A Stapelia Bonanza!

This week I acquired eleven new Stapelia specimens from Mesa Gardens in Belen, New Mexico. It took a lot of searching on the Internet to find a grower in the States, since shipping of plants into the country requires a lot of paperwork I'd rather not have to hassle with at this point.  I should have researched the species a little closer as well, as it turns out two of the "species", flavirostris and ambigua are actually synonyms for grandiflora.   It looks like a couple of the Stapelias I acquired from Miles2Go in Tucson, AZ are preparing to bloom.

"Group shot" of the new Stapelias.

Stapelia divaricata, Buffeljachte, Swellendam, Cape Province, South Africa

Stapelia glandulifera, South Africa

Stapelia grandiflora, South Africa

Stapelia hirsuta, South Africa

Stapelia kwebensis, Botswana, Zimbabwe and the northern Transvaal.

Stapelia obducta, South Africa

Stapelia scitula,Western Cape Province of South Africa.

Stapelia hirsuta var. tsomoensis, South Africa 

Stapelia hirsuta var. vetula, South Africa.

Stapelia erectiflora with what appears to be a flower bud (far right, top).

Stapelia flavopurpurea, with a small flower bud (center of photo).

The kalachoe I got at this year's Spring Swap is living up to the common nickname applicable to several species, "Mother of Thousands" or "Mother of Millions", as it is developing lots of plantlets along its' leaf margins.

Now for an update on some of the seeds I sowed indoors and the progress of the infloresence on the plumeria 'Novelty'.  The pumpkin seedlings were getting leggy, so they were planted on Saturday in the tree well under the nectarine where they should get some shade for a few weeks before the leaves fall off the tree. Almost all of the peppers have sprouted, as have some of the dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) seeds.  The plumeria infloresence continues to grow larger and it appears that flower buds are starting to form.

Dragon fruit seedling

Inflo on 9-18-13

Inflo today, 9-23-13.  It's changed a lot in just 5 days.

I also sowed some of the seeds of Hesperaloe parviflora that I gathered from a plant in a parking lot about a week ago, to make sure they're viable before I send some to a few of my friends.  I also sowed some of the black hollyhock seeds from Monticello that my friend Julie got for me this summer.  If all ten sprout, I'll be giving a couple to Julie, planting a few and taking the rest to the Fall Swap.