Il fiore tra le spine

Succulent plants, a small guide for those approaching this world: the simplest species to grow

6 December 2023 No Comments
The world of succulent plants is extremely vast. It follows that the cultivation needs of individual succulents can vary considerably from family to family and from genus to genus. With a concrete example, a cactus (plant belonging to the Cactaceae family) has extremely different cultivation needs compared to an Adenium obesum (succulent plant belonging to …
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Succulents outdoor all year? Here are the ones that resist and the story of my “resurrected” Echinocereus

27 November 2023 No Comments
Many succulents, whether cacti or other succulent families, tolerate the cold well. Not all cacti and not all succulents, of course, but many species can face the winter without problems even outdoors not only in the regions of Southern Italy, but also in many European states or in Asia and in northern America. The story …
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Splendid but… untouchable: Echeveria laui, when the sky is reflected in a succulent plant

25 October 2023 No Comments
Admire it as long as you want, but don’t you dare touch it! Even a simple caress is able to disfigure this masterpiece of Nature, altering the suggestion of wax – or the sensation of painting – that this succulent plant returns to the eye. Echeveria laui is a very widespread Crassulacea and also appreciated …
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Pots and inert in the cultivation of succulents: can we recycle them or is it better to throw everything away?

21 October 2023 No Comments
Autumn comes into full swing and with the arrival of cold days, succulents plants require less “attention” from us. In this period, at least in Northern Italy or in middle-north Europe, the plants must already be in their winter location, protected from bad weather and excessive cold. There is time for repotting, since it is …
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Reptiles, rodents, insects: how many encounters while growing succulents! Here are the ones to avoid

16 October 2023 No Comments
Even a young bat, entangled, poor him, among the deadly hooked thorns of an Ancistrocactus and died in that unwelcome embrace during the night, without my being able to notice it or do anything to free it. In many years of cultivation this has also happened to me as you will see in the photo …
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Here comes autumn: what treatments can we do to protect succulents and reduce losses?

4 October 2023 No Comments
With the beginning of autumn almost all succulent and cacti begin to prepare for the vegetative stasis which will last until February/March. In the winter months, cacti (with some exceptions such as Melocactus, Discocactus and epiphytes such as Epiphyllum) and many succulents (with the exception of those originating from the southern hemisphere or areas such …
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Where to keep succulents in winter? Outside, on a landing or in the house? A practical handbook

27 September 2023 No Comments
  A practical handbook and an in-depth analysis on a much debated topic among those who grow succulent and/or cactus plants. Here’s what you’ll find by reading this article, designed specifically to help those who, with the first drops in temperatures, are starting to wonder where to place their succulents when the real cold arrives. …
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From above, from below, only the soil: how cacti and succulents get wet and how long we can do it

18 September 2023 No Comments
Let’s go against the trend, since the period is more suitable for talking about suspending watering than about how, how much, when a cactus or succulent plant is watered. The topic, however, is of primary importance and although already covered in a specific article published in the “early days” of this site, it deserves further …
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Repotting a succulent plant: what to do afterwards and how long to wait before wetting the soil

11 September 2023 No Comments
Anyone who has been cultivating succulent plants for a long time – whether they are cacti or other succulents such as Crassula, Euphorbia, etc. – knows well what should be done after transplanting, and he certainly knows that these plants should not be watered immediately at the end of this operation. However, there is repotting …
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Expanded clay and peat: are they really two materials to avoid when growing succulents?

4 September 2023 No Comments
Hated, mistreated, seen with contempt, often carefully avoided. Expanded clay and peat are two highly contested and criticized elements among growers of succulent plants and cacti in particular. Net of the chatter from the Internet, are these really two materials that should be forgotten with the cultivation of this type of plant? The question remains …
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