At this time of the year the temptation to start to water the plants is very difficult to resist.  It seems cruel when they look so thirsty and dull that we should withhold water.  I have to force myself to be very hardhearted indeed.  Maybe in the future, with the milder winters, we may decide to water a bit earlier. This year they will just have to wait till March.

          Most of my plants seem to have come through the winter well.  One of my Mammillaria huitzilopochtli, a plant I had grown for about fifteen years collapsed in on itself and was just mush inside.  I have no idea why; similar plants on the same shelf have survived the winter well.  Maybe it was too wet as it went into dormancy.  I also have dozens of cuttings of Stapelia quebensis. The parent plant (a multi prize winner last year) developed rot at the base of the flower stems.  Fortunately I spotted it before the rot reached all the stems and I have managed to save some.

I would normally have ordered my seeds early in January, but with the illness of the Journal Editor, and the lateness of the Journal the seed list has yet to arrive.   The latest information that I have had is that the Journal should be out any day now.