... well, I hope . That would be the first time a Maihuenia poeppigii is flowering for me.

Jordi

I hope so too Juergen,
I don't grow these, but have thought about seeds several times. How is it to grow, warm summer and cool winter? Dormancy? Sure is a nice looking plant.

Dan,
Over the years I got the impression that this genus is not easy to grow (for me at least!)
In Germany I found out it does NOT mind temps significantly below freezing even when wet.
In Spain I found out it hates calcium.
In SoCal I found out hot summer is not what it prefers.
So it seems to like colder and more humid climate and (slightly?) acid soil.

Jordi

That is pretty much what I had read Juergen,
Except for the calcium, didn't know that. So it probably wouldn't like my climate, very cold in winter (-24F this winter), too hot in summer often over 100F). How do you keep it cool in summer, is that it's growing season or winter?

I think you're going to be lucky with this one. I have left my plant in Belgium when I moved to Spain, there it's planted outside without winter protection and seems to be doing fine like that. I didn't dare to bring it with me to sit in a pot, with dry roots most of the time.

I found I had to sand down the seed a bit to get them to germinate, but they died when it hit 105 last summer, granted they were in full sun and a few others got toasted too. They'd probably get by with morning sun in warm summer areas, and putting them in the ground would keep them cooler too.

Jürgen, I hope you can see a nice yellow flower soon! I've read an articel in the German mag "KuaS" about germination of M.poeppigii seeds which a good friend of mine gave me, because my seeds won't germinate after all. It says that some growers have experienced that the seeds need frost to germinate. So I took my seeds out of my mini GH and placed them right into the freezer. There they lay since 11/15/09. I'm going to sow them again in april and hopefully they will germinate then

Exciting! I remember that plant
I wonder why it has decided to flower now after all those years....?

I've managed to keep one alive for a few years. The trouble is that it seems to need a warm spring to start growing (like Grusonias). We haven't had a spring for two years so mine hasn't grown for two years and now is nearly out of leaves. I think I'll try to put it in the warmest part of the greenhouse in the spring (if the weather doesn't cooperate) and see if that will get it growing, it worked for my Grusonia last year.

How much cold can these take? Would I be better planting it outside in zone 3?

If i remember correctly minus 15-20ºC was not a problem for it in Hamburg, Germany.

Jordi

How wonderful for you Jordie. Please keep us posted on the blooms progression.

Well, this 'soon' took actually about 5 weeks.
Now here is my Maihuenia poeppigii with the open flower:


Jordi

very nice to see this bright yellow flower! TFS Jürgen

Finallly ! After all those years..... Congrats!

A beautiful plant
Do not fall again please