They are looking good!

To me aggregatus and iwarenge look the same, but the color is very different in person. The iwarenge has a very blue color.

Those are amazing! Where do you have them - are they a little too shaded? The stolons look a little pale, is all. I'm so jealous...

I wonder how Mark's collection of seedlings is doing. Mark are you there?

They are on the covered deck. Time to move them out in the sunshine. What little we have had of it anyway. : )

The two are so fragile I am almost afraid to put them out in the raised beds. Guess I need to practice some tough love.

For those of you living near Denver, Timberline has Orostachys spinosa and furusei.

Waaaaa - I want to shop at Timberline!!!!!!!!!!!! (no temper tantrum emoticon.....)

We definitely need a temper tantrum smilie....

It is so hard to find sources for mail order for these plants. : (

Does anyone know how cold tolerant Orostachys are. I really like the looks of them but will have to decide if I can grow them outside all year long which would mean I could have a few, but if they need to come inside for the winter I will really be limited.

They are hardy down to -5F, maybe colder if they have snow cover. Jacki (Drought Smart Plants) grows them in Canada, and the ones I have are from a very cold winter area.
Here is are some links :
http://www.smgrowers.com/produ...
http://thegardengeeks.com/home...

What will kill them is being to wet during cold weather. Snow cover keeps that from happening. They come from the mountains of China and Mongolia and adjacent areas of Siberia. That's pretty cold, but relatively dry.

John, I'm in Zone 4 (USDA), with good snow cover. This past winter was extremely wet in November, then we got lots of snow on top of that. My Orostachys spinosa and O. minutum are doing great. Still looking for more different species, just so I can test them, you know. Apparently, Orostachys are the most cold tolerant of all the plants with Crassulacean acid metabolism (you'll have to Google that), surviving and even growing at -40 (which is where the two temperature scales meet). So I would agree with Lynn, as long as the soil is relatively dry (or at least well drained) they can survive almost anything.

This Orostachy I was told to keep it under cover for the winter, as it is very susceptible to water damage here in the PNW. I kept it on my covered deck for the winter and put it out in the raised beds this spring. It is doing well. All the others have been outdoors all winter in the raised beds. They really do shrink down to almost being invisible during the winter. My raised beds drain well even though we have months of nonstop rain and rarely any snow.

Orostachys eburnifolia 9/11/2010, 11/6/2010, 3 6 2011 coming out of dormancy and here she is this month 6/4/2011 out in the raised bed.


It looks so different from one stage to another.

What an incredible transformation! Love it!!

If this hadn't been in it's original container on the deck I would have thought I made a mistake in the identity. It doesn't even look like the plant I bought last Sept.

Thanks for the information, I purchased a couple on E-bay and they appear to be hearty enough to over winter here.

I also e-mailed Mesa Garden for their availability but haven't heard back, I'll probably have to call them. I never bought plants from them just seed, and had mixed results, germination was either very good or very bad. They don't appear to be real "E" friendly so I'll give them a day or two and call if I have to.

THOSE LOOK GREAT!!!

I'm not very good with seeds. I do much better with the plant stage. : )
It does take them awhile before they answer their email. And this would be a very busy time of the year for them. I know they lost a lot of plants this year because of extreme cold with now snow cover for protection. I would imagine they are really busy right now replenishing everything from seed stock.

They have always been slow with e-mails. I bought a bunch of Gasteria seed from them a few years ago, the germination rate was either very good or very bad there was no in between.

I have heard they send nice plants though.

Lynn, that looks like a completely different plant.....what a complete change in appearance.

Like I said Sandi, good thing it was the only plant kept on the deck for the winter (in the original container, with the tag in place). It was really fun watching it change through the seasons.
By this Sept. it should be looking like the first photo again.

I received an e-mail and placed an order. They seem to be getting better at responding to e-mails. The last time I ordered a bunch of seed I couldn't get a response.