Sunny Saturday

We have a warm spell, so I have my windows cracked open and plants lined up on the window sill. Eventually I will be able to open the outer window and set the plants against the screen. Then I can close the inner window as needed, leaving the plants almost outside for the summer. I can only do this with the ones that are small enough to fit between the two windows.

This apartment has old-style "storm windows....an inner window and an outer window with a space in between, that is supposed to be a "dead air space", but it's not, it's really drafty, so I'm glad we don't need to pay for heat here. In nice weather I slide the outer window open and place my plants next to the screen. This works great for my smaller plants because I can close the inner window without removing them.

I'm in trouble this year, though, because I've increased my collection. Last year half my plants fit in the window and the other half stayed on the plastic shelf. This year I will need to squeeze them together and maybe even put some outside. They can't stay in the lower shelf because when I use the air conditioner it will blow cold air on them.

Yesterday my daughter was off work so we went shopping together. Steins Garden Center did not have the awesome succulent collection they had when we went there the first time. My daughter bought me the succulent in the picture above from Walmart. I bought her a couple from Steins. I was looking for a bright green Lithop and didn't find any, but we had fun.

My Lithops (above)....alive and doing pretty well. They seem to be the one difficult plant that I don't kill, at least not often. Three are splitting (dividing). They must NEVER be watered when they are doing this. See those fat leaves? They are full of water. The new leaves must draw the water out of the old leaves. A pair of Lithop leaves makes a "body". A Lithop can divide into many bodies but each body cannot have more than two leaves, unless it is splitting, in which case the outer two leaves will die.

The longest I ever kept a Lithop alive was one I never watered. Yes, you heard that right. I misted it, just once in awhile, to keep it from shriveling. Over the years it divided into 4 bodies. Then I heard they can be watered, so I watered it. Poof. Since the Lithop on the left, in the picture above, is in a very tiny pot and isn't dividing, I have watered it lightly, about once a month. I bought the one on the right the same time I bought the one on the left, last August, I think. Since it is diving, it gets no water. The two in the middle are new, and seem to have survived Walmart's haphazard care.