Haworthia retusa 🌵🌱🌵

I bought this cute little specimen at a succulent fair a couple of years ago and by now it has adapted to the new environment of my flat. It seems it is doing pretty well as many new stems are coming out from its base and next spring I will have to separate the new plants and repot it. For sure the climate in my London flat does not resemble in any way to its natural habitat of the Southern African deserts where this haworthia originates. This species is indigenous of the Riversdale on the Western Cape Province in South Africa.

My relatively recent passion for succulents is bringing me to develop a miniature collection of these little desert plants, that seem to survive well my prolonged absences and, consequently, the lack of watering. Being evergreen and perennial these can cheer me up with their colours even during the winter. Some varieties grow faster than others and this one is a medium-grower with plenty of new puppies just after one year from repotting.

Because of the elongated shape of its leaves this haworthia variety is also called Star Cactus and its striking density of colour is perfect for succulent compositions. So I am looking forward to the good season when I will have many little striped stems to be planted alongside other succulents for the coming year.