I know nothing. Flower, what flower.

Rain stopped this afternoon. FINALLY! Got outside to take a look around. Lot's of buds. Looking forward to the next few weeks. Sun was hitting my Nepenthes just right. This one has been with me a long time. Came with us when we moved here, so over 15 + years. I remember buying it as a novelty thing. In all this time it has never been repotted. It just never seemed to need it. In the past I know I have added some peat, but that's it. And it gets the same water from the hose as most of my orchids. Go figure.

I envy people who can grow Nepenthes. Ive tried a few (unsuccessful) times. My Cercestis miribilis has finally grabbed on and decided to grow up this post. It has 2 satellites, one about 4 ft away and one 6 ft rooted into the GH floor. They are old enough for me to harvest and pot and establish on another post, or this same one.



This is probably my favorite of the tropical aroids from Africa. They were almost non-existent on the plant market for 15 years til the big aroid/houseplant craze started again. People who are trying to grow them as houseplants are learning just how unsuited to that they are.

Looking for a low growing ground cover with attitude? Colocasia fallax may be your plant. Survives the 20's, and the 100's. Takes drought, and takes being under water after a hurricane. Takes full sun. Will also take shade. Never needs fertilizer. Does not get over 8-10 inches. Fills a bed PDQ but doesn't smother other plants. They should market it as a 'Proven Winner', but instead, its almost never marketed. Its a pass along plant instead.

Gina, did I ever mention that I love your plants in your greenhouse? Just amazing !

Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi is blooming!
The thread "blooming succulents" in Cactus and Succulents forum

Gina, so the Cercestis miribilis is more an outside plant? But is it still ok in a pot? Just love the looks of it. And your Colocasia fallax seems like an answer for the bottom of my pergola. Need something that is controllable and can take shade. I don't like putting orchids on the bottom shelves in the center. They get 'lost'.
Ursula, never ran across that type of Kalanchoe. Like the shape of that bloom. Does it attract humming birds if it blooms while outside?

Ted, it might. I am not sure.

Ted, its not good for a pot, and its not cold hardy so I'm not sure what your temps are in Brea. It also needs a lot of water.
Its not good in a container because the way it spreads is to crawl along the ground making long stolons in between new plants. If you could get it to start climbing a pole immediately, you might be able to do it. But even the climbing one will shoot off these stoloniferous offsets, and if there is nowhere for them to root and start to grow a new plant, the runner just keeps running. You can't propagate them by just cutting runners. You have to let the runner decide to form a new plant, then let that plant get to the size where it has a really good independent root system. Then you can cut the stolon and treat it as another independent plant.
I have seen people think that they can tuck the new plants back into the same container bending the stolon back and burying it in the pot. But eventually, you run out of the ability to do that. Its best to have it where the runners can just travel long distances across the ground. They are searching for new supports to climb. When they run into one, they might, or might not. take it. They are kind of finicky. It took me 3 years to get this one to decide that it liked this pole

I wish they would. I have my Mother of Thousands growing faster than weeds but when in bloom they are beautiful. I haven't seen hummingbirds at all visiting them.





These are the seedlings I have to deal with




This rose bud smells great! I lost the tag

Gigi, the red blooms are gorgeous! I love the way they display!

Thanx, Gina. I didn't think it would be good for a pot, but had to ask. Actually the ground cover aspect sounds good. I would plant it in the ground in the pergola under and along the bottom shelves and let it do its thing. We are in zone 10b. Even in colder winters, like this one, I have seen lows get to 32 degrees only once for an hour or 2 many years ago. But low 40's, high 30's is not uncommon, but not long lasting either.

Gina, the Cercestis mirabilis is just beautiful, but sounds way too fussy for me to try. Now that Colocasia fallax as a ground cover looks like a real winner! Going to see if I can find a start from someone. I have lots of shady area that needs ground cover.

Nepenthes, I have kept a couple of plants growing for several years, but last summer they just gave up. I think it may have been the heat or lack of rain. I do water mine with only rain water, but my rain barrels ran out several times last summer and I was watering with hose water in a watering can left to stand overnight to blow off the chlorine. If I water with the hose, the chlorine eventually kills the enzymes in the pitchers, so they can't feed. I absolutely can't water Nepenthes with my well water, it kills them in about a month. The pH is about 8.2 usually when I test it, so I'm pretty sure that's what they don't like.

My Tahitian Sunset rose continues to put out blooms. I swear it has been in bloom almost constantly since I bought it a year ago but the flowers are so much nicer in the cool weather. Time to prune it down this month, but I have trouble bringing myself to cut off the healthy, beautiful growth, and anything with buds absolutely stays until the flowers bloom. The plant is over 6ft tall above the pot!

They start out this rich orange/gold and fade like a sunset through yellow, pale pink to almost white before the petals drop.

Those are gorgeous Elaine! I promised myself I would be a better roses mom this year!

Elaine if I can root some I'll send it to you. I don't send plants out of Florida for legal reasons… I don't have a nursery license anymore

Ted the minimum temp for Cercestis is 65f

Elaine, gorgeous roses, I can almost smell them from the picture! BTW when I water the Nepenthes I have the watering wand set to a full stream. Don't put much pressure on and put most of the water in the pot as opposed to spraying everything. Have no clue if that does anything or not. Just a habit of mine. And our water is usually at a pH level of 7.8 to 7.9

Gina1960 said: Ted the minimum temp for Cercestis is 65f

Well, scratch that one off the list. Thanx Gina

LOL that is the night time low. I think Tropical Africa is pretty damn toasty

Look what a bowl of tiny adenium seedlings look like after repotting in individual pots. Hope this set up will last at least until I see them bloom. I have several more bowls ready to be repotted into this set up, not bad for $10. Hubby is supposed to put a post in the middle to hold these in place. Or braces to keep this in one place. I will believe it when I see it.

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