The Variegated Thumb

A while back, I mentioned my purchase of Anthurium scandens.  I was lucky enough to purchase the plant on eBay, only to be given one a couple of days later.  At that time I was a little annoyed I had spent money on a plant, only to receive a larger one for free.  But then a couple of months later, when my free cutting died, I was glad that I had purchased the original.

The feature that really drew me to this plant was the “woody” appearance.  It has a “woody” look because it has persistent brown cataphylls.  In laypeople’s terms, the stems of the plant have little brown sheaths that cover the green stems.  Another cool attribute of the plant is the profusion of adventitious roots coming out of the length of the stem, as well as inflorescences at nearly every node.  These inflorescences self-pollinate and bear white fruit (berries).  It is quite remarkable, unlike any other aroid I have ever grown.

Anthurium scandens - photo courtesy Christopher Rogers. It is easy to see the woody appearance here, as well as the adventitious roots all over the place.

Anyway, the plant that I purchased, I still have.  But it has barely grown for me and doesn’t have the distinct persistent cataphylls.  Maybe this is just a variation or maybe my plant is just not mature enough yet.  Time will tell.

Anthurium scandens - photo courtesy Derek Powazek. Notice the color of the berries. And again the adventitious roots are prominent.

Then recently, I received some seeds from a friend of Anthurium scandens and now have little seedlings growing!  I’m super pumped about these little guys.

Anthurium scandens seeds germinating

Anthurium scandens seedlings - as of January 16, 2012.

I also got a cutting from Jason’s plant, who got his at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden at our MidAmerica meeting.  So these are cuttings from the same plant that I had.  I’m really happy to have this plant back in my collection and I looking forward to my seedlings becoming mature.

Anthurium scandens cutting from Jason

I wrote about my cuttings of Silver Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus var. sericeus) in my Florida acquisitions post a couple of weeks ago.  It has now been about 7 weeks since I prepared my cuttings and put them into the sealed container of vermiculite.  I have uncapped the top a couple of times to check and see how they were doing, removing any dead leaves from the stems, but otherwise leaving them alone.  The good news is that only a couple of leaves have fallen off the cuttings and they seem to be pretty happy.  The cuttings that I put directly in water began to rot within a couple of days and they quickly lost all of their leaves.  So I was feeling pretty good about my sealed container of cuttings.

Silver Buttonwood cutting with one root starting

Last night I decided it was time to pluck one of the cuttings and see if there was any root growth started.  I was expecting either a bunch of tiny, fibrous roots or nothing.  This is based solely on my past experiences with rooting semi-hardwood cuttings.  What I found, instead, was one thick little root starting.  Not fibrous by any stretch of the imagination.

First root emerging from a Silver Buttonwood cutting

I’m really happy to see this root emerging and now I have an idea about the rate of growth.  7 weeks = 1/2 cm.  Pretty slow.  However, it’s possible that the root really just started to emerge recently and will grow much quicker now that it has started.  It’s also possible that these cuttings want something different – substrate, light, temperature, water.  Who knows.  I’m glad I’m getting some results.

I carefully replaced the cutting in the container and left the others alone.  I will give them another month or so, before checking again.  Hopefully at that time, they will be ready to transplant to individual pots and start life as little saplings.

I decided I wanted to try some more tropical African irises, to accompany my Fortnight Lily (Dietes iridioides), but I couldn’t find many plants for sale.  So I ordered some seeds of the Peacock Flower (Dietes biflora).  Starting plants from seed is a little new to me.  Or maybe I should say, successfully starting plants from seed is new to me.  I have tried quite a few seeds over the years and haven’t had much luck.  Some recent success has encouraged me to try some more.

Dietes bicolor seedlings after 1 month

In just under a month my Dietes bicolor seedlings began to appear.  The amazing thing about these little guys is that they look just like the mature plants, but much smaller.  They already have a little fan of leaves.  For size comparison, check out the pill bug (Armadillidium vulgare) next to the seedling below.  Yes, they are that tiny.

Dietes bicolor with pill bug for size comparison

These plants are not hardy in my zone, so they will have to spend the winters in the greenhouse.  But they can be grown outdoors just 1 zone south of me, and they are considered drought resistant and good for xeriscaping.  So I might have the opportunity to plant some of these soon in a garden in southern Texas.  More about that later.

I’m really glad I had luck with these iris plants.  It is an encouraging success that gives me the option of growing my plant collection without having to spend a lot of money.  Now, I wonder how long it takes these guys to become flowering size…?  If you would like to see the flowers, you can view pictures here.

My friend, Leslie, recently sent me some small Plumerias that she grew from seed over the last year.  Leslie is a pro at growing things from seed.  She ordered the seed on eBay from a seller in Thailand.  You know Thailand, crazy color varieties and leaf variegations and all.

These little seedlings are surprisingly attractive at a young age.  I have never thought of the Plumeria leaves as particularly attractive, but these are really nice.

Plumeria 'Wipadelight' seedling

She sent me the varieties: Granny Grape (magenta), Wipadelight (light pink with yellow center), Orange Kerasin (probably orange, but I haven’t found any pictures of this one), Three Kings (pink and yellow with dark pink blotches), Jakdao (white with yellow center),and Dang Siam (red).

Plumeria 'Orange Kerasin' seedling

Cool plants, huh?  Now… what can I send Leslie  in return?

Yesterday I posted about my recent adventures into growing aroids from seed.  I told you that I’ve had luck with a couple of different species of Anthurium and Philodendron, but that the Pinellia seeds I got from Derek didn’t germinate.  Boy was I wrong!

The Pinellia seeds hadn’t done anything noticeable as of last week, so I started making use of those pots by thinning out my Philodendron seedlings and transplanting some in there.  Then, earlier this week I noticed there were some big (relatively-speaking) cordate leaves in the pots that originally housed the Pinellias.  I did consciously notice that those leaves were only in the pots where the Pinellia seed were, but I was thinking it might be some interesting phenomenon concerning my transplanting of the Philodendron seedlings.  I didn’t think it could possibly be the Pinellias.

My now-community pot of Philodendron (small leaves) and Pinellia (large cordate leaves) seedlings.

Thankfully, Derek didn’t put both in the same pot, so he knows for certain that the seedlings which came up for him this week are Pinellias.  And now I know, too!  So, I knew I had Philodendrons, and I thought I didn’t have Pinellias.  So I used the Pinellia pots for my Philodendrons, then noticed some of my Philodendrons looked different, only to find that my different-looking Philodendrons were actually Pinellias!  Got that?