Lithops are supposed to be “living stones” but everyone knows that they are really miniature butts. I am honestly surprised that they are still alive. Unlike the Baby Toes and other finicky plants, the lithops were more or less left outside and ignored for most of the year (I take some of my plants in when it rains to avoid overwatering and rotting).

The original plant came with 4 leaves. Shortly after purchasing it, a rabbit munched on one leaving me with 3. Lithops will flower in the Fall and split in the Spring. At around March every year each leaf will start to split, revealing a brand new leaf underneath. Occasionally 2 new leaves will appear. I was lucky enough to recieve 2 double splits bringing me up to 5 leaves.

At some point, 2 leaves died leaving me with 3. Overwatering is suspected as they were left out in heavy rain (we received a lot of rainfall lately). Since there is still quite a bit of room in the pot, I would love to fill it with other lithops. Unfortunately though, they seem to be hard to find in good condition if at all.

Also, for what it is worth: Never place anything under or near a California Pepper Tree, lest you wish for berries and shit to rain upon all that you love. So messy…

Yay my plant is flowering. Unfortunately, the only time that I can see it bloom is on the weekends when we are actually home during the day. Now that the days are getting shorter, it is just dark enough for the flower to be both closed when I leave for work and closed when I get home from work. :/

I have been looking for this plant on-and-off for a while and had finally found one back in March at one of the San Diego Succulent Society’s sales in Balboa Park. Lowe’s or Home Depot usually has them but they are usually picked over, overwatered, and seem to have a fairly high chance of dying off..

I don’t 100% know how to effectively care for these succulents, but I do know that they are very sensitive to overwatering. I potted them in a mix of cactus/succulent soil and placed them in the full sun. The general idea is to make sure that the soil drains as fast as possible to reduce any possibility of moisture being retained. The rule of thumb that I use is to wait until the soil has been completely dry for a few days before watering and even then to only water very very lightly. It’s fairly warm here in the summer so I end up giving them a splash of water about once a week. I will probably reduce watering when it starts getting colder.

They have gotten a bit bigger and are in the process of budding (and not splitting or keeling over) so I will take that as a good sign.