Notes From the 2025 Season
Flowers dominated the visual side of Spine City throughout the 2025 season.
For many months, the nursery was absolutely exploding with colour, and naturally, that became the loudest and most visible part of what we do.
But there are a lot more layers to Spine City than flowers.
There are entire genus within the nursery that don’t necessarily scream as loudly as a Lobivia hybrid in full bloom, but they absolutely have a place here, both within our personal collection and amongst collectors all across Australia.
So in this post, we’re taking a look at some of the quieter plants from the 2025 season - quieter in presentation perhaps, but still incredibly strong in impact.
What I personally noticed this season, more than anything else, was a major shift in collector behaviour.
A few years ago, it felt like a lot of people were in full manic acquisition mode.
It was “buy all the cactus” energy.
It honestly didn’t matter what I loaded - people just wanted more plants and more variety.
This season felt very different.
Collectors seemed far more intentional. People were logging onto the store or onto eBay already knowing exactly what they wanted, and those were the plants they were chasing.
Instead of buying ten plants, people were often buying two or three - but they were choosing higher calibre and more refined specimens.
That was probably the biggest takeaway from the 2025 season overall.
People are becoming more focused in their collecting, and much more selective with what earns a place in their collection.
Ariocarpus
Ariocarpus are one of those genus with an incredibly strong following, but they are absolutely slow-burn plants.
Ariocarpus hybrid - own roots - 8 years old
They take many years to bring up to size and specimen quality, and I think a lot of people get nervous around them initially.
But for the collectors who understand them and appreciate them, they become deeply rewarding plants to grow.
This season, we focused very heavily on own roots Ariocarpus. These are plants that have often been in production for five or six years apiece before ever reaching the sales bench.
We did release some grafted plants as well, but the focus was absolutely on own roots specimens.
Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus x godzilla hybrid
Some incredible hybrids moved through the nursery this season, including Godzilla, Cauliflower and Maruibo. These are very top-shelf varieties and it was fantastic seeing collectors really lean into them.
Ariocarpus maruibo hybrid - own roots
Ariocarpus never move quickly. They’re usually revisited multiple times before purchase, and then one day they quietly disappear into somebody’s collection.
Ariocarpus cv. Godzilla hybrid
Astrophytum
Astrophytum are the king or queen of form plants. Instantly recognisable, instantly beautiful and incredibly varied once you start diving deeper into them.
Astrophytum asterias crest - own roots
At Spine City, we focus primarily on myriostigma hybrids and asterias hybrids, and this season we shifted much harder toward mature and advanced specimens than we have in previous years.
Astrophytum myriostigma cv. Kikko - 8 years old
These were not young plants. Many had been in production for five-plus years, and the difference in presence between a seedling and a mature Astrophytum is enormous.
Astrophytum myriostigma hybrid
Some of the standout releases this season were the variegated myriostigma hybrids, particularly the heavily striated plants. Producing striated variegation of that calibre has an extremely low success rate, so seeing collectors recognise and appreciate those plants was incredibly rewarding.
Astrophytum asterias hybrid
The selection process for plants like that is ruthless. Most simply do not make the cut.
But when they do, they become something genuinely special.
Astrophytum myriostigma cv. Onzuka
Gymnocalycium
Gymnocalycium are quiet achievers.
They don’t necessarily move the fastest in the store, but over the last few years our approach with them has become much more refined.
Gymnocalycium mihanovichii variegated
We still grow a lot of Gymnocalycium, but increasingly we’re focusing on the slower-growing, more obscure and more unusual varieties rather than broad production.
Gymnocalycium striglianum
This season, many of the plants released were more mature specimens where the skin had finally had enough time to develop proper patina and character. That rugged, weathered appearance is something you simply don’t see properly in younger plants.
A lot of seedlings can look very similar early on.
Holding plants back and growing them out allows people to finally see what the species is actually capable of becoming.
One of the strongest performers again was Gymnocalycium spegazzinii, particularly the larger specimens.
Gymnocalycium spegazzinii
And then there was Gymnocalycium bertii, which I’m fairly confident Spine City is the only nursery in Australia currently producing.
Extremely small numbers were released and it remains one of the rarest and hardest-to-find Gymnocalycium we grow.
Definitely one of the highlights of the season.
Gymnocalycium berchtii
Copiapoa
Copiapoa followed a really interesting arc this season.
Early in the 2025 season, people were absolutely beating down my door looking for Copiapoa cinerea. It was one after another flying out the door. Total wildfire.
Copiapoa cinerea
I’m honestly not entirely sure why it suddenly exploded the way it did, but for a while there it was absolutely flavour of the month.
Naturally, we sold out quickly.
Later in the season, I released some other varieties that were, in my opinion, every bit as impressive as cinerea. Plants like dealbata and griseoviolacea.
Copiapoa dealbata
These didn’t move quickly, and I never expected them to.
These were premium plants with many years behind them, both in sourcing the seed and then growing the plants out properly to size.
They were always going to appeal to a very specific type of collector.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Copiapoa griseoviolacea
Copiapoa are one of those genus that become more important as collectors move deeper into the hobby. For intermediate and advanced collectors especially, they eventually become unavoidable.
They are collection staples.
That will probably never change.
Copiapoa hybrid variegated
Oddballs
The oddballs category is where things get interesting.
Epithelantha bokei crest
These are often plants where we may only grow one particular species, form or type, but they develop incredibly loyal followings over time.
Eriosyce esmeraldana RMF165 variegated (pure species)
The 2025 season marked the end of several lines for us, the biggest one being Espostoa nana crest.
We sold the final plant from that line this season.
Espostoa nana crest - the final one
It had been grown here for years and was always very popular, but eventually every line reaches its natural conclusion. That one has now moved entirely into customer collections and no longer exists within the nursery itself.
There’s something strangely satisfying about that.
Ortegocactus macdougallii
A plant starts as a small experimental line in the nursery, quietly grows for years and eventually spreads itself out across collections all over the country.
Geohintonia mexicana
Lithops
Lithops were very interesting this season.
Several years ago, I made the decision to discontinue Lithops commercially.
We’ve got an entire blog post about that already, so I won’t go too deep into it here.
But what was fascinating was that once that decision became public, Lithops suddenly experienced a huge resurgence.
They started moving very quickly.
We are now nearing the true end of Lithops through Spine City, although they will still continue a little further into the 2026 season as remaining stock and seedlings are gradually grown through.
Now here’s the important part.
Just because something is being discontinued does not mean the standards change.
If I wanted to, I could push the remaining seedlings hard, pump them up quickly and move them out the door.
But I have absolutely no interest in doing that.
I don’t hate Lithops. I still grow them personally. I still enjoy them immensely.
That’s another important thing about Spine City in general:
I do not grow anything that I don’t personally enjoy.
Anything you see on the shelf is something I’m personally invested in, not just commercially, but genuinely.
So the remaining Lithops will continue to be grown properly, by my standards, until eventually the line reaches its natural end within the nursery.
That process will take time.
And honestly, I’m okay with that.
Conophytum
Conophytum are very unusual.
Not necessarily the plants themselves - although some absolutely are - but more the collector energy around them.
Conophytum obcordellum mixed
Without question, they are one of the most underappreciated and underrepresented succulent genus in modern collections.
Admittedly, their season is tiny.
But the impact they make during that brief period is incredible.
Conophytum pageae
When they are in full stride, they are absolutely glorious little plants.
I’m still holding out hope that Conophytum continue to rise in popularity over the coming years, and they certainly are growing slowly in collector awareness, but it’s definitely a gradual process.
Conophytum pellucidum mixed species
That said, the way people engaged with them, they followed very similar patterns to previous seasons.
There is a very specific buyer for Conophytum.
More often than not, it’s casual collectors discovering them for the first time and deciding to give them a go because they’re strange, tiny and charming.
Conophytum obcordellum mixed
Hardcore Conophytum collectors are actually fairly rare.
But when somebody falls for them, they tend to fall very hard.
Conophytum pellucidum mixed species
And with that, the 2025 season comes to a close.
More than anything else, this season felt like a shift toward intention.
Collectors became more refined, more selective and more focused on quality over quantity.
The larger and more mature plants were consistently the ones people connected with most strongly.
How that carries over into the 2026 season remains to be seen.
But all in all, it was a fantastic season, and a huge number of incredible plants have now found new homes in collections all across Australia.
Until next season.
— Spine City