My new pets || Lithops

by Bethany

Last weekend while flipping through the newest issue of AIG's Answers magazine, this little article caught my eye.

These amazing little succulents, called lithops, intrigued me to no end!  Those of you familiar with Greek words may already know that the root of the word lithops is lithos, meaning stone.  And as you can see from the picture, they really do look like little stones.  Another name for them is living stones,  or pebble plants.

Doing some research, I found that they are very easy to take care of, and there was some for sale on Etsy...

These little plants combined my love of stones and plants. 

 I needed some. :)

So I placed an order, and then made a list of the things I would need to take care of them before our next shopping trip.

They came in the mail today. Mom walked into the dining room where I was working on an upholstery project and said, "Your babies are here!"

I jumped up from the sewing machine and hurried to open the box.

Buried beneath the packing peanuts sat two little pots.

There were my new babies!

The most important things for them to have is a loose soil that drains well (a succulent/cactus mix works) and a pot with good drainage holes.

Lithops need hardly any water, but will take in all they get. So if they are over-watered, they can burst! 

But after a long trip, they needed a good drink.

I arranged some of the rocks I had collected while at school, and my mom polished for me in her rock tumbler.

They are supposed to bloom in the fall, so I'll have to do an update post when that happens.

I'm excited to bring them to school. They will be fun little "pets" to take care of and cheer up our dorm room.

Isn't God's creative design amazing?

Have you heard of lithops before?

Do you have a favorite plant?