Medinilla scortechinii


I'm keeping this on the side of my fountain to catch the over spray. It hates
being dry, so I'm told.

Almost looks like a Jatropha, Budda Belly.

Very nice, I love to see plants I've never seen before

Someone gave it to me a few weeks ago...because it was dying. She had given up on it. I learned from another internet gardener, they need humidity. The heat doesn't bother them, "only hot dry will do them in." So I tried a few things and finally set it near my fountain where it gets over sprayed during the day. It has stopped losing leaves and is budding out again. I'm cautiously optimistic.....

Very pretty! I have Medinilla magnifica that's been struggling this year due to last winter's cold temp's. I really need to clean it up, prune it a bit and take better care of it. This is a pic from last year:

That's gorgeous Lin! I'm rethinking this 'gift" as high maintenance. And I already have too many of those...

LOL ... I know what you mean!

Bubbles, for at least 4 yrs. I've wanted a Medinillia but have not know if I could raise one but if you have the time, might you tell me, steps you take to keep yours looking so good. That is: sunlight, media, feeding, etc.
Lee

Kevin I can't tell you the steps I've used, because I just got it a few weeks ago. The original owner gave it to me because it was on a sharp decline and she thought I could help it recover. I've only managed to stop it from losing leaves. I believe this is a very high maintenance plant. The only way I've been able to make it happy is to keep it near my fountain as I reported above. I haven't re-potted it yet...and I haven't watered it! It only gets the over-spray from the fountain. I'm not going to be able to keep that up thru the winter....so I'm not sure what will happen then. It is putting out new blooms, but the stems that lost leaves look scraggly. I think this is more of a house plant...but I don't have any plants in my house. I prefer plants to be outside. If it takes another turn for the worse, I plan to return it to my friend's garden under cover of darkness!

While googling and reading about Medinilla I learned that my plant is not M. magnifica but rather M. cumingii, and I've had it located in an area where it's been receiving way too much sun.

Here's the information they had on M. scortechinii: http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bi...

That's good information...I guess the person who told me it could take hot sun, didn't know how hot TX sun can be. I think I'll leave it by the fountain in the mornings and move it onto the patio about 3, when the sun beats down on the backyard. Thanks for the link, Lin. Found it interesting that it could be grown as an epiphytic.... Not sure how that works?

Thanks Trish, but I refuse to buy another plant from Top Tropicals due to the poor customer care I got. Lee

I grow a lot of Medinillas...and will post some photos soon. They all like lots of water, very loose soil, can grow epiphyically.... I can send seed for postage.

I would love to have some seeds, Carol! And please do posts photos. The one I was given has long bare branches, and the leaves and blooms are only at the very end of the branches. I took a cutting, but I guess I should have brought it inside (temps over a 100 for 32 days straight). Have you been able to root a cutting?

No...not a cutting but one broke out of a tree and I thru it in the bush and it rooted. Does that count?

Here is one of my favorites, Medinilla Lalique (I have only seen it written as a cv. but I don't know any parentage . I put hardware cloth on each side of a crotch in a tree, put cinders in it and stick a plant... As they grow they are like walking under a canopy of tiny chandaliers...

I think that counts!

I showed your pic to my husband and even he was impressed. ...'Growing in the tree...sigh...

Every time I see photo posts from Hawaii, I could kick myself. When we lived there, I was too busy to do much gardening (besides, everything grew on it's own). And I never thought most of those plants would grow here. Live and learn...

Bubbles - as you know, we like to make it sound like paradise...which it is but it also has it's challenges!!! Hmmmm let me count the ways! I have learned SO much about growing here...I have a wonderful teacher (a collector of gingers and excellent grower) and have learned so much. We have a volcano burbing just across the hills and the dust/sand/dirt that accumulates is awful!!!

But...the yellow gingers are blooming and the fragrances are great......

Carol, it is Paradise! And "the dust/sand/dirt" that you're getting...what great soil it's becoming! Texas gardening, on the other hand for anyone who loves tropicals, is a never ending struggle to keep them hydrated in summer and then to keep them warm in winter. When I asked if we could have a tropical forum, I wrote that I was "a tropical girl in a xeriscape world." Did I forget about the deer, armadillos, snakes, raccoons, and other critters that like my garden?

BTW..I love what you've done with your hair....

Hi Carol,
Do you have seeds from the lalique above. If so I would like to get some from you. Have you ever grown them from seed?

A few more Medinillas....

This is M. miniata...this is growing in the crotch of a tree...leaves are about 1.5-2 feet long. Later, when the flowers open, there is a tiny purple bloom with yellow...quite stunning.




Medinilla cominsii also growing in the crotch of a tree.... the second pic. is of a branch that broke off last year and I threw it in the bush across the road. Oooops... Now...if I had tried to do that in the Greenhouse it would not have worked!!!




This last set is of one of the biggest weeds confronting us...we call it Tibuchina...but it is just a simple melastome...a pink flower, rather boring actually, on a bush that can be a wall!!! We fight it constantly....and I find the best alternative is to simply prune it, fertilize it and honor it. Because IT will win!