Why gasteria.com? For one, haworthia.com, a wonderful site authored by David Martin, was already taken. Further, I considered the likelihood that anyone interested in Genus Gasteria would be more than likely to maintain some interest in both. Finally, as I have collected each genus over the years, it suited me to declare my interest in Gasteria, even though, for the present, it is a site solely devoted to Haworthia - and at that, those representing a very narrow band of species and hybrids all with a Japanese heritage. To be sure, I have many fine Gasteria - species + hybrids - in my collection at this point, but I have no or few well, taken images to display. I will try to remedy this over time.

It would be fair to observe that this site is mainly an act of vanity. It would be equally correct for me to say that I hope it evolves into something much better. I'm hopeful to have several pages of sale items shortly; however, this depends on a number of factors some well beyond my control. I am almost always interested in swaps or trades, but I am already possessed of many of the readily available Gasteria clones and hybrids, and I am understandably wary of exchanging a pup of a $200.00 variegated truncata for an offset of Gasteria "Little Warty" (not that I don't enjoy the latter… but you get the point).

There are many collectors (myself having been a member of this class for some years) who refuse to spend more than a few dollars for a plant. I completely understand this aversion and would only suggest that there is some correlation between the finest truncata and maughanii and the price one has to pay to obtain them. Extreme variegation, form and markings are somewhat unusual and "rare" in these species, though by no means impossible to obtain by the casual hobbyist/breeder. A stunning specimen containing all of these traits is a work of art and is, quite expectedly, an expensive proposition. I paid dearly for many of my specimen plants - particularly the variegated ones - but they are, indeed, somewhat "rare". They most frequently do not breed true (rendering them duplicable only by the conventional means of offsetting) and are not at all susceptible to tissue culture. For reasons beyond my comprehension, they apparently revert back to green during the alchemy…. Go figure.

Elliott Adler