Love them orchids, but can't give up my succlents

[otis 226]

Don't know why I find these S.African plants so fascinating, but I do. I had to brush the flies away from the big 'uns with the ruler in it before I took the pic!
Tony

[psyc1210]

AWESOME!! I would LOVE to grow the Stapelia gigantea...however I have a couple Stapelia and they don't really do anything for me,other than sit on the shelf. What do you have yours potted in. How much light, water, temps?

[lmartiny]

I like succulents too. I have the big stinky one too. It just bloomed recently. Common name is Star Cactus. Other is stephelios or something like that.

[Puddy1]

Wow Tony! Those are WAY cool! I just love the last one. It looks like a starfish. I can understand why you love them...but, are they the kind that smell like dead flesh?

[lmartiny]

We typed at the same time. JoBeth has the correct name. (mine are in pots of dirt outside in high light)

[orchids4me]

Originally Posted by psyc1210

AWESOME!! I would LOVE to grow the Stapelia gigantea...however I have a couple Stapelia and they don't really do anything for me,other than sit on the shelf. What do you have yours potted in. How much light, water, temps?

Ditto this, I have one too does nothing also....

[orchidaddict789]

Wow, nice growing, and that is certainly an interesting, pretty flower. I can't grow cacti and succulents for the life of me. I've killed numerous cacti, jade plants, etc. The only kind that I can grow is epiphyllum...which took 8 years to bloom.

Is that stapelia easy to grow and bloom?

[gabi_borza]

Lovely Stapelia gigantea! How big are the flowers? I have a Stapelia grandiflora, and the flowers measure 8 inches from one tip to another. It is flowering at the moment, with 5 flowers opened and many buds.

[Shannara]

That first pic is a succulent I commonly knew as the Lifesaver plant. Really interesting blooms.

I recently bought an orchid you would probably like...it's a species Den with foliage like your succulents. Den. wassellii is the name. I could see it fitting right in with those guys!

Shann~

[Bolero]

I like the succulents as well, I grow them out in the garden beds so they don't interfere with my orchid growing. Thanks for sharing!

[1joyceh]

I started out with cactus and succulents, still have many, but gave many away to friends who would always forget to water their plants....I still have the stapelia, a grandiflora and a variegata. Here we call it the "carrion" flower, as it smells like roadkill.
Another smelly guy in my collection is the amorphophallus konjac, the "corpse" flower. The one I have is still too young to flower, I figure at least 2 more years. That should be interesting!!

[katrina]

I've hung on to some of my favorite succulents and cacti. That collection has definitely gotten smaller but I'm not willing to get rid of all of them.

I just picked up 3 stapelia last Fall and I have 1 that made it. The 2 others dying wasn't totally my fault...they came to me w/a mealy issue that I just never could get under control so I pitched them for fear of the little buggers spreading to the 'chids. LOVE the flowers...even if they do stink.

Well done!

[otis 226]

Originally Posted by psyc1210

AWESOME!! I would LOVE to grow the Stapelia gigantea...however I have a couple Stapelia and they don't really do anything for me,other than sit on the shelf. What do you have yours potted in. How much light, water, temps?

Thanks for all the kind comments. I think any fast draining, good potting soil should work for these guys. I used to make a big thing of mixing my own cacti and succulent soils years ago, and sometimes still do, but I believe these are potted in some off the shelf mix made for containerized plants. They get bright indirect light and could probably take a.m. sun, but I don't bother with that. Currently they're in my front entryway, which never gets direct sun. I water when I'm out front of the house looking at my 'chids there, maybe twice a week in this heat. Funny thing is they were moved out of my lanai to make more room for orchids! They bloomed now and again in the lanai, but outdoors this is the second time they've bloomed in 2 months. These last flowers were really huge. I'd say between 12-14" from tip to tip. And yes, they are REALLY STINKY. They smell like rotted meat, (hence the name carrion flower). But nature gets the job done...flies love these guys. I especially like the little one thats also planted in the same container. Can't get an i.d. on it, but the little star flowers look like they're made of plastic. Beautiful S. grandiflora, btw!
Cheers,
Tony

[otis 226]

Originally Posted by Shannara

That first pic is a succulent I commonly knew as the Lifesaver plant. Really interesting blooms.

I recently bought an orchid you would probably like...it's a species Den with foliage like your succulents. Den. wassellii is the name. I could see it fitting right in with those guys!

Shann~

Thanks Shann, I'll have to look for that one.
Tony

[retroresale]

Beautiful flowers. I have a few small succulents and cacti but I usually end up over watering them at some point. It takes all my willpower to walk past them with the watering can.