I enjoy growing plants from seed. Especially Lithops, (and other mesembs); it is interesting to see the variation. To produce seeds from species or those fashionable fancy colour forms is easy; a finger dibbled between two or more newly opened flowers on different plants will produce thousands of seeds. This method suits my lazy demeanour and meanness – it works and cost nothing, (no expensive brushes). The ‘newly opened’ is quite important as my greenhouses are not screened to exclude bees. The early finger increases the chances that the seeds will likely be true. Pollinated Lithops flowers quickly close up. If they germinate and look like the originals is good enough for me. I do not produce seed for commercial use.

Extracting the seed is easy. The capsules are put in a dish of water where they will open and the seeds can be squeezed out under the water. You can get them all out of crevices with a pin. Lots of seeds – you wonder why Lithops seeds are so expensive or so few in a packet! Remove empty pods and decant the water. The seeds will dry and can be sown straight away or put in a packet. They remain viable for many years. Don’t sow seeds you get like this too thickly, (but I always do).

So that’s Lithops seeds.

Our Tina was asking after a supplier of seeds or plants of Dudleya pachyphytum, a choice, ‘chunky’ species from Baja California, Mexico. I couldn’t help her but I had two plants of the species and they were both in flower. Perhaps I could introduce them to each other and get some seeds. The set-up of Lithops flowers make pollination easy; these were different, but I could see stigmas and anthers and I tried transferring pollen with a thin artist’s brush, (blow the expense). I also left them on the patio table while I was away for several weeks with flowers on different plants touching, maybe the bees might help. Come October I was looking at dry flower remains, were they seed pods? Breaking them up produced a speckling like salt and pepper with dusty chaff of flower remains. Had I any seeds from this mixture?

Now I have collected seeds of Dudleyas in habitat before. The seeds are dust like, (and are wind distributed). Rather than try to extract them in the field I shoved the dry flower stems in a bag. On my return home I crushed the smaller pieces and sowed the lot, chaff as well. Germination was fantastic and despite only collecting from white leaved plants produced a full range from white to green. 

Was my attempt to produce and collect Dudleya pachyphytum seeds a success? One packet was sown directly (October 2015) others given away at a branch meeting with a request to report back. Do dust-like seeds have a long viability? (My guess is no, but I am prepared to be surprised.) We may well have millions of a choice species, or a few, or none; time will tell.

The strange thing is that Ray Stephenson’s book on Sedum lists many plants which are only vaguely Sedums but Sedum sedoides is not there. Exhibiters and Judges will see a pitfall here as Sedum is in a different Subgroup from Rosularia and Sempervivella. Probably irrelevant as I can’t see ‘What-ever-you-call-it’ sedoides as being any sort of winning show plant. Quite interesting on the rockery though.

While sorting through these names I noticed that I had a different Sedum sedoides. Whoops; this was of course, Sedum sediforme. I wrote a new label. In this case ‘like a Sedum’ is very different from ‘formed like a Sedum’.

Searching the internet again, (Rosularia, Sempervivella, Sedum, sedoides), showed the internet favoured Rosularia as well. Also I could buy a plant from Ebay for a pound from Czechoslovakia, though it did not look like my Rosularia sedoides.

‘Albocarinata’

A year ago I bought an interesting small plant with the name Echeveria schniedeckiana. It had a rosette form in mottled, very pale green. I had never heard of it and it is unlikely you will know it because on my return, Google had never heard of it either. Worse, it did not suggest any more likely spellings for the species.

Google supplied some more information. This was a hybrid allegedly by Peter Scheidecker (hence the name) but actually Louis de Smet in Munich, around 1870. The parents are Pachyphytum bracteosum and Echeveria secunda. There was some discussion in French as to the correct form of the name. Wisley had the common form X Pachyveria scheideckeri ‘Albocarinata’

The variegated rosettes on my plant would seem to be the desired form but my plant grew more robust normal green shoots. A curious plant with some historical interest.

Preparing for the National

As you are aware the National Show inson 20th August next year. (You did know that, didn’t you?) The date should be in your diary as should be the date of last entries. I missed this in 2008 to my great annoyance, I am sure I would have gained a few cards. (Well maybe not, the standard was pretty good.)

The really great exhibitors will have been preparing for years, seeds and seedlings nurtured for decades. Deep pocket (or very lucky) growers will have acquired old plants to shortcut the route to success. All growers will be pimping their exhibits in the final year. A clean, or perhaps a fancy flower pot, but keep it tasteful. A top-dressing to compliment the plant and of course a legible label. The name need not agree with the latest treatise on the genus but it should be correctly spelt. I presently use labels printed both sides to facilitate reading. I notice that some really successful growers have really expensive engraved labels but I would sooner spend money on plants.

In the run-up to the show you need to select your entries, you may have a choice so choose mature plants which are in good condition. Rarity counts for nothing these days. (At least for the purposes of judging, but it is interesting for the spectators to see novelties.) Make sure your exhibit conforms to the schedule, the right size, the right kind and the right number. I am sure the stewards vet the exhibits but they are busy and a NAS (Not According to Schedule) is really embarrassing in the National. (And I remember that Euphorbia obesa in the Nine Cacti class some years ago.)

Post your entry in plenty of time and stage your entries, you can go on Friday evening as well as Saturday morning. Exhibitors enter the show free.

If you are not an exhibitor you have to pay to see some wonderful plants. I have to say that many go mainly for the choice of sales plants which is huge. There are apparently 125 sales vendors, half from abroad. Not me of course, my greenhouses are full. Well… maybe just a small one or two.

Happy Christmas!

And good growing in 2016.

Cactophilitically

Trev