Ok put me on the list

It sound like "Chris in Wonderland" :^))

C, You should use the title attribute if you want hover text. Most browsers (IE is the only one that does) don't show the alt text as a hover tip. The alt text is what gets shown if the image can't be loaded and the title text is shown on hover.

Gee, and people complain about look-alike Neos! They are very pretty, but the hybrids are often a bit hard to tell apart.

Are you going to cross the last two? I'll bet Chanin would be happy to grow the seeds out for you! ;-)

You hit the nail on the head Lisa. Thats why I cant give Michael and others who like Neos (too) much grief for loving them!

I might cross Confetti and Avalanche just for kicks, but they both share the same seed parent: marnier-lapostollei v. estevesii so Im sure the results will be just as similar. Some self set seed may be interesting however. I dont know, I really don't have the space nor time to commit to growing up a lot of seed at this point in my life. If any seed is set, I'll probably give it away for others to enjoy.

btw, Ive got some germination now!

I see many differences on the plants but they hard to see in photo's.

O K Chris lets have the names please. I thought the last two looked familiar.
Great looking plants
Best Bob

According to the tags:
H stenopetala
H podantha
fosteriana
Brittle star F2
X hybrid
Sun bear
Mercury
Bear claw
X hybrid
Arizona X (Brittle star sm X choristaminea)
Polar bear
BS F3
BS F2
South Bay cv Tibor
confetti and avalanche

Great looking plants Chris.

Hi Chris

What a great collection of plants, but boy you must be a fan of "torture by prickles".

I'd be dripping blood all over the place if they were mine, but then I only have to go near a rose bush to start bleeding.

Great shots, and thanks for sharing.

All the best, Nev.

Congratulations, Chris, on some very nice plants.

I caught the Dyckia bug a couple years back courtesy of Chanin's wonderful photos posted here and elsewhere. While I primarily grow species, some of which are planted out in mixed beds (tourniquets & surgical disinfectants, ahoy!), I have to agree that a lot of both these and their hybrids do tend to look extremely similar to this "untrained" eye when grown side-by-side. What complicates the issue here is that they are incredibly plastic with regard to color & contrast when conditions soften up during the rainy season and winter. In this respect, they are akin to many hybrid Neos. The very dark lamina color and contrasting pale spines that are well-illustrated in the first post here are really only evident for about half the year. Flowers are, I admit, a very nice touch that get surprisingly short shrift from growers. All of the material that has flowered here thus far this year has been open-pollinated either by hummers or insects, so it looks like I may have my own 'Brittle Star' and 'Arizona' F4s weeding the yard soon ;^)

I grow a fair number of Hechtia species (ironically, only one of which is of the eight or nine natives)and find that they do really exhibit marked summer and winter colors both in captivity and in nature. For example, much of the Oaxacan material from in or around the Tehuácan Valley, thence down towards the Isthmus of Tehuantepec that can sometimes be a vivid canary yellow with bright red spotting along the leaf margins during the dryest, brightest months of the year, fade to a nondescript gray-green towards the end of the rainy season in northern hemisphere Fall. Oddly enough, I have found that some glossy-leafed hechtias reliably burn rather severely every year in late December/early January in spite of remaining in the same location and orientation year-round. Unlike dyckias and orthos, the few Hechtia species that have showy inflorescences, such as matudae, are rather unassuming when not in flower.

J