Joyce’s Diary

November 2002

Riverside Club.

There is extensive building work to be carried out in the Riverside Club over the winter so our first meeting of 2003 will not take place until the first Thursday in March.

Diary

Things in the greenhouse are gradually closing down for the winter. Although some of my Lithops are still in flower, they have had their last watering of the year. I won’t water them again until the old leaves have completely dried up and the new leaves have burst through sometime about April or May 2003. This year’s Lithops seedlings are the exception. They will be given a very little water occasionally during the winter so that the roots don’t dry out completely.

There are still flowers on some of the Mammillaria – plumosa in particular has lots of pale yellow flowers, which will probably be produced continuously over the next few months. It is a pity they are practically the same colour as the spines, something a little more colourful would be very welcome over the dark winter months. I give my Mammillaria plumosa a little water about once a month throughout the winter. I read in some book that this was a good idea and have done it for the past few years. Derek Bowdery was horrified when I told him this last month but had to admit that the plant was looking very well.

I keep records of all the plants in my collection with a note of when and where I got them. I have started stocktaking in preparation for updating the list. I know some people even list when they repot a plant and what size pot they put it in – I don’t go that far! It means I can keep a close watch on how plants from different growers have fared over the years. It also makes me realise that the best plants are often those that I have grown from seed. They seem to benefit from having had the same kind of growing medium and care from infancy.