Lithops
A catalog of the lithops in my collection, shown season after season.
Gotta Collect ‘Em All
Lithops are one of my favorite genera, but it’s taken me several years to really get their cultivation dialed in.
Now that I’ve been growing them successfully, with minimal loss (you can’t grow plants in quantity without losing some occasionally), and growing them very well from seed… It’s definitely time to document the plants in my collection! Most of these I’ve grown myself from seed, starting in 2021. I source my seed from growers in Europe, a reputable nursery in South Africa, and of course, the fantastic Mesa Garden nursery here in the US!
Latest Season: Fall 2024
My goal is to update this with a set of photos for the current set of lithops in my greenhouse at each growth season: fall, winter, spring, and summer dormancy.
There’s a pretty good chance this will turn into an absurd quantity of photos requiring multiple pages, but we’ll start with this one for now.
Lithops aucampiae ssp. aucampiae var. aucampiae
C255
I have this purely because the repetitive name cracks me up. It’s also a species where I have a super funky mutant specimen! Unfortunately, this summer, a mouse decided it would be tasty, and it’s very sad looking as a result.
Lithops aucampiae ssp. euniceae var. euniceae cv. “Bellaketty”
This subspecies is distinct from the aucampiae subspecies by the fairly consistent dark center of the leaf body, but the nominate form of this variety is usually brown! The books I have label this cultivar as one word, bellaketty, but I often see it listed for sale as “Bella Ketty”.
Lithops bromfieldii
C41
This species is full of texture and color, and is an extremely attractive little clone to grow.
I’ve held on to one of these; the 2022 group that I sowed wasn’t particularly robust, and I only had a couple make it to this size.
To my surprise (and delight), it bloomed earlier this fall, not long after my other bromfieldii did.
Lithops bromfieldii var. mennellii C
A fun variety of bromfieldii with a relatively light body and deep, red grooves.
I acquired these from Ethical Desert (based in Colorado) as seedlings, and they have been solid plants.
As the plants mature, they’re getting more and more texture on the top, which is particularly attractive with the stark contrast. They bloomed early in the fall, and since they were my only lithops to be blooming at the time, I’m optimistic to try collecting some seed for the first time!
Lithops dorotheae
C124
Where I know the Cole Number of my plants, I make a point to keep them tagged and documented, and won’t lump them together with non-Cole Numbered plants.
This is another specimen I’ve grown from seed, where I’m confident about the provenance of the seed (from similarly obsessed collectors in the UK).
Unfortunately, this summer that pesky mouse decided to try sampling many of my lithops – and this one was one of them. I am eagerly awaiting its division to see the newer leaves!
Sown in 2022.
Lithops dorotheae
These are the survivors of a batch of 5 I ordered off of Etsy a few years ago. They’re not a specific Cole Number, but they’re very pretty, and were great for refining my cultivation techniques.
Lithops dorotheae cv. “Zorro”
A super pretty cultivar that has proven to be very finicky for me to grow. These are both 2 years old, from the same seed batch, but as you can see compared to the C124 specimen above, they’re half the size.
Lithops fulviceps var. aurea
A multi-headed plant I picked up from the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society show & sale about a year ago, and it’s been doing well.
The hardest part has been getting the lighting right; many of my lithops stretched a bit coming into the fall season this year, including this plant. The shade cloth combined with shade from nearby trees was too much, and only occurs when the sun is entering the winter angles.
This is also an early blooming species, but the flowers opened up after the bromfieldii, and they were the only ones blooming when their flowers opened.
