@springcolor, looks like it starting to lightened up.

@valleylynn, gorgeous color on your 'Xanthoheuff', WOW!

@Eviesmummy sorry you lost so many of your semps. I have found that my plants do better from some companies more than others too. But in my case I think it's also the different zone I'm in compared to where most of them are grown. Semps planted here earlier in the year fare much better than those I plant late.

@goldfinch4 What date do you consider planting early and what date it too late in your zone?
Just curious as your weather is a bit closer to mine than the PNW?

@Eviesmummy, I think some of the semps, from garden centers/big box stores, are pushed to hard for growth. It makes them weak and unable to cope with the stress of changing weather.
I agree with Chris, I find the ones that I get started in spring and early summer do the best when winter arrives.
All of the ones that I got from Fernwood have done very well, not a loss or weak plant among them.

Thanks Lynn and Chris, I'll certainly bare that in mind in future. Do the ones that have been pushed for growth return to their normal habit eventually?
I didn't realise you guys could import plants from here. Is it difficult? Lots of paperwork etc?

I cleared a lot of mushy leaves this afternoon, but still a lot more work to do.The ones I de-mushed a couple of weeks ago look far better now, but I wonder if cleaning them has stressed them, some have brighter colours than I'd expect at this time of year. Is it better to clear the mushy leaves off now or wait until spring? It's probably a bit late to ask, seeing as I've already done a lot of them - I hope I don't get too many bloomers because of it.

@CDsSister I'd say May and June are the best months for planting, July & Aug. might be OK, after that can be tricky if we have a severe winter.

@Eviesmummy, yes, if the plants struggle through a bad winter, mine eventually catch up the next year. As far as importing plants, they need to pass inspection from the country of origin and again when they reach the U.S. The big thing is the expense to have the original inspection and cost of postage - it gets very expensive. It can also take a long time to ship and go through customs which puts a lot of stress on the plants.

Kate, I wondered about cleaning off the mushy leaves too. I did a bunch, and then wondered if maybe they were still helpful in protecting the plant from the cold weather.

And yes, Fernwood (and others) ship here but the cost is high due to sanitation fees etc.

Oh, to order from Fernwood, just a dream. SMG and PO are darn good so thankful for those. Saving my plant money for the new ones from Kevin.

Thanks for the info Chris and Patty - I've learnt something new :)

Spring, count yorself lucky that you can buy Kevin's It'll likely be years before they are available here, if ever

I wonder if you can send seeds out of the county?

Seeds are Ok, just not plants, corms, bulbs ect

I see. I'm going to try hand crossing this summer so will see what i get.

I had two shipments from Fernwood. The first one sat in customs FOREVER. These plants have struggled. Some went right to bloom but others have settled in and have clumped up rather well. I will be able to use these in crosses next year. The next batch arrived in great time and took off right away. None of these plants bloomed out and all have made nice clumps. Several of these have bloomed and were used in crossing. It was great to get cultivars not available in the US.

When I got back into semps 4 years ago, it seemed that the US had been mostly asleep in producing new plants in the last 20 years, but we had lost most of our great breeders either because of death or inactivity. I'm REALLY encouraged to see many in the US taking up the challenge to produce some new hybrids. At the very worst, you'll have a bunch of plants to share with friends.

Kevin

JungleShadows said:I had two shipments from Fernwood. When I got back into semps 4 years ago, it seemed that the US had been mostly asleep in producing new plants in the last 20 years, but we had lost most of our great breeders either because of death or inactivity. I'm REALLY encouraged to see many in the US taking up the challenge to produce some new hybrids. At the very worst, you'll have a bunch of plants to share with friends.

Kevin

I wonder if Toby will take up hybridizing? I am hopeful that some of our ATP members will become serious breeders.

Wooo new thread.
New year!
All that good stuff. Happy new years folks!
I'm just keeping busy indoors with the little ones. Went out to do some weeding one day last week (I think...it gets hazy ) and the ground was frozen solid. Semps still seem fine. Except the ones the neighborhood cats keep digging up. GRRRR .

Hey there ofm. So good to see you. Give those little ones a hug from me. I can imagine how busy your are.

Enjoy those little babies ofm - they grow up waaaaay too fast. Sorry to hear about the cats. Our neighbors have big dogs that like to run through my gardens and smash things.

I have never seen semps for sale here in Texas until today. I was looking for cheap shrubs on the sales rack and was not having much luck, so I headed indoors to look at solar lights and came across a rack of succulents they had brought indoors. I could not help myself and had to look and was very surprised to see a few semps tucked in with the rest of the stuff. It was labeled as Pacific Devil Food. With yall's latest talk about how the box store buys are weaker, and given the fact that it has been kept indoors for however long I wonder how it will do. I thought it was pretty enough to come home. Hopefully it will have a fighting chance.




I tried taking some photos of my ones that are coloring up and they did not turn out that great. I hope them coloring up now in the winter is not a bad sign.

Many are starting to color up, that is normal. Then when days lengthen a little and start the spring warm up, the color really kicks in.
Love you photo. I would love to see a photo of your Pacific Devil's Food. That is such a wonderful semp for keeping a brown/chocolate color year round.

Love Pacific Devil Food. for you Audrey.

Thank you Julia. Lynn that is good to know about the color. Actually it is really great to know they just keep on getting better. The dark one in the center of the last pot is the one I got today. I stopped by a resale shop on the way home and found this copper colander. We will have 27 degree temps tomorrow night so I wanted to make sure it was planted. It came in a very very tiny pot. Here it is up close. I wonder if it will get more red or darker brown now that it will be living back outdoors . I looked at the photos on file and I am looking forward to seeing that bright of a red on it too!