Speaking of succulents...

Here's some succulents that I mostly grew from seeds. With just one or two exceptions.
I prefer the low ones, rosettes.
I love their low maintenance, the fact they are dormant in winter... but even then, sometimes it's challenging. Where to store them, do I water, do I let them dry, WHAT?
Anyway, here's some!

Aloe polyphylla x 2

Aloe polyphylla

Agave victoriae-reginae

Some Aloe?

Stapelia leendertziae

Agave seedlings ???

Ceropegia sandersonii - shooting its parachutes now !

I have always loved succulents and I always gave a plus to one I could manage from seeds to bloom. And if the bloom is also "weird" ... the better!
I am not sure when I saw this plant/flower on the Internet, and I forgot where I got the seeds.
I think it was from someone in South Africa. (THANK YOU!)
Anyway, the germination was quite successful, I offered most of the seedlings to friends, on other gardening forums, etc.
Now I've got a couple here in the apartment and a smaller one  at the office.
Here's the ... parachutes. I LOVE them!

Opuntia - 3 stages

     I have always been fascinated by weird plants, rare ones, but they always had to fit in my plan.
A couple years ago I got a small, bad-looking Opuntia pad and I decided to give it a chance, placed it in a place I knew would be fairly dry and hoped for the best, ignoring it for a long time.

     This year it surprised me with a bud, then a huge bright yellow flower and now, a fruit.

     I got a couple more small pads in the garden, and some 4-5 pots on my balcony with different Opuntia seedlings.

Lilium martagon - first "rare" species in my garden

Last year, while visiting some friends in Sweden, I got some bulbs (won't mention how and where) and as there were stems and leaves attached but no blooms, I could tell they were "special".
It was summer, hot, dry, but I was stubborn and never gave up on them.
Occasionally I would water the place I marked and remembered it was "the special bulbs".
This early summer I was pleasantly surprised to see most of them made it but only one actually bloomed.
As you can see, 5 buds. Not bad!
Can't wait to see what happens next year!

Lilium martagon var album?

Add caption

Clematis worth bragging about

I've got about 5 kinds of Clematis but so far two are my favorite, based on their performance this and previous years.

NO 1. 
Clematis integrifolia - not a climber, not a huge-bloom-er but nevertheless something I love having in my garden.
And the only one I have managed to germinate seeds from.

NO 2. 
Clematis Miss Bateman. Was my first Clematis, planted it close to a pear tree and not I am quite sure some stray vines go all the way to the top branches of the tree.

Two months passed...

Looks like no matter what I do... I keep postponing writing a bit and posting pictures.
Well... let me have a look at my albums and see what's worth mentioning.

 Ok. I'll make this post about Iris and Aquilegia as these are quite spring blooming plants and I've got enough to fill up a post.

AQUILEGIA... aka....columbines.
They look alright, not exactly the blooms I adore, but they are reliable, blooming right on time. Problem is, I always end up with ugly looking plants (the stalks with the seed capsules are not really a nice view, and also the leaves pretty soon turn ugly).

And... Irises...

Last one to bloom!