In December 2007, Bob and Toni traveled to Yemen and Socotra, photographing plants in habitat. This trip was designed primarily to look for various Euphorbia and Aloe species in western and southern Yemen and to go to various places on Socotra that we have not previously visited. We found numerous interesting, and in some cases rare, species during our trip to mainland Yemen, and we expect to write an article for the Cactus and Succulent Society Journal in the near future. Because we were gone in December, we fell a little behind in our shipments, but Joie Giunta really came through with the type of service we hope you now expect from our nursery. We will continue listing new plants and restocking previously offered species early this year.

Postal Rates Have Changed

Unless you were asleep in 2007, you know that postal rates increased substantially (on the order of 10-15%). Our analysis indicated we were losing money on shipping, and as a result, we changed our shipping rates. Those of you who place orders for under $100 actually had decreased shipping rates. Orders of $100-500, where the shipping has hurt us badly, now pay a flat fee that hopefully will cover shipping charges for the heavier and bulkier plants, which is where the postal rate increases have changed the most. For the time being, orders greater than $500 will be assessed exact shipping charges. Because of postal service surcharges on larger and heavier parcels, we now ship those packages via FedEx Ground, which costs about the same as the previous postal rates but takes 5-7 days for most addresses. We apologize for needing to make these changes but it ultimately goes back to increases in energy costs, which is why all shipping companies greatly increased their shipping charges in 2007.

Also remember, if you are in a cold area and want to receive a plant shipment this winter, we offer heat packs to our customers at cost, which generally are $2 to $2.50 per pack. These packs generally last 72 hours and keep most packages from freezing during transport.

New Plants: Imports

In 2006-2007, we imported a large number of plants, primarily from South Africa. Most of the plants we brought in were various species and varieties of Haworthia that came with collection data. We continue to offer a limited number for sale on our web site and to walk-in customers. Our overall goal remains to have as extensive a collection of Haworthia to offer our customers as is offered anywhere, and we're well on the way to doing just that. We just got another shipment of Haworthia, and most of these are 6-12 months away from being saleable plants. We recently received large plants of H. pumila and H. minima, which we will likely offer in January.

We imported a relatively large number of Dioscorea hemicrypta and Tylocodon cacalioides, two highly desirable species from the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. These seed-grown plants are quite large and are currently for sale. We've also acquired a number of stock plants that should enable us to produce seedlings of rare species in the future.

If you like Hoodia, we may have good news for you. We recently imported a large number of Hoodia pilifera ssp. annulata, a rarely offered species from the Klein Karoo. Our stock plants of other rare Hoodia are growing up, hopefully they will bloom this year to produce seed for us. Some seedlings of rarely offered Mesembs arrived in shipments from South Africa. If we can keep them alive, they may be available in early 2007.

We have also used our seed import permit to continue to bring in seed of succulent plants, either for species that we currently carry or new species that we think would be of great interest to our customers. Some of these plants may be available for sale in 2008. The ones we are most excited about are various Ficus and several rare species of Aloe.

New Plants: Our Seedlings and Cuttings

In the summer and fall of 2007, we had an extremely good production of seedlings of everything from rare Euphorbias to relatively common Adeniums. We will release some of these species on our web site early in 2008, and some will merely add to our currently available stock. Toni has put considerable energy into seed production, particularly on rare Euphorbias, so we anticipate have a whole new lineup of rare species in 1-3 years. We continue to acquire seed, particularly from South Africa and from species that are not commonly available, and we anticipate another good year of seedlings production in 2008.What should be especially interesting to some of you is a new commitment to propagation via cuttings, which we are now doing to increase many rare species, notably Euphorbias and Commiphora.

We are working with the extensive collection of stock plants that we have at Arid Lands Greenhouses and in our personal collection, trying to provide old favorites as well as new or unusual introductions. This means that a number of species that we had in small quantity in the past may be available in larger numbers in the future. We are increasing the number of plants that we offer with collection data, which enables serious succulent plant collectors to know the origin of their plants with some certainty. At the same time, we are attempting to increase the breadth of our offering. We now offer species like Euphorbia tirucalli and E. gymnocalycioides on the same web site. It is our commitment to offer the broadest selection of succulent plants to our customers, and it is clear that you want that selection. It is startling how fast we filled up our 13,000 square feet of greenhouse space. The only way we can create space is by selling plants, so we hope you like what we are producing.