I'm fond of small plants. I guess that's why I'm growing lithops. But also among lithops I like the smaller, more compact plants and, in truth, the smaller the plant the easier it is to care for it under windowsill conditions. I'm often using the word "downsizing" with the meaning of letting or making the plant reduce its size to the manageable minimum. And I don't have in mind an unhealthy shrinking and slowly withering. A small plant can be fit and healthy and strong. It can be grown to be small from seed or, with a little bit of luck and patience, made small by strict watering and poor substrate. Not all plants can go from fat to slim (fat plants tend to die during regeneration before they get a chance to downsize) but those that can will thank you with more intense color and sharper pattern.
I've had success with these L. lesliei and L. hookeri in this regard. Over the course of about 2 years they went from bloated to flat and tiny and now don't have any troubles regenerating like it was the case at the beginning. With the Albinicas below I had serious doubts they will make it at all. The plant heads on the pictures go from 7mm to 15mm in size.
