A Haworthia newbie quietly grew them for a year, keeping a growth record for myself

When I first got into succulents in 2011, it was just small-scale stuff like cacti and Sedum. My first Haworthia was a Haworthia cooperi var. truncata I bought at a flower market in early summer of 2012. I must have had my head slammed in a door, because why else would I have bought a shriveled, soy-sauce-colored thing and still been so thrilled? Then the hot summer began. It got darker~ and darker~ and darker~ At the time I genuinely thought it was hideous. I thought, how could anyone like this kind of thing? *sneer*. (Thanks to the material from Heart-to-Heart Little Monkey)

Looking back now, the flower market owner's soil mix was really wild - was that mud?

2012 · Autumn

But hey, it was pretty tough and actually made it to autumn for me! Around the end of October, that soy-sauce-colored thing from a few months ago had plumped up, and looking at it really lifted my spirits - so inspiring, hahaha. So I bought a small Haworthia cooperi online, and they threw in a hard-leaved one of unknown type. And I, being all "Sedum-minded," just stuffed them together.

But as a newbie, in my inspired state I bought a [Haworthia cooperi 'Variegata']! It was truly a potential devastating blow

When it arrived it looked pretty nice, and I even carefully put a top dressing on it.

I also bought a really cheap Loulan and a really cheap 'Mengsi', plus two unknown fuzzy grass things - all because of that Haworthia cooperi var. truncata. It recovered in autumn, and the encouraged newbie's fee~ling, you know, was over the moon~ I felt like the whole world was in my hands~

Looking back, it was so ugly, of course it was cheap~

Then I started getting ready for winter full of confidence (thinking: it didn't die in summer, what can winter do!)

2013 · Spring

Spring came, but the shock that the variegated Haworthia cooperi gave me is beyond words, okay? It was like being blown up. The leaves were thin and long, like a deformed big chrysanthemum. I was terrified.

My feelings about Haworthias completely hit rock bottom, okay~ I didn't want to grow them anymore, boohoo~

Later I heard that Haworthias can also be beheaded and leaf-propagated. Thinking that such a big clump of chrysanthemum had after all cost 40 yuan, it seemed a pity to throw it away, so I might as well chop it and try - if it died from the chop, no heartache~ I really regret not taking a single photo before chopping. I only have photos of it sprouting new buds some time after the chop, but the surrounding leaves were still there, just shriveled and thin and long like that, you can picture it. Where did the top dressing go? Strange, I can't remember?

I felt very sad, but if I was so sad, why did I buy a 'Yukigesho' and an H. odetteae fuzzy ball? Maybe I wanted to try again. Yeah.

Ugh, damn, it's already spring, why is it still so ugly when I bought it that it breaks my heart? I had a pessimistic + impatient mood~ I thought, if it blows up into a chrysanthemum again I'll quit Haworthias. Yeah.

2013 · Summer

What a perfect summer, what a comfortable temperature, 36~42, so awesome right! Because the south-facing open-air spots were all given to the Sedum, agave, and cacti. The few Haworthias I had were moved to the north-by-west open air, with a give-up attitude, too lazy to shelter them from rain. They got a bit of sun every early morning and evening. This was taken around August, but why do I feel they look so much better than in spring? They'd all grown, and after getting rained on they were blindingly beautiful, okay~ Suddenly I was happy again, feeling like maybe I could still grow Haworthias after all?

2013 · Autumn

That beheaded variegated one made a comeback at some unknown time, damn.

Although it still looked like a battered chrysanthemum, it was much better than in spring, okay? At least I didn't want to throw it away anymore!

And the other few, at least their leaves had plumped up, gotten bigger, and flattened out. 'Mengsi' even popped a side pup. I felt the side pup being crooked looked bad~ But I didn't know how to dig it out, so I just left it alone.

That 'Yukigesho'.

The two fuzzy ones, the two fuzzy ones grow fast, grow fast.

H. odetteae fuzzy (what on earth is the Chinese name). It's a whole size bigger than when it first arrived in spring.

2013 · Late Autumn, Early Winter

I glanced at the photo date, November 15th, a few new little guys arrived. I've basically forgotten all their names~ It seems they all look this ugly when they first arrive, why? Unlucky childhood.

What Haworthia is this, some kind of Haworthia cooperi hybrid..

This one is a 'Qingxie'. Yeah, more specifically I don't know.

I only know this one is an elephant~ =_=

Oh, this one I know, 'Diandian Shou'. This is my most expensive Haworthia, aoooo, my heart trembling with pain, thinking what if it dies.

I planted it with an uneasy feeling.

After some time, I saw a white fuzzy thing drilling out. At first I thought it was a big bug and almost stabbed it with tweezers. The second before I stabbed down, I realized it was a root!

And then~ on December 6th, it didn't die, it didn't die! It had already plumped up, aoooo! So happy, hehe~

But what are the first three? Can anyone tell me =_=

Just dropping a corner of the small shelf photographed at the end of last month. That Loulan has already become 4 heads, in the top right of the group photo. But winter sunlight is insufficient, and Chongqing's autumn and winter are already full of heavy fog anyway, gloomy every single day, with Moji Weather issuing heavy fog alerts every day, visibility only near-to-far distance. The hard-won "sunny" is just "not raining," nothing I can do about it. Wait until spring and summer when there's sunlight to compress them and see~

Actually there's also a new favorite fuzzy one. I genuinely like the fuzzy ones. Through all kinds of rough times it always stayed round and cute, which made me feel there was at least something to look forward to, pfft.

This year I don't know how next year will be, anyway I'll try my best to grow them well~ Yeah. Still young, no rush, no rush.