I'm confused. Is Altman / cactuscollection .com a division of CF? I thought it was out west somewhere?

Hi DaisyI!

I don't recognize your mystery plant as something in our collection now (unless it's a sport of a pink Cryptanthus). I've passed your photo on to our growers to see if they can shed more light on it. I'll let you know what they say!

---Justin
Costa Farms

Hi purpleinopp!

Altman Plants is a competitor of Costa Farms. They do most of their production out of California and Texas, but I think they now also have a farm in Florida. As such, Costa Farms has absolutely nothing to do with them.

---Justin
Costa Farms Horticulturist

Jai_Ganesha,

Yes, Costa Farms does sell to retailers in Canada, as well as the US and Puerto Rico. While the company's biggest customers are big-box retailers, Costa Farms also does business with a wide variety of independent garden centers and grocery stores.

If you've not seen the medium we use for our mainline cacti and succulents (the one that's coir + bark + sand), I'd encourage you to check it out before passing judgement about it. I'll completely understand, if after experiencing it for yourself, you find it not to your liking. But it's nothing like what our Apopka growers use for the houseplants in their greenhouses. (As you can imagine, it HAS to be different in a greenhouse vs. outdoors in hot, humid Miami with its regular afternoon thunderstorms.)

You are correct --- my role at Costa Farms does not have me potting plants (neither in Miami, nor Apopka). Rather, I do the company website, social media, and other initiatives geared to home gardeners.

Thanks! I hope this helps. And feel free to shoot any questions to me about Costa Farms or the plants. It's why I'm here.

---Justin
Costa Farms Horticulturist

GardeningJustin said:(the one that's coir + bark + sand)

I definitely have. Coir, bark, and sand are all questionable (but cheap and readily available) ingredients for a cacti and succulent mix. That's why nearly everybody here (or perhaps it really is everybody) mixes their own.

I would not consider any of those 3 ingredients as questionable, Jai. I would and do recommend them to others. Everything in the right size and proportion, of course.

I imagine you live in a more conducive climate to where coir and bark in particular won't stay as wet. Now I'm curious, does Costa Farms sell to Mexico too?

GardeningJustin said:Hi DaisyI!

I don't recognize your mystery plant as something in our collection now (unless it's a sport of a pink Cryptanthus). I've passed your photo on to our growers to see if they can shed more light on it. I'll let you know what they say!

---Justin
Costa Farms

No, not a Cryptanthus. Here it is in bloom in March.

Aloe.

Baja_Costero said:Aloe.

That was my thought as well but I was hesitant to say so. The flowers look nearly identical to one of my gasteria-aloe hybrids but the leaves are from another planet.

There are quite a few aloes which will turn brownish red in the sun or given some environmental stress. I do not recognize Daisy's plant. It looks a little like dorotheae does when subjected to full sun and drought stress, but the leaves are much longer.

This link is pretty interesting as it has several pictures of various Aloe hybrids. You can see hints of Daisy's plant in several of them:

I have seeds, if anyone wants to try to grow one.

I do!

Hi Jai_Ganesha,

I don't believe there are retailers in Mexico that purchase plants from Costa Farms.

---Justin
Costa Farms

I'm still confused why the subject of CF suddenly arose at all. I've never bought CF plants in that kind of fibrous peat, only plants from Altman are like that, that I've seen. It's not heavy and wet, just fibrous and impossible to remove from roots.

Just so there's no confusion at this point, my complaints & comments were in regard to Altman plants, not CF. My only complaint about what's in the pots of CF plants is bits of styrofoam. I've stopped buying flats of annuals because of that, still finding bits of styrofoam in the soil of my flower beds. But the last few EA division houseplants that I bought were in some kind of wonderful cococoir/cocopeat, which I LOVE, great stuff.

Thank you, Justin. Keep up the great work!

I have a question for you, Justin. What do you think is the average lifespan of a Desert Gem?

http://www.costafarms.com/plan...

Oh dear...

I have a lot more "Mystery Aloe" seeds. If anyone wants some, tree mail me your address.

Jai, yours will be out in the mail box tomorrow morning.

Awesome! Your seeds are in the mail too!