a female cat and he expressed an interest in having

Wrestlemania in the kitchen: Simba and Batman have a lot of fun together. Simba is doing really well, he still limps a little but is normally active, climbing trees and doing cat things. It's midwinter

I saw some Adenium multiflorum at a local garden centre and told myself I would probably regret buying one but because this plant is a flowering size, which takes 4-5 years, and well priced for what it

The succulent society got another invitation to visit my favourite garden and off I went: it's not too late in the season and the light was kinder. Something that Ian the garden maker said really resonated

I've posted about my Conophytums before so I want to show some new ones and some progress. Conophytum are quite particular in their growing needs but if you get the basics right, they are pretty tolerant.

Winter is approaching and I'm getting the vegetable garden ready for winter crops but in the meantime, the progress in the greenhouse is more interesting. Adromischus triflorus: I can't get enough of these

I was supposed to take Simba back for follow-up x-rays four weeks after his surgery but I had too many things going on that week so he went in on Wednesday. I was feeling some trepidation about it because

Sulcorebutia rauschii is finally safe from marauding snails Having a proper space to grow my succulents in has been a goal for a long time, pretty much since I first moved into my house. I started with

Simba's doing well but jail life is really starting to get to him, he's 3 1/2 weeks post surgery and he really wants out. Next week I must get him back to the vet for x-rays, to see whether the bone is

This is a you have to laugh or else you'd cry situation: last Saturday I took this picture, thinking "cute little eye of Sauron" and learned the hard way that the eye of Sauron is not to be laughed

A bit of exercise, sun and fresh air When Simba came home, he was fairly cheerful and eating well. I continued giving him his pain meds but realised that I was only giving half the prescribed amount of

When my vet saw Simba's x-rays, she considered that his leg could be pinned with a long pin down the centre of his femur, which was pricey (160-200HBD) but doable. The surgeon looked at the xrays and dashed