Well, well, well, looks like I won’t have to buy a new red flowered Schlumbergera truncata hybrid after all; two of my seedlings from several years ago (conceived in a schlumbergera pollination tutorial) inherited their dead parent’s red colouration. When I saw the initial bud colour development I honestly thought they’d be pink flowered, what a pleasant surprise to be proven wrong.
First of the Schlumbergeras to open up a flower! A nice white truncata hybrid, the cold in the farmhouse is causing its petals to develop a light pink blush 💕
The Dracanea marginata cutting is developing roots and rootnubs already!
Water-style rooting method confirmed for a viable propagation method for this species~
All this talk of orchids tonight kind of gave my mind a boost to look at orchids (as well as my rough-around-the-edges surviving Phalenopsis) with a fresh set of eyes.
Considering this girl survived the Great Houseplant Neglect/Dying of 2014-2016, has tried flowering 3 different times, as well as the fact that she’s been tolerating/enduring against the Hard-Mineral Well water of the farmhouse, I’d say it’s about time I consider on giving her at least a little bit more care/consideration; I can’t do much about the water but I’ll see about setting up a humidity dish for her, as well as look into getting some orchid-based potting equipment (ie- orchid bark, and a slightly bigger planter) so that I can maybe repot her this winter.
Since I have no access to Ontario Growers Supply anymore (it’s in London ON and I’m like… 1-2 hours away which is too far just to go to one store) I do not have the convenience for niche items like specialized Orchid flowerpots… I’ll perhaps see about moving her to a Clay pot possibly on her next repot.
I decided not to repot my tol Dracanea marginata, I did however decide to stake it (to deal with its contant leaning/tipping over on the one direction), and a good few weeks ago I had also chopped the top off (as it was extremely bent/turned around) and am trying to root it in water. I doubt it’ll root successfully in water (they work better with soil rooting with root hormone, or even just air layering) but its worth an old graduate try.
Another flush of flowers from the Hoya carnosa in this summer alone. Idk if it’s due to erratic watering or the fact that the closed curtains makes it think that it’s winter lol.
My kaffir lily (Clivia minata) is now starting her flowering.
I believe their flower stems grow longer the warmer the room that they’re grown in? Back in my hot apartment the stem would’ve grown 3× bigger than this. The farmhouse they are in now is far colder in comparison. Also; I really need to repot this beaut sometime soon; the hanging basket container its in is leading to it being too wet (since hanging baskets are designed to hold some of their water).
lindenfoxcub submitted:
I got several cuttings of some type of schlumbergera the other day. I’ve never seen anything like it, and can’t find anything similar online. When I google schlumbergera with red leaves, all I get is pictures of plants that have leaves reddened by too much sun, while, I was able to view the entire adult plant as people were taking cuttings of it, and this doesn’t seem like sun effects – the segments are solid red all the way to the stem, no trace of green. I was show pictures of the flowers, and the flowers are bright red, though I haven’t got a picture to show you.
(if you submitted so pics in the text part they didn’t come through for some reason) Probably the usual S. truncata. I wouldn’t say no to the possibility though of the foliage being due to sun exposure or some other physical environmental cause. Some plants will show the colour end to end and not just on the tips, though not as common. The real test will be to see if the cuttings retain that colour as they root, grow, and mature. Looks really bold and pretty though! Like a Holly leaf dipped in a red sour candy lol.
Hatiora gaertneri flowers
Photographed February 16 2018
Proof we can’t give seasonal-based names to houseplants; we got an Easter Cactus flowering around Valentines Day. It’s not just their cousins the Christmas Cacti (Schlumbergera) that tend to flower “offseason” lol.
This orchid is the very last survivor of the dwarf orchids and she’s gone through so much hell and isn’t even at top form yet here she is trying to grow her third attempt of a flower stalk. No pun intended in that I’m rooting for her to succeed this time! I have never seen her flowers before so it’d be such a treat to see.
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