Thanks Tee that feels so reassuring!

When the lithops split there ment to get there moisture from them lower leaves which eventually dry out (so i think you dont water them while they have them plump lower leaves to feed off). Yeah there easy to overwater and kill but them ive had a few dry out and die so wheres the line. hehe!
I think they grow tall if they dont get enough light.
When watering they need to dry quick so use small pots and a fast draining mix.

Just updating the status of my lithops. Well, it looks sad and ghastly as usual..being summer. Actually lost half of the split, so only one leaf remaining. Since it is dormant right now, changing the soil, adding some top dressing. The remaining leaf feels firm though the top looks crunchy dry. I removed the dead leaf. And reading further, says it may need more light...okay, so moving it to the other area where the rest of my potted succulents are. When I took another photo of the plant after repotting it, I realized that lithops is doing good..I was not closely paying attention to the top portion..with the close-up, I can now see the window created by a split on the top of the leaf..so my hope is rekindled..lithops is still alive somehow!

Tough little critters, lol. I'm amazed that they survive planted in the ground at the botanical gardens - we have a rainy season in mid summer and in winter, which seems like it would kill them to me, but.... some flowers from last November, I believe. (Please ignore the gasteria (?) in the background, and the fuzziness!)









I should go back and check on them now, maybe get new pics and see if they've made it through the heat wave.

Love the photos Sheryl! Oh please do take more recent photos..am curious how it grows on other heat wave areas.

Sure will, and will take them with something more than a camera on my phone. I'm afraid it doesn't do good up-close shots.

We just lost our Agave and Non-Cacti succulent curator to the UC Berkley gardens. California just got a real gem!

Instead of starting a new thing, hope nobody minds if I post add a pic of this flower here.
Today:


It lives in here, right in the front (bottom of pic,) just below the upside-down pot. This pic is from 11/8. The flower happened fast!

Tiffany, your planter box outside the window is quite a beautiful menagerie of plants and objects. My eyes wanted to travel from one colorful thing to another colorful thing of another form. Most interesting!

What a lovely bloom and garden set-up Tiffany! Love it!

TY, Bev & Tarev. (That rhymes.) About to find out if any are not hardy. All I can do is cover that with a sheet, and put a tub of warm water under it. Worked at 30 degrees so far, last week. I hope to do something a little more permanent next year, with whatever's left. I had fantasies about bringing that inside when I put it together much earlier this year. Folly! It would take 2 men to move it, and it has ants. And what window would I kick 25 other plants out of to put it by? Learning experience...!

From what I have learned with some of my succulents outdoors, cold okay, as long as no rain, or on the off chance it does rain, media has to be really fast draining so the roots do not rot. I usually have my succulents also in shallow containers. I really like your set-up media looks good. In your collection, I think I see an aloe-gasteria hybrid there, that one, pouts big time, but will recover, but the damaged tips really turns ugly brown. Protect your lithops, I would move that indoors, it easily goes mush, needs to be dry.

TY, Tarev! No idea what winter has in mind for this area this year. If it goes much below 30, I'll pull them, I'd hate to lose those, they're not easy to find 'out there.' This planter thing is under the porch roof, but if it's blowing from the west while raining, some rain gets on the left end of it. I stand on the porch & 'study' this thing sometimes, bent over, squinting. I don't care if I look loony.

"I think I see an aloe-gasteria hybrid" - on the left in the middle just below the pink dinosaur? It was unlabeled. Hoping it will make a flower sometime. It has made a pup. It doesn't feel like a real plant, it's very hard, not pliable at all.

The aloe-gasteria hybrid I see is the one with white specks on its long dark green leaves on the left side of the photo.

Oh I do that too..bending and checking them ..succulents are one of the few plants that tolerate me hahah!

Whatever happens do not let them sit in water. But the lithops, I would really suggest moving it indoors and put near a sunny window now.

OK, yes we are talking about the same one. I'll grab that (if for no other reason than to give it a chance to make a flower so 'we' can know what it is) and the Lithops if Ma Nature pukes up some really bad cold air down here. Still having windows open most days, lows bouncing around 45-60. Could get lucky like last winter, low for season was high 20's. TY for the info!

Under the top gravel is mostly bark. Between the 'dirt' and the bottom surface of the planter is a layer of plastic nursery flat bottoms. I cut the sides off of them, leaving about 1/2 inch lip. Turned upside-down, they are hopefully maintaining an air pocket under all. There's a layer of screen under that to make sure holes don't become blocked somehow. There's about 150 drill holes in the bottom.

I find using bark okay during summer..but in winter..my succulents do not like it..takes much longer to dry out.

TY! That's what I was expecting too. I've stopped watering it in preparation.

What's going on with your plant now? Four months since the last pic.

My lithops is crunchily looking dead but have not tossed it out yet, still hopeful it is alive somehow..wishful thinking ..haay..I think I may have given it too much water last summer..while my split rock is still okay both staying indoors now.

Awww, it's funky to have a plant that may or may not be dead. Succulents don't die in normal ways, which is kind of interesting in itself, but always sad. Sending good vibes! I guess Lithops make pups? Maybe one will poke up?

A few quick lithops pics - these are greenhouse grown @ the DBG, very few were ID'd.












Wait, wait - I just noticed that at least the last pic isn't a lithops at all, but Gibbaeum petrense. Shoot, yet another type!
Sorry, but I hope you enjoy the pics anyway...

These last ones are Lapidaria, whatevah da heck that is...


Tarev, these are the outside ones that I promised you so long ago - I'm afraid they're quite fuzzy.






And here is the structure they're grown under:

Lovely photos Sheryl! I love seeing them properly grown..while mine is struggling hehehhe

Look closely at the photos Tiffany, that's how dry they like it...sometimes I too doubt myself if the plant will survive very dry, but these plants know how to conserve their moisture quite well. But I make that boo boo of doubting their capacity to be dry...oh well... I remember going to the UC Berkeley botanical garden early this year, they really have the desert type succulents in a very dry and higher temp condition, they are in an enclosed glass area. The hardier types of succulents that can take the cold are left outdoors, but those like lithops, they want it very dry and warm and in a very grainy, rocky set-up that will not hold water in case it rains.