Catching Up On Odds & Ends

Strawberry Begonia

I added this picture and more to my Pinterest Board "Beautiful Foliage"

For the record, a strawberry begonia is neither a strawberry nor a begonia.  I do not know why it is called this except that it has a begonia looking leaf and it has marvelous runners like a strawberry that can grow up to two feet long.  

This plant is a Saxifraga Stolonifera which is an all together different family.  The runners make it a good grown cover in the frost zones between 7 and 10, but is favored as a houseplant because of it's beautifully marked foliage and the runners that will trail over the lip of a hanging pot. 

To grow inside, the Saxifraga Stolonifera likes a cool filtered sun.  It will grow in height to about eight inches.  You should feed it a standard fertilizer during the growing season.  Cut back on both fertilizer and water over the winter rest period.

Gardenia radicans?

 I have added some new pictures of this flower to

 my Pinterest Board "The Gardenias Are In Bloom".

Remember me telling you that the Gardenia is a large genus of plants?  Well here is one that I think is a good one to find.  As you see, the blossom is much smaller than the Gardenia jasminoides that I mentioned in a previous post.  This is a miniature Gardenia.  It grows in my neighbors yard and smells divine. Unfortunately, I am having difficulty finding out anything about this variety. It might be part of the radicans family but the ones I find on line do not have as many petals.  I am hoping that there is someone out there who might recognize it and tell us all more about it.  The plant is only about 3 feet tall which would make it a good plant for a conservatory or a large sunny window.  I will keep searching for answers.

I Guess I Know More Than I Thought

In February, I mentioned that sometimes plants do things that we don't think they should do.  My example was a flower stem of a phalaenopsis that I had cut off the plant after it was finished blooming.  I had stuck it in the dirt and to my surprise I watched it create two new buds.  I did not know what to think but hoped that the buds would become the beginning of plants, since I was sure that they could not really be flower buds.

Here is the update on this strange phenomena.  The buds dried out without producing anything.  Two more developed with the same results.  I finally removed the stem from the soil to see what was going on below and there was nothing.  So, my plant was the liar not me.  Do not let this discuorage you from trying something new.  My friend Rhona thinks that you can stick anything in the soil and it will grow.  Many times she is right.

Next time, we will talk about the wonderful world of colorful coleus.  These are great plants that can bring a myriad of color to the house. Until then, write me at houseplantsos@gmail.com or add any comments right here.