New and Unread Tree-Mails
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Los Angeles  krystenr1 Feb 12, 2018 12:27 PM CST |
| Just picked these guys up. What are they, and tips for care? (1)  (2)  (3)  |
Name: Lin Florida Zone 9b, 10a              plantladylin Feb 12, 2018 4:32 PM CST |
| #1 Zebra Plant (Aphelandra squarrosa) #2 Goeppertia coccinea (formerly known as Calathea) #3 Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema commutatum) Lovely specimens!  ~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot! ~ |
Name: Will Creed NYC Professional indoor plant consultan  WillC Feb 12, 2018 7:52 PM CST |
| Your Zebra Plant is a challenging plant. This plant does best in very bright, but indirect light, close to a north or east window is best. It prefers temps in the 65-75 F. range and high humidity also helps prolong flower life. Water it when the surface of the soil feels nearly dry to the touch. Flowering: In December and January, let the plant rest by providing cool temps around 60-65 degrees F. and allowing the soil to get very dry, watering only when the plant wilts. This dormant period will help promote flowers. Starting in the late winter, you can increase the temps and your watering frequency gradually as the days grow longer. You can also start fertilizing at this time. You should get healthy new growth and also some new flowers by late spring. Once the flower starts to fade, it is best to cut it off entirely. To keep the plant full and compact, you should also prune off the top of the stem so that only 3 to 4 pairs of leaves remain. This is a plant that will probably never need to be repotted. Keep its roots tight in the pot if you want it to bloom. Check the undersides of the leaves regularly for spider mites. This can be a rewarding plant if you can provide the right environment for it. But it is one tough plant to keep looking good for more than a year. In fact, it is often kept as a flowering plant that is discarded after it deteriorates. It does not age very well because it drops lower leaves so readily. If you are determined to keep it going, then it may be best to cut off the top portion and root it in moist soil and place it inside a plastic humidity tent. Also, try to provide a stable environment by moving or repotting it as little as possible. Will Creed Horticultural Help, NYC www.HorticulturalHelp.com I now have a book available on indoor plant care |
Name: Will Creed NYC Professional indoor plant consultan WillC Feb 12, 2018 8:04 PM CST |
| Your Aglaonema is commonly called by its varietal name, 'Maria' or 'Emerald Beauty.' Protect it from direct rays of the sun, but otherwise bright indirect indoor light is best. It does as well as most any plant in low light. Its roots are small and it will rarely need repotting. Water it thoroughly as soon as the surface soil is almost, but not quite dry. It will survive occasional watering lapses. In time it will develop long stems that are best pruned back. Tip stem cuttings root quite readily in water or damp soil. Watch for occasional mealybug infestations. Fertilize sparingly. It survives low humidity very well. This is a great workhorse indoor plant! Will Creed Horticultural Help, NYC www.HorticulturalHelp.com I now have a book available on indoor plant care |
Name: Sally central Maryland Seriously addicted to kettle chips.        sallyg Feb 12, 2018 9:20 PM CST |
| Goeppertia (Calathea) probably not too picky, in my limited experience anyway. A good comparison of three plants that are somewhat similar in looks, but with Aglaonema being very easy care, Calathea medium fussiness, and Zebra Plant most challenging. ..come into the peace of wild things..-Wendell Berry Life is a buffet (anon) |
Name: Laurie b Western Washington (Zone 7b)        lauriebasler Feb 13, 2018 2:46 AM CST |
| Oh, yes. I once had a Zebra like yours roll over and die so fast It left me scared for life and I have never even considered trying one again. You have some great plant skills tho @krystenr1. Pretty plants, enjoy. |
Northern NJ (Zone 6b)  LorettaNJ Feb 14, 2018 10:52 PM CST |
| When did Calathea become Goeppertia? Are we using Calathea anymore? That second plant is being sold as Calathea 'Freddie'. All very pretty plants. The Zebra plant did pretty well for me outside in the ground one year - high shade. It flowered later on. Wasn't really into houseplants at the time, didn't save it, never had one as nice.  |
Name: Lin Florida Zone 9b, 10a plantladylin Feb 15, 2018 7:29 AM CST |
Loretta, what a lovely area of your garden with the fern, Zebra plant, etc.  I don't know when taxonomists moved Calathea over to the Goeppertia genus but I believe it was recent. It seems like many plants are being changed back and forth by scientists nowadays which sure causes confusion.  ~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot! ~ |
Name: Sally central Maryland Seriously addicted to kettle chips. sallyg Feb 15, 2018 11:03 AM CST |
| It sure doesn't help those of us who used to try to reinforce using latin names. Now if I even know the 'new'name, I often add the old name and common name, it takes all three to say what you are talking about. lol. ..come into the peace of wild things..-Wendell Berry Life is a buffet (anon) |
Northern NJ (Zone 6b) LorettaNJ Feb 15, 2018 2:23 PM CST |
| Maybe it's the 'snob' factor. They don't want us amateurs to know more than them. And some of the old names were fun to say. I love to say 'Cimifuga', I hate to say 'Actea'. Calathea sounds so much nicer than Goeppertia. Even Mobot doesn't know how to say it. Goop-PER-she-a? |
Name: Sally central Maryland Seriously addicted to kettle chips. sallyg Feb 15, 2018 10:08 PM CST |
| The Plant List says Goeppertia is a synonym, that Calathea is the accepted http://www.theplantlist.org/tp... http://www.theplantlist.org/tp... ..come into the peace of wild things..-Wendell Berry Life is a buffet (anon) |
Name: Lin Florida Zone 9b, 10a plantladylin Feb 16, 2018 10:24 AM CST |
sallyg said: The Plant List says Goeppertia is a synonym, that Calathea is the accepted The Plant list shows a date of 3/23/2012. NGA, goes by the Catalogue of Life which is more updated. January 2018 is the latest update: http://www.catalogueoflife.org... ~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot! ~ |
Name: Sally central Maryland Seriously addicted to kettle chips. sallyg Feb 16, 2018 5:31 PM CST |
| thank you, Lin, for the source. ..come into the peace of wild things..-Wendell Berry Life is a buffet (anon) |
Name: Lin Florida Zone 9b, 10a plantladylin Feb 16, 2018 6:49 PM CST |
| You are very welcome! ~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot! ~ |
Name: Tiffany purpleinopp Opp, AL 🌵🌷⚘🌹🌻 (Zone 8b)        purpleinopp Feb 17, 2018 10:01 AM CST |
| So... a plants' name depends on the date on which one asks. 👀😁😂 - SMILE! -☺😎☻☮👌✌∞☯🐣🐦🐔🐝🍯🐾 The less I interfere, the more balance mother nature provides. 👒🎄👣🏡🍃🍂🌾🌿🍁❦❧ 🍃🍁🍂🌾🌻🌸🌼🌹🌽❀☀🌺 ☕👓 The only way to succeed is to try. |
Name: Lin Florida Zone 9b, 10a plantladylin Feb 17, 2018 10:13 AM CST |
purpleinopp said:So... a plants' name depends on the date on which one asks. It sure seems like anymore! ~ Playing in the dirt is my therapy ... and I'm in therapy a lot! ~ |
Name: Sally central Maryland Seriously addicted to kettle chips. sallyg Feb 17, 2018 12:13 PM CST |
| A name is now all of these, lol: Favorite common name Last known Latin Newer or older Latin that you think might be right Another common name you heard once... Brief description of key feature or use..  ..come into the peace of wild things..-Wendell Berry Life is a buffet (anon) |
Name: Will Creed NYC Professional indoor plant consultan WillC Feb 17, 2018 1:31 PM CST |
I suffer the same frustration trying to keep up with the latest re-naming by botanists.  That is just the nature of science that is constantly coming upon new information that changes previous understandings. That is particularly true now that DNA testing can provide information never available before.Common names are often problematic because the same common name is often applied to very different plant species and thereby leads to confusion. Even older botanical names are preferable to common names because they refer to a specific plant. The only thing that changes with the botanical name updates is just how it relates to other plant species. For most of us, that is not of particular concern. Will Creed Horticultural Help, NYC www.HorticulturalHelp.com I now have a book available on indoor plant care |
Name: Tiffany purpleinopp Opp, AL 🌵🌷⚘🌹🌻 (Zone 8b) purpleinopp Feb 18, 2018 7:20 AM CST |
| Yes, science is always changing. That's the best reason NOT to change the name of something. What will they know in 50 yrs that might cause all plants or other objects to be renamed again? When people test their DNA, geneticists don't insist that they change their name. Imagine the confusion if suddenly we were supposed to change the names of ordinary items like "desk" or "bicycle." Regardless of what is learned, appending the new info to the name is the only logical approach to preserving information, although preservation of information is clearly not the goal of taxonomists if allowing geneticists to bully them into changing the names of plants, which were never intended as a classification, just as a unique moniker for each one so that whatever was learned about it could be connected to the one thing people did know - its' name. This reminds me of the metric system in the 70's. They were going to teach all of us American kids the metric system & get rid of the old weights and measures. When the idea was ridiculed & rejected as impractical, unnecessary, and extremely UNdesired, it went away. Nobody wanted to lose the ability to use recipes, tools, redo the legal description of every parcel of property, etc... The same thing should have happened when the first geneticist said they wanted to change the name of a plant for no other reason than the results of a genetic test. Somebody with some logic should have stood up and pointed out all of the negative results that would happen and the immeasurably huge loss to society in regard to lost info, lost time, confusion, and the rendering of all published plant material as useless, and the name of every plant as suspicious. And they should have explained to the geneticists that the only valid reason to change a plant name is when it is discovered that 2 names actually refer to the same plant, in which case the older name takes precedence and the newer one is called synonym. People may not realize but many now-old-fashioned botanical epithets are merely descriptive, translating to "red" or "winged" or "fuzzy." These are perfectly fine names to which any new info learned about a plant could be attached without wasting everyone's time with new names. All knowledge is built on a foundation of that which came before. If it becomes impossible to know what came before because the names are all changed, that would be unspeakably sad, dangerous, and not a step in the direction of more knowledge, but less. 👀😁😂 - SMILE! -☺😎☻☮👌✌∞☯🐣🐦🐔🐝🍯🐾 The less I interfere, the more balance mother nature provides. 👒🎄👣🏡🍃🍂🌾🌿🍁❦❧ 🍃🍁🍂🌾🌻🌸🌼🌹🌽❀☀🌺 ☕👓 The only way to succeed is to try. |
Name: Will Creed NYC Professional indoor plant consultan WillC Feb 18, 2018 11:55 AM CST |
| Botanical names are not intended to carry an historic record. The botanical names are intended to reflect how various species relate to one another genetically. In the 18th century, Linnaeus implemented a standardized binomial naming system for all animal and plant species, making it possible to identify plants and animals by using their reproductive parts as the primary organizing principle. For example, we categorize different animal species based on their ability to breed or reproduce. For plants, it is the flower structures that matter most, not leaf shape and size. It is the flowers that are the reproductive mechanism for most plants. As lay people, we respond to plants based on their overall appearance and we tend to categorize plants that way. A Dracaena Marginata may look like a Palm to many people, but in fact, it is not even in the Palm family and is genetically unrelated to any Palms. Lay people are free to call plants anything they want and that is why common names are popular. However, botanists are acting as scientists and their plant names reflect their understanding of how plants are related genetically. Botanical names change when new information enhances the understanding of how plants are related genetically. It is not arbitrary and it is not intended to cause confusion. Indeed, the name changes help bring better clarity and understanding of how plants are related genetically. Science constantly enhances our understanding of the world around us and it often leads to changes in nomenclature, as well as understanding. If you want to be scientifically correct, then the latest botanical names are important. But as amateurs, we should not be enslaved by always having the latest botanical name at our fingertips. The important thing is that however, we identify a particular plant, it is understood by others just what that plant is. Will Creed Horticultural Help, NYC www.HorticulturalHelp.com I now have a book available on indoor plant care |
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