I'm finding all sorts of conflicting care info on this plant in the small amount of information that exists about it online. Has anyone had experience growing this one successfully?

Thanks much!
Danita

Based on the database images, I'm hoping maybe
@hawkarica
@plantladylin
@treehugger
will have some insight. Please & Thank You!

It was a few years ago. I kept it in shade except early morning. The soil was rich, moist and loose. As the days got longer in the fall the plant just faded away. It never flowered.

I have two of them in pots and they were sitting under an oak tree. They started getting tan colored spots on the leaves and some of the leaves became dry and fell off. So, I moved them into the greenhouse in complete shade. They seem to be doing better. A couple of years ago, I had one and lost it just like Treehugger. It may do better as a house plant.

Jim

My Swallowtail Plant (Christia obcordata) didn't live more than @ six months; if I remember correctly, it got hit by cold temp's when it was left outside overnight and it never recovered.

Thanks guys for all the responses!

It sounds like it is really sensitive to cool weather and goes dormant easily. I found this blog post where the same thing happened to their plant in fall, but they kept the pot until the following spring (in St. Petersburg, FL) and the "dead" tan twigs sprouted new leaves the next year around April/May.

http://heyplantman.blogspot.co...

Surprisingly, I found it at a local nursery. Not so surprisingly, no one really knew anything about it.

I think I'll avoid putting it in a mixed container and give it a pot of its own so I can bring it in easily when the cold arrives.
(and pray the nasty Kudzu Bugs don't find it interesting. Eeek!)

Thanks again!

Oh my. I threw mine out last winter after if failed when I brought it in. I may have waited too late and it was going dormant. I think I might try again.

Good luck with your plants. The foliage is beautiful.

It turns out there were two plants in the pot that I bought. I ended up removing the smaller one with a small amount of roots (didn't want to disturb the big one too much and end up with two dead plants.) I planted the smaller one in a mixed container and left the other on its own. They are both doing fine so far. I really love these leaves! It makes me happy just to look at them!

Very nice Danita!

I am really wanting some of the Christia obcordata and can't find it anywhere .. if anyone has some to trade, please let me know!!!!

Mine is sitting out in the shady border and seems pretty happy. I've only had it a couple of months, though.

It got a bit leggy and I pruned it a bit. Was hoping the cuttings would root so I could start more plants but so far, no luck.

I was at Walmart this afternoon and they had 2 Christia obcordata plants priced at $10.88 each. Both were extremely dry and one looked to be almost dead but I bought the second one that looks pretty decent. I watered it well as soon as I got home ... now to see if I can keep it alive for awhile.

Nice find there, Lin. Looks like you got a really good one!

Thanks Elaine ... I just gotta try to keep it alive and not shove it in a corner and forget about it.

Well, to be honest that's sort of what I did, although it's a nicely shaded corner that gets watered by the sprinklers . . . and it has had a few pellets of time-release fert fall on it.

I'm just hoping that I remember to bring it in this winter ... it will not survive outdoors here.

I got two of them recently at Wal-Mart in their clearance section (although I'd never seen it for sale in their regular section). Paid nearly $6.00 each. So far, so good. I posted this somewhere else, but can't remember now.

That's the same one I got yesterday at our Walmart for $10.88!!

Has anyone kept the plant after it went dormant to see if it will come back. I thought I read that it does lose it's foliage for a rest. I wish I had kept mine to see if it would come back. It is worth a try.

I didn't know this plant went dormant until reading where someone talked about it, I think here on ATP. If my current plant looks dead I'm not going to pitch it; I'll wait and see if new growth appears in spring.