Hello everyone. I'm new to the site and really excited about it. I live in Zone 5 and every fall I enjoy walking around our beautiful city gardens to collect seeds before they're taken/thrown out. I pinch off, "reuse and recycle " the plants that I know will die at the first frost, i.e. coleus and potato vine. Then I rot them in water/overwinter so I can plant them in my garden in the spring. (A huge money saver, as we all know). I am wondering if anyone can help me identify this plant and let me know if I will be able to root in water? Thank you in advance for any information.

Compare here... http://garden.org/plants/searc...

Hi Keesha, from me too!

Your lovely plant is Tradescantia pallida.

Hi Keesha and welcome. Yes those Purple Heart plants root easily and you will be able to grow it indoors as a house plant through the winter.

You don't even need to root it in water, just lay the cutting on some moist potting soil and keep it moist and warm for a couple of weeks. It should root at each of the leaf nodes. I have some out there in my garden, but it's a jungle out there at the moment, and raining too so I'll post a picture later. They just sort of creep along the ground and root any place that a leaf node touches. Makes a nice hanging basket plant too.

I wouldn't try to attach a cultivar name, looks like the straight species to me.
Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida)

Tiffany, you are correct and I edited my previous post.

I've done the same thing before! The entry you had pasted at first is where I'd put my pics for a while until I realized it was a cultivar entry that looks like the common name "purple heart." I don't think that's a legitimate cultivar name of this species.

I think Purple Heart is actually just a common name for Tradescantia pallida rather than a cultivar name. There is a cultivar named 'Purpurea' that is sometimes sold as Purple Heart. The following, from MOBOT (Missouri Botanical Gardens) states: ~ ‘Purpurea’ (sometimes sold as ‘Purple Heart’) is a cultivar that features purple foliage which is superior to that of the species. ~

I also wonder if Purple Queen is a legitimate cultivar name? Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida) I have a feeling it isn't and should be listed as "Also Sold As".

When googling, I found this page regarding Tradescantia cultivars but I'm heading out and don't have time to read it; will do so later today: https://www.chicagobotanic.org...

Agree. In the old black'n'white house plant books I used to have, (when it was still called Setcreasea,) the common names printed were purple queen & purple heart. The entries in the DB here are the only time I've heard/seen these names punctuated/separated as cultivars. It wouldn't be a name anyone would choose to represent their hard work as a new cultivar because most people wouldn't recognize the name as a new/different plant if using the same old name(s) that have always been its' common names.

My browser won't let me look at that link because it says it uses an obsolete, unsecure connection. That's odd, I use .pdf documents & web pages often. If you get a chance, maybe you could paste whatever relevant info you find there? TYVM!

Thanks everyone! Mystery solved!