Looking back at the rare cuttings I’ve lost over the years, almost none of them died from some exotic, hard-to-predict cause. They died from a handful of the same basic mistakes, repeated in slightly different forms, usually driven by impatience or by applying advice meant for common, forgiving succulents to plants that simply don’t tolerate … Read more
Somebody asked me once how long it would take before their newly sown Ariocarpus seeds would look like the mature specimen in the photo that had convinced them to try growing one from scratch. I remember doing some quick mental math and then deciding it was kinder to just say “years” rather than giving an … Read more
I’ll admit my first attempt at hand-pollinating succulents felt a little absurd, crouched over a tray of Echeverias with a small paintbrush, dabbing at flowers that seemed almost too small for the task. It didn’t work, not that first year anyway. But watching a genuinely successful cross develop months later, from that first careful transfer … Read more
A question that comes up constantly in collector groups goes something like this: “I have a rare Echeveria that’s finally offsetting, should I remove the pup or take a few leaves instead?” It’s a genuinely good question, and the honest answer is that it depends on more factors than most quick online answers account for. … Read more
I still remember the sinking feeling of watching a leaf I’d taken from a genuinely expensive Echeveria simply shrivel up and turn black over the course of two weeks, having done everything I thought was right. It took some honest reflection, and a fair amount of reading afterward, to realize that propagating rare succulents isn’t … Read more