My first flower?

I think my pot of Semps is trying to flower. There are three rosettes that are pushing out a stalk. If it does bloom it will be my very first succulent to bloom for me. This was the second succulent I bought this past summer. I know the plant is nothing special but for me it is a big event, that I hope is repeated many times over. It has survived unfavorable living conditions and being unpotted and torn in half by some garden snatcher.

My Cacti & Succulent Collection

These are pics of the Cacti & Succulents that I own. I'll add more photographs as I take them.

Febreze Accident

A few days back I mistook my spray bottle and a bottle of Febreze. I picked up the bottle of Febreze that I use to spray and water my Cacti & Succulents. I had several cuttings I was given that I was rooting. Since they hadn't been watered in a few days I was misting very heavily at the soil line to moisten the soil. I took a couple of moments for it to dawn on me that I was I was using the bottle of Febreze.

I unpotted the cuttings and washed off the leaves of some of the larger plants that had been sprayed. Some of the cuttings didn't make it and some plants that were established/getting established suffered damage to the leaves. I'll add a couple of pictures here that show the damage to the cuttings/plants that survived the great Febreze Accident.

Adenium Obesum Seedlings

I traded a Cacti & Succulent grower some bulbs in exchange for his Adenium Obesum seeds. I'm not sure what color they are, but I don't really care what color the blooms end up being. After I received the seeds I started Googling for info on sowing these seeds.

The force is strong with this one.

I was a chaperone at kids Halloween party this past October when I came across a little succulent plant in a planter the park across the street from the party. This leaf was barely hanging on and I helped it off the stem and put it in my pocket. When I got home that evening I put the leaf on a paper plate I was using to dry some seeds.

I completely forgot about the leaf until I was moving some things around on Christmas Eve and uncovered the plate with the drying seeds and this leaf. I had seen succulent cuttings take root by themselves before, but it had only been in pictures. I was a little shocked that the leaf had not shriveled up, but I was more surprised by the fact that it had begun to root and sprout new leaves.

Once I'd noticed how badly the leaf wanted to continue to grow I planted it in some soil. This summer I'll take it outside and plant it in the yard and let it do it's thing.

Amaryllis Clearance Bulbs

I bought three bulbs on clearance from Target. Two of the bulbs exhibited signs of red blotch. I took a chance anyway, I guess I'm a sucker for plants that are 1.50. In the future I may try and resist the urge to buy bulbs from them because they were horrible. Two that were ID as White Lion turned out to be an Apple Blossom and a Red Lion. The Apple Blossom bulb began to rot after one watering, the pedals on the flower all exhibit this mosaic like wave to them. Since I don't know much about Amaryllis diseases I tossed it out soon after.

The second White Lion turned out to be a Red Lion. It too started to rot after the first watering, and continues to do so now. It has fallen out of the pot twice since I've had it and twice I've put it back in. I'm begining to think the bulb is trying to commit suicide, but since it won't stop flowering I keep putting it on life support. I just can't stand the thought of throwing it away while it is flowering. One of the blooms looked especially large on this Red Lion one day. I decided to turn it around and get a better view. I noticed that one flower was actually two fused together. If you look at the pictures provided you can see two pistils in the foreground and near the neck of the flower there is a third one that tried to grow but it fused itself to a pedal. The flower looks to be in pretty bad shape, but that's because it's fallen on it's face twice before I managed to take a pic.

My third clearance bulb seem to be doing better than the other two did. I think it was labeled as a Minerva but it isn't as colorful as the pics of Minerva I've seen on Google. So far no rot, or much to speak of and I've been very careful about watering it. I've tried to polinate it with the other red lion I have and I'll wait and see if I have any luck. I seen to be horrible at polinating, all of my attempts thus far has resulted in seed pods that turn to mush.