Thank you!

What do yo all think, looks like one of my two ciliosum from Ali Botusch hens is coning (preparing to flower).

On the two hens I received in 2019, one I had de-chicked, on the other I left the chicks on.

Overhead views: de-chicked hen on left, hen with chicks on right, 8 harvested chicks below (they overwintered fine)


Two close-up views of the de-chicked hen, I get the impression it is coning and going to flower. If it does flower, hope it holds off a while, we're still in a winter-just-won't-go-away-spring, and I want something to hybridize with when/if it flowers.

it looks a little coney Mark

I agree, does look a bit suspicious. that is holds off for you. Who do you think you might cross with it?

Mark,
That's exciting!
Unfortunately the Ciliosums do seem to be the first to pop, Arachnoideums and Grandiflorums tend to go about the same time though and I've gotten seedlings from those crosses by hand, so your method will likely yield even more results.
hope something else worth crossing blooms to for you. Looks like you're at least a couple weeks out, before the flowers open.
-Sol

Update, both of my hens of Semp ciliosum fr/ Ali Botusch are seriously coning, look at this photo, such silly coning ciliosums, luckily lots of chicks (chicks from the bare cone are in a separate pot). Also lucky, lots of interesting semps coning and going to flower, she will have lots of company for an intriguing hybridization effort in 2020.

Very cool Mark. It looks like a miniature shrub.

Ciliosum borisii is going to give me yet another bloom this year, I have a midas bloom and possibly my 'Pacific Blue Ice' will catch up in time to cross as well (which would be amazing if I could actually get viable seed from that cross). Already made the cross to 'Midas' last year, don't know if I want to do it again. I might want to self cross it but I'm concerned there wouldn't be much variation in the seedlings, at the very least I might feed it to the bees.

As long as I decided to raise the seed from it, this will be my third year using a Ciliosum in my breeding program. I can say this, they are reluctant parents, and so far in the seedlings I have they seem to contribute less to their offspring than you might expect. Thin leaves and a rounded form are the contributions I've seen thus far, but my borisii x 'Midas' group is huge and will tell me much more about the value of Ciliosum as a parent. 'Midas' is highly fertile, so it seems to have met Ciliosum half way in my most recent seedling batch. I have never used Ali Botusch, just the main Ciliosum clone and borisii.
Wishing you the best of luck mark, looking forward to seeing your results. The method you use will likely coax more seedlings out than my own.
-Sol

Mark,
I thought you might appreciate the ciliosum hybrid 'Highland Mist'...

I got this plant from SMG a few months back and so far I love it. It's the only Ciliosum hybrid I'm aware of besides Ciliosum x erythraeum.
-Sol

GeologicalForms said:Mark,
I thought you might appreciate the ciliosum hybrid 'Highland Mist'...
I got this plant from SMG a few months back and so far I love it. It's the only Ciliosum hybrid I'm aware of besides Ciliosum x erythraeum.
-Sol

Thanks Sol, it's a very nice cultivar. To my surprise, I have it in my want list, must have seen someone's post showing this one, but have no memory of adding it to my list, lol.

At first I was worried there would not be anything else flowering to cross with, but almost daily I'm finding semps starting to cone into flowering position, I have uploaded photos of a few possibilities. I have no particular game plan with ciliosum, other than it flowers so rarely for me (at least that's been the case with var. borisii) that I feel like I must take advantage of having two flower stalks coming.

The first one to always bloom with me is dolomiticum x montanum, and it's looking like most rosettes will be flowering this year.


Surprised to see that Chocolate Dip will flower, thought it was too young and I only have 2 rosettes + 1 chick.


Two Green Wheel hens will flower, possibly more of them as I have several pots of them:


One or possibly two rosettes of Eyjafjalla, in this view the previous two Green Wheel rosettes in background.


Many others are looking like they're coning.

'Highland Mist' has done well for me.

Mark I am beginning to see lots of signs of blooming, one of which is 'Chocolate Dip'. With the move coming up I'm not sure how I will handle this. I might pot the coning rosettes in little 3" pots so I can move them around. I'm must not sure yet.

valleylynn said:'Highland Mist' has done well for me.

Mark I am beginning to see lots of signs of blooming, one of which is 'Chocolate Dip'. With the move coming up I'm not sure how I will handle this. I might pot the coning rosettes in little 3" pots so I can move them around. I'm must not sure yet.

Yes, try the "mobile potted flowering semps" method, bunch them together into a plant tray carrier, move them around at will. In some cases, like my potful of ciliosum from Alit Botusch with lots of chicks, I will separate the chicks from the flowering hen. Going to start filling my tray soon.

Mark,
I tried crossing ciliosum with dolomiticum x montanum my first year. No results, but that's not to say you won't get any from your method, in fact I'd be very interested to see any seedlings resulting from that cross or from dolomiticum x montanum in general.
So far only three or four blooms shaping up in my collection. I Don't know if I'll do much with my borisii this year, if the 'Pacific Blue Ice' bloom catches up I'll certainly take that cross seriously though. Mostly Sedums blooming for me at the moment, a tender variety, my native spathufoliums, 'Salsa'. I had hoped to try crossing sedum this year, but it's not much fun and doesn't seem to give much in the way of results, the flowers are tiny and the majority of them don't intercross. Raising some sedum bee seed again this year, what a mess! If you let the bees do it then your drowning in long leggy little seedlings that all look the same! I plan to take album crossing seriously once they start to bloom, since the varieties all look so similar I feel like they might intercross.

Goodluck with the bloomers Lynn, it sure is nice to be able to move them around.

-Sol

The best semps I have ever grown were in tires. Cut a rim off. Fill with 2 parts leafmold, 1 part sand and then top with sand about an inch. Take a long tweezer on the roots of the rossettes and push them in. Space rosettes two diameters. These will fill in the first season. All new grow will catch up with original plantings. Tires should be on a weaved ground cloth. This allows for water to transfer. Keeps the roots cool enough in the tires and they pull water that is captured from the mat.
No watering in necessary. They winter over in this format. No cover, just snow. No problems. Tires are 8 inches deep that is plenty of substrate. The uncut bottom rim catches rain. This keeps the semps drawing moisture from the mat. Hard plastic pots stress semps. Nursery bags are the best choice for separate potting. No need to fertilize either. No watering or fertilizer no labor except for the setup. Shake and bake.

Good morning frogfan. Sounds like a great way to grow semps. What state/country do you live in? I see your growing zone, but that can very greatly by area conditions.
At one time I grew some plants in tires, they did very well.

This is container growing which is different from field growing. I know people growing semps in acreage near by. Their conditions are moderated by Lake Michigan on essentially over grown dunes. My location experiences more temperature extremes, but is subject to lake effect snow. Which can protect semps. from intermittent thaws during the winter. They really are setup for it anyhow, taking most of their water into their roots over the winter. Container growing allows you to define the physical parameters pretty much before you get started. You grow in cement blocks. Semps can produce many pups in short order in these blocks if you have just a few to work with. These pups can be planted out into a tire from the blocks in one season and you can have them uniformly fill the tire area of 24-30". That's a decent container and a lot of semps. I have repeated this for decades. During local droughts and excessive rains, all of which are common enough here.

Very good information frogfan.