My Orostachys collection

Thank you for the instructions Mark. Every info and experience is
precious.
Only thing that comes to my mind for seed source are societies as Sedum society.
I'm sorry I can't help you more.

Good luck with your nursery!

O. agregatum and furusei made it through the winter in pots. Furusei flowered late and just the offsets are left. Last year the same thing. I believe they act like a biennial and the main stalk dies. The agregtatum didn't flower and there are many sprouts coming from it's base. I suppose one way to have them flower and continue from year to year is to let one flower and cut another one back in the summer so it spreads and doesn't die through the winter. I'll try that this year.

Here where I live there are no slugs and snails at this time... We still have frost in the morning. But I do know slugs find oros irresistable!

Finally some pictures. The Orostachys seedlings are growing slowly. I put the images on my picasa album. https://picasaweb.google.com/mark.brandhorst/OrostachysAndRosularia#

Great collection Mark!

Good to see, Mark. Any indication yet whether the NARGS seed will be true? I'm assuming its garden seed? I hadn't thought of that list for Oro seed, but know exchanges can have a lot of open pollinated seed in general, not sure if Oros are prone to crossing?

Here are some plants from my collection:

Orostachys spinosa ex Altai


O. spinosa ex Bongelia


O. spinosa ex Bongelia


O. spinosa


O. spinosa from kakteen Haage nursery


O. spinosa from garden center in Zagreb


O. spinosa (?) ex Mongolia


O. spinosa var. minor


Got this plant labeled as O. fimbriatus but I'm not sure if this name is correct


O. chanetii


This plant also came as O. chanetii, but I don't think this is it's true name


labeled as O. spinosa but could be O. spinosa var. minuta (O. minuta)


O. thyrsiflora


O. spinosa var. minimus (cv. Minuta) /green tipe


O. spinosa var. minimus (cv. Minuta) /grey tipe


O. spinosa var. minimus (cv. Minuta) / tipe Greifswald


O. aff boehmerii


O. boehmerii 'Keiko'


O. malacophylla (few clones)


This plant I got without a label. it looks like O. spinosa, but it's a bit smaller. Maybe O. spinosa var. minor


Another plant without a label. Looks like O. thyrsiflora

And I envy ...



Beautiful plants and beautiful photos!

You don't have to. Just choose



Thank you Renata

Beautiful Mark. I love being able to see them up close like that.

Thanks Lynn.
Here are some of these plants growing in community pot in shade. O. malacophylla, O. boehmerii ''Keiko'', Rosularia sedoides, Saxifraga paniculata.

That is lovely Mark.
Do you grow most of them in shade or sun? What is your summer growing conditions like?
How do you overwinter them?

I am just full of questions. : )

I'm glad you've asked.
I grow most of my Orostachys in full sun. These were just for experiment.
Normally our summers are very hot (+35˚C) and i keep my plants on a concrete terrace where during the day you can't stand barefoot. This is very extreme and many plants tend to look poor during july and august. Unfortunately this is the best I can offer to them at this moment.

However this year is exceptional and we have rain almost every day. Some plants like almost all Orostachys are looking great even now, on the other hand other plants like Stapeliads are rotting rapidly...
Look of the plant depends not just for sun or shade: it also depends on soil, water and even size and shape of a pot. I will put some comparing photos tomorrow.

We have cold winters with snow and temp. can reach -15˚C.
All of my Orostachys I keep near the house where they are protected from rain and snow.
I think that species O. boehmerii doesn't need winter protection. In winter it creates very small balls and has no roots. You would think they are dead, but they will very much resurrect in spring. O. malacophylla also creates same winter form, but I don't know if they could survive if not protected from rain/snow in winter.

As I've said before. How does your plant looks depends on many things. This is so great to observe at softer species of Orostachys.
First of all, plants that aren't transplanted in fresh soil in the spring look poor (at least in my case). Maybe you could skip repotting by using fertilizer, but I've never tried that.

I will show you how does the same plant looks different depending where and (maybe) in what it grows.
In this 4 white frames is the same plant. This is the very first Orostachys I got. I think it's O. boehmerii, and some people think it's O.iwarenge (O. malacophylla iwarenge) but the name isn't important right now. All of the plants in frames are clones.
All of them transplanted in the fresh soil this spring. All pots made of plastic.



In the frame no. 1 and 2 are the plants that are growing in the same pot (with some other Sedums etc.) so we can say that they look the same. They are grown in full sun.

Plant in the frame no. 3 is growing in shade and it looks similar to 1/2, only more elongated.

Plant in the frame no.4 looks very different than 1/2 and 3.
Interesting, It's growing only 1m away from 1/2. Same sun exposure, same water.. and the soil..I always make experiments with soil but I always use almost the same ingredients, and the differences are minimum. My mistake because i didn't remembered or wrote exact components. It's also possible that these two look so different because plants in the frame 4 are so overpopulated.

Slugs and snails just love Orostachys, even more than Semps. I've has some bad experiences, too ...

Oh I'm sorry Renata. Did you tried to put mice glue around them?

I seem to be blessed for now.

Beautiful shots Mark. I'll upload photos of mine soon. I have a couple I'm not sure of what they are. I have guesses though.

Love some help with Identification of this plant. I bought it as O Spinosa. It looks more like O erubescens. If anyone has experience with this species let me know what you think. Haven't figured out how to post an image on this site yet. https://picasaweb.google.com/mark.brandhorst/OrostachysAndRosularia#5637383793377157314

Thank you Mark

This plant of yours looks great!
As you might see in systematics topic, nomenclature of this genus is very messy. I don't have all of the species, but I'm sure this is not spinosa. It looks like O. japonica

I'm looking forward to the new photos.

Heres a link to a few photos of My Orostachys that are almost in bloom. https://picasaweb.google.com/103019545551056924693/Orostachys# As it's getting cold here I've had to move them in the greenhouse. Without many pollinators I will have to hand pollinate them if I want seed , which I do. Anyone have any experience with hand pollination or know of somewhere I can get some advice?