Saturday, November 7, 2009

Weekend Update

Or perhaps, it should be weakened update. I thought I'd let everyone know how a couple of plant experiments I wrote about last month are going. Let's check in first with "Foxy", the Asparagus meyersii I had to root prune with a saw:

"Foxy" with browning fronds visible

Well, not only did poor Foxy lose a couple more healthy fronds that were loosened away from the roots during the pruning, but it suffered quite bit of browning from the trauma as well. I would be thoroughly disheartened if I hadn't noticed the following:

New growth! Maybe Foxy will pull through after all.

The Coleus Experiment seems to be going a bit better. I did lose two plants (both NoIds) which just sort of dried up, despite my keeping up with the watering. Several other plants have nice colorful growth on their upper leaves near the lights, but have lost leaves and have leggy, bare stems at the bottom. And a few, like Tilt-a-Whirl, continue to do fairly well:

Solenostemon scutellarioides 'Tilt-A-Whirl.' There has been some leaf loss leading to a bit of legginess not visible in this shot, but it is still looking much better than some of the others.

Close-up of Tilt-A-Whirl foliage

S. scutellarioides 'Dark Heart' is also doing well

I will post more updates as things develop.

5 comments:

Flowers said...

All the picture of plants look wonderful on your blog. Would like to know better about Solenostemon scutellarioide as it looks awesome.

Sue Swift said...

I also have a type of wild asparagus (not sure of the variety) which I've had to root prune radically in the past, hoping to limit its size and growth rate. It was a bit sad at first, but then bounced right back, and grew still larger. Suspect I'll have to do it again this year.
PS Found you through Blotanical.

Nell Jean said...

Great post on the importance of pruning and grooming. I also found you on Blotanical.

Karen715 said...

Welcome Flowers,Sue Swift and Nell Jean. Thank you so much for visiting my blog.

Flowers: Solenostemon scutellarioides is the unwieldy, (relatively) new Latin name for Coleus. I have to admit that it makes a better seasonal annual than it does a houseplant, but I am still determined to try. If you haven't visited Mr_Subjunctive's "Plants are the Strangest People" blog, I recommend it. He has an excellent post on Coleus.

mr_subjunctive said...

I potted up my coleus cuttings (the stuff I salvaged from the plants I'd had outside) a couple weeks ago, and so far so good. I am crazy thrilled with 'Glennis.'

I've got them under extremely bright artificial lighting, though: pretty sure without that, they'd be toast.

But still -- so far, so good. Your 'Tilt-a-Whirl' looks awesome.