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On this page, you'll find notes on the plants I live with. Where I got them from, how I've found best to care for them, and cool things I've learned about them.
Spider plants
Chlorophytum comosum - Spider Plant
I've been growing these for years. At least, I think I have. Whilst I'm sure the plant I took my original cutting from, in my school's biology classroom, had the classic white variegation, my cutting and all the subsequent cuttings from it are fully green. I give copies of this plant to anyone who'll take one.
I wonder if the spider plant will become endemic (is naturalised the more correct word here?) to the UK. It can't do frost, but its lower limit, as far as I'm aware, is 2C. The UK, at least the south, only needs to get a little warmer and it'll be the perfect climate for chlorophytum. And I mean, practically nothing can kill this plant. The other day, I did have a shop-bought one that managed to die, although by what means I can't quite tell, and I had a look at the roots, which are really impressive with how they bloat up with water. You can squeeze them and they burst, because there's more liquid than plant.
Chlorophytum orchidastrum / Chlorophytum amaniense ‘Fire Flash’ / Chlorophytum orchidantheroides - Mandarin Plant / Fire Glory / Sierra Leone Lily
Gorgeous orange stems. Whilst I already have far too many comosums, I couldn't resist picking this one up. Much wider leaves than comosum, too. No variegation, more than made up for by that sunset orange. In classic spiderplant fashion, it has little pups (a name which I now vastly prefer to spiderlings) but doesn't send them away on long runners - instead, they're deposited right nearby in the soil. I need to try and seperate some out someday. Various names sourced from link below.
https://hortology.co.uk/products/chlorophytum-orchidastrum-green-orange-spider-plantSpiderwort
Tradescantia zebrina - Silver Inch Plant / Wandering Dude
A few of these, cuttings taken from plant displays in the town centre. Cheeky, I know, but autumn was approaching and I'm not sure what happens to the plants when the displays are taken down. Anyway, they're plants. They'll grow back.
Lovely velvety leaves, purple, green and glittering silver. They're so keen to root it's incredible. Every single cutting takes to water immediately, and I've had very good luck moving them into pots. Keen to have as many of these as I can, because they grow so fast and propogation is my favourite part of having plants about.
Tradescantia "Green Hill"
Struggling a little, this is a smaller variant of the zebrina, which luckily takes to water just as well, so I'll be able to propogate and re-pot until it's feeling better (i.e., until I work out what's wrong with it).
Tradescandia Fluminensis 'Albovittata' - Ivory Hill
Picked up in a charity shop, my flatmate accidentally yanked off one of the stems on the way home. Luckily it's a tradescantia, so popping it in water prompted new roots practically overnight, and it's hapilly growing in a small pot next to the parent plant.
Ferns
Nephrolepis exaltata - Boston Fern / Sword Fern
Multiple ongoing attempts to propogate using stolons. Great word!
Sainsbury's "rescue". This one actually seems to be doing fine, though.
https://www.edenindoors.co/what-are-the-leafless-tendrils-on-a-boston-fern/Phlebodium aureum - Blue Star
Also from Sainsbury's, also doing pretty well from the get-go. A wonderful fern which I'd been admiring for a week or two before they turned up for £3.50! So that really was a must-buy.
Philodendron
Philodendron hederaceum - Heartleaf Philodendron
Lovely plant, and incredibly fast growing. After taking one cutting too early for it to form roots, I've been too nervous to attempt propogation since.
Philodendron birkin
Gorgeous glossy and variegated plant. Particularly attracted to the thick stems, which were my reason for buying it. They're so unusual, and the way that subsequent stems grow out of them feels almost mechanical. A little slower growing compared to the hederaceum.
Philodendron brasil
Similar to the hederaceum, the brasil has wide green leaves with yellow variegation down the middle. Another Sainsbury's rescue, this one already has quite a few leaves ready to unfurl, and some odd irregular growth - one leaf has grown lopsided around its variegation.
Fig Trees
Ficus elastica - Rubber fig
Picked up on the street after someone put it out with their bins. The poor thing had had its leaves burnt by incense in the pot, but after a few weeks of consistent watering, it eventually shed a dried up cap and revealed a new leaf. Very proud of this plant, and looking forward to seeing it grow further.
Ficus microcarpa / Ficus ginseng - Chinese banyan / Malayan banyan / Indian laurel / curtain fig / gajumaru
I have two - a very small one that's started out with only six leaves, and a bigger but little-bit-scrappy one. Both were on sale at Botanica. Hoping to see them grow lots!
Devil's Ivy
Neon
Love the colour and vigour of this plant. I have a cutting which has taken root but is yet to form any new leaves.
Marble Queen
Bought in the start of Autumn because I love the neon so much and wanted to have some more Pothos plants.
Golden
I bought a small one, and then found Sainsbury's was selling absolutely giant ones the next day, already wound around moss poles. So, of course, I now have a small one and a giant one.
Monsterra
Monsterra adansonii
I currently have two - one from botanica, and one from sainsburys, both in poor condition and requiring a good bit of nursing. No growth yet. But they were both very cheap, and I'm glad to finally have some monsterra with me, because they're so lovely. I just hope they can pull through!
The botanica one isn't doing too well at all. It was always small and only ever had five leaves - down to four now, and two more are yellowing and browning. The sainsburys one, however, is doing quite well!
Monsterra deliciosa
A great big sainsbury's rescue - £7! One damaged leaf that I'm going to try and splint together with cardboad and medical tape, which I saw work in this video. But, the wound has scabbed over a little in the brown, planty way, so it might be too late.
Schefflera - Umbrella Plant
Another Sainsbury's plant, and one that's not doing well at all. I need to dedicate some time to helping this one out. I was immediately captivated by its paddle-shaped leaves in their strange starburst pattern, but it's really not done well. I think it must be something to do with soil quality, because not even fertiliser has helped, and it looks poorer and poorer as time goes by. Not in a way I can really explain, just... unwell. So I must get it some better soil, and find out if there's any specific care it needs, because looking at more grown examples online, it really could be something special.
https://plnts.com/en-gb/care/houseplants-family/scheffleraTamarindus indica - Tamarind
Six saplings, grown from seeds I saved from jellied tamarind fruits. Rather fast growers, and incredibly easy. My key to success has been chipping away at the outer shell around their edges with scissors before planting.
Aglaonema 'White Star' - Chinese Evergreen / Philippine Evergreen / Poison Dart Plant
Picked up from the sale section of Botanica, this one's a little dormant to start. Hopefully it'll pick up, but we're heading into autumn, so it might be a while.
Peperomia obtusifolia
Same as above.
Chamaedorea elegans
Another from Sainsbury's. Picked up for £3.50 alongside the two ferns. Looks healthy enough, and seems to be in better soil than others. Not a plant I'd really encountered before, but very common, and I immediately started spotting them in other places after buying my own. Similar happened with the philodendron and pothos. Once I know what they're called, I see them everwhere.
Bindweed
I assume Calystegia sepium, but could be Convolvulus arvensis.
I plucked some bindweed, both leafy stems and roots, from the small public garden patch at the top of my road. After seeing them completely taking over just about every patch of planted soil, I wanted to see how well I could get them to grow inside. None survived the transplant to pots, bar one, which had just a loop of stem out of the soil with both ends trimmed and dipped in rooting powder. More stems emerged from the soil soon after, presumably growing from the root-only sections planted in the same pot. They're now hapilly climbing a bamboo pole. I'm keen to see if the plant will keep from dying back through winter, and just generally how it will react to being indoors.
Considered a weed outdoors, I'm hoping its incredibly hardiness will make it well suited as a houseplant. I think it looks great with its heart-shaped leaves, and it grows so fast and abundantly that it could fill out an indoor space with ease. A real bonus if it'll flower when indoors too.
Sarracenia
Sarracenia leucophylla
Beautiful and has grown very well on my windowsill - although forgetting to water it (keeping it sitting in water constantly) even briefly causes very quick dessication.
Sarracenia purpurea
Similar to above, but an even more astonishingly beautiful plant for its unusualness. My favourite of the carnivores.
Nepenthes alata
Has also grown absolutely fantastically. Unfortunately quite keen to shed old pitchers, although I think it's getting better.