T-rex Plants Blog
Published weekly. Ish. You can also follow along on Instagram at @trexplants
Care Diary: Astrophytum capricorne
Many people love the Astrophytum myriostigma and its lack of spines (and many cultivars), but there's a different cactus in the Astrophytum genus that holds my heart: Astrophytum capricorne. There are, as with the myriostigma, many cultivars and clones of this...
Care Diary: How to Grow Astrophytum asterias
These small little cacti are extremely popular for how small they stay and their complete lack of spines. They grow in a single, small globe shape, with their growing and blooming season in summer. Grown well, they are rarely more than 3” tall, and can get as wide...
Care Diary: Glandulicactus uncinatus
This little cactus has the dubious distinction of having a ridiculous number of genera ascribed to it. I recently entered mine in our winter cactus club show & sale, since as a winter bloomer, it's a fantastic little cactus to show. Deciding on the category took...
Care Diary: Gymnocalycium andreae
I am, of course, obsessed with the Gymnocalycium genus. As a part of that, I have a habit of picking up pairs of species I haven't seen before any time I spot them. Gymnocalycium andreae is no exception. I spotted these as small plants at Grigsby's cactus gardens,...
Care Diary: Stenocereus beneckei
The Stenocereus beneckei is one of those cacti that when you see one grown in greenhouse conditions, or sheltered from natural rainfall, it absolutely takes your breath away. The ghostly pale body and stark contrast of the spines draws the eye no matter who you are. ...
The Other Mesembs – What You’re Missing by Focusing on Lithops and Conos
My visit to Steve Hammer's greenhouses included a number of amazing mesembs that weren't the typical lithops or conophytums most people think of. Like Steve, I love these other mesembs! There's so much to discover in the Aizoaceae family, which is much, much larger...
Conophytum Eye Candy, Part 3 – Visit to Steve Hammer
As I said earlier, I took hundreds of photos when I visited Steve's, but I've cherry picked the best to post here. Steve was a wealth of knowledge, kind, friendly, and it was wonderful to visit. His assistant, Oakes, was also extremely kind and helpful in showing off...
Conophytum Eye Candy, Part 2 – Visit to Steve Hammer
These photos are of named species that I could identify, although I won't claim any expertise in what's what. I personally struggle to grow conophytums, or at least I have in years past. I think I tried too hard with them before; too much water in their off season,...
Conophytum Eye Candy – More from the Steve Hammer visit
While there were oodles of Lithops at Steve's place, what was truly special was the sheer quantity of amazing specimen Conophytum. They were all just starting to wake up for the winter growth season, and beginning to bloom. It was interesting to talk Conos with Steve...
Visit to Steve Hammer – the Lithops houses
I had the fortune to visit Steve Hammer earlier this year, right at the start of fall, and was able to see some incredible plants. Here’s the lithops I was most enchanted by!