BCSS - Forum

Picked this up for £4 at a local garden centre. No root mealy bugs on this one. It was in a plastic pot rootbound. Now in a 5 inch clay pot. BTW no plant passport on the original pot so maybe obtained in the UK.

It's usually seen as 'Platinum', grown in large numbers in Belgium and Holland. Although some Continental nurseries use pots pre-printed with a plant passport, it's more usual to see one sticker on each tray of plants so not having a printed plant passport on the pot doesn't make it UK grown. Garden centre sales don't need a plant passport but clues to the origin will be the make of pot and the growing medium. I'd expect it was from Holland in a Kuma pot in peat. It's a nice plant with good leaf patterns and grows quickly but although I like it, it doesn't sell well enough for me to give it nursery space. I don't think Gasterias have ever been 'trendy' in the succulent hobby, they tend to be overshadowed by Haworthias and stuck under the staging.

Stuart

Thanks Stuart. I thought it could be Smokey but it will get named Platinum.. Someone must buy them for the Dutch to produce so many. I have noticed whenever you offer the cultivars there's always good bidding on them. I find them interesting plants. Perhaps the size of some of them puts folk off. Some of mine are getting quite big. Good or bad I now have around 60, I really like them.