I have had to buy new shelving to take all the plants that have been outside in the summer.  I shall overwinter the Echevarias dry, in a cold greenhouse. For those that have actually been planted out rather than put out in their pots, I will pull them up, shake the soil off their roots and leave them bare rooted till the spring.  The Aeonium have grown, branched out, and coloured up beautifully during their summer outdoors. They will need a little heat during the winter.  I shall cut the stem as near to the soil as possible and stand them in pots with a little dry soil in the bottom so that they can form new roots over the winter.

            My small cold greenhouse is full of the sweet perfume of the flowers of the Glottiphyllum fragrans.  My larger greenhouse is full of a different perfume – there is a large Stapelia quebensis that has about eight or more of its dark red flowers open and their strong heavy smell is rather overpowering.  This greenhouse contains most of my Lithops collection and these are entering the peak of their flowering with many of their plant bodies completely hidden by the flowers.  This years seedlings are about the size of small peas and should survive the winter well.

            My larger cacti have now had their last watering of the winter. If the weather is warm the smaller plants in the heated house will probably need another watering or two to prevent them from drying too much.  I stop watering the Lithops when they have finished flowering or at the end of this month, except for optica rubra which likes to be kept in growth till the end of the year.

            I have an Espostoa ritteri, which is about three feet tall and is looking for a new home.  I would be very happy to give it away to anyone who is interested.  It is getting too tall for the space I have available for it.  It would be very happy if anyone would be prepared to plant it in a greenhouse border. 

            You may remember that I mentioned Operculicarya cuttings in my last month’s diary.  Brian Gibbs puts my diary on the web page and I was interested to get an email from Berlin asking for more details on how to grow these cuttings.  It is nice to know that our page is read so far away.

            The Oxford Branch, Mesemb and Succulent Show will take place in Whitney on Sunday 10^th October.  A few branch members will be entering. It is usually a very good show with lots of entries from far afield.  If anyone is interested in going I can give you further details of how to get there.