I have had this plant for over 20 yrs. I have had it have highlights of purple but never totally purple with no green showing.

Maybe it is trying to be a chameleon because it is planted in a pot with a purple wandering jew, purple coleus, and a purple heart.

It is in total shade.

Huh. I've seen some turn totally purple, but thought that was from being in tons of sun. Magnesium deficiency can turn leaves red/purple, but no idea if that applies to this plant, or if that's a factor at all. The other plants look great, perfectly normal. Love this combo, and pot head planter!

I've had some stay totally green while others have shown really red foliage ... the more light, the more red they get and as in the case of your plant that pretty purple! I love that container too!

Cinta, There are currently no photo's in the database showing that nice color, so I hope you don't mind that I submitted a proposal to ad your picture: Basket Plant (Callisia fragrans)

No Lin I do not mind. I posted because if I have them in sun I would get a touch of purple but never saturated purple. When I put this pot together for the summer I put clippings of all purple plants and put a clipping of this plant in the pot. It is in a totally dark area on the floor beside a table.

Chemical reaction might be the reason. It is a cheap pot from CVS who knows what paint was used. But it has been a outside pot for two years.

Tiffany I really thought you would know because I know you have had this plant for years too.

I think maybe it just wanted to match the other plants in the pot.

If I knew how to deprive plants of magnesium, I would experiment. I like Lin's explanation best!

plantladylin said:I think maybe it just wanted to match the other plants in the pot.

It does look like it was trying to be a Chameleon. We were talking about this plant in the fragrant post and I said "If you set it on fire it would walk out and tell you how hot it was in there".

I now know if you surround it with a particular color it will turn into a Chameleon to survive. Maybe he thought all the purple plants would gang up on him if he looked different so he was blending in so they did not notice he was different.

This plant is a survivor. Now I am curious I am going to find some really strong colors and plant it in another one color pot and see what it does. I always have plenty of the babies because it grows so fast.

I planted it in all pink last year and everything stayed pink.

Here in Florida, Callisia fragrans can take over ...fortunately they are easy to pull up. I cleared out a couple of beds covered in both the solid and the variegated variety last year. Mine began from a small pup I received in a trade back @ 2008. The plant is listed in Florida as a Category II Exotic Pest Plant which means it's a species that shows a potential to disrupt native plant communities. It may at some point end up becoming a Category I invasive. I still have a few growing behind the deck and in a bed at the corner of our driveway.

Cinta, has yours bloomed yet? The flowers are small but so very fragrant!


One of the flower beds I cleared of the variegated variety and the solid one with red foliage from sun:

Yes the one that is in my rubber tree pot blooms every year in the summer it is the original plant. The cuttings do not bloom the first summer.

If you pull up anymore of the variegated variety let me know and I will send you postage. I would love to have that one.

Cinta, I'm not sure if there are any of the variegated type left in the yard but I will check tomorrow and let you know; I think we may have thrown all of those out. That variegated one is Callisia fragrans 'Melnikoff'.

Okay thank you.

I put up a multi-plant pic with some C. fragrans that's been in the ground for summer vacay:
http://garden.org/apps/sets/vi...

Not related to this discussion really, but thought folks who are fans of this plant from this discussion might enjoy seeing it.

Thanks Tiffany. Do you find any different in development planted in the ground vs in a pot?

Yes! The scale and perspective in that pic don't really show how much bigger the ground plants are, growing faster too. Part of the difference is probably a result of my laziness about fertilizing potted plants.

Here's a nice piece I'm potting back up after growing outside since April.


And this weekend I changed the one I've kept in a hanging basket for the past few years to this trellis set-up.

Can anyone try to describe the fragrance?

Just curious, since some plants that people call "Fragrant" really don't have a particularly pleasant aroma.

Smelled like lemon to me.

I'm not good at describing scents, but it's similar to Jasmine and/or Gardenia to me.

Here are some end-of-season pics of plants put in ground this summer.



If anyone wants any for the cost of postage, please PM me!

This is a C. fragrans 'Melnikoff' in a hanging basket hanging in a backyard tree; it's showing some pretty fall coloration: