Hello and welcome to another instalment of the plant diaries! It’s been a crazy few months for new growth and there have even been a few propagations recently too! I didn’t actually think I would have any new additions to report the last few months, but I actually have two, one of which is rather special!
As per usual, I’ll follow the usual layout of new growth, new additions and then finish up with my wish list plants. So with no further delay, let’s get stuck in;
New Growth
Pilea Mojito
I decided to try my hand at propagating these, as the mother plant had sprouted a few pups. I simply pulled them out of the pot (off the mother plant) and put into their own pots with soil. You can root these in water before potting apparently, but from what I read they are happy to be rooted straight away in soil.
I can only assume that this is correct and they are happy because they’ve both suddenly started making new little leaves for me! It will be interesting to see if the variegation that is present on the mother plant will also be present in the babies, as at the moment they are too small to really tell.
Philodendron White Princess
When this new leaf starting to form I was slightly concerned that I was going to get a pretty much all white leaf. Whilst these are very pretty, the white part cannot photosynthesise, which means the leaf can’t sustain itself and eventually dies. The new leaf has emerged fairly white, but there is a health splash of green on it as well. Enough I think to sustain the leaf. I had considered taking a cutting off this plant when it got a bit bigger, but I don’t think I want to at the moment, and will leave it to get a bit bigger first. Plus the spacing in between the nodes is quite tight still, so it would make for a rather difficult cut if I did it now.
Variegated Monstera
As I suspected when this featured in my last post, this leaf has come out with a fair amount of white on it, which is great. It’s slightly larger than the previous leaves, but not much, so I don’t think I’ll be seeing any splits in the leaves for a while, but for now I’ll enjoy seeing how each new leaf looks. There has since been another new leaf, and again, this is one I'm considering cutting so that I can have two and make for a fuller plant.
Snake Plant
These are really easy to keep, and my original plant has sprouted up some pups recently. Removing the pups is my favourite way to duplicate this plant. You can cut the tops of the leaves and root them, but as the original leaf then doesn’t grow back where you cut it I’m not a fan of this method. I gave one of the pups to a friend of mine a little while back and it needed to be moved to a bigger pot. So I’ve put some more pubs in with it for her so she can have a fuller looking plant.
Syngonium Albo
I decided to chop my albo in June to grow out a new cutting! Whilst I had partly cut it with the intention of rooting and selling, I think I'll to it instead so that I have two mother plants. My Albo is among my favourites, so the more of them I have in my cabinet the better! I'll actually be tacking another cutting soon, so I'll then be up to three of the same plant! I've also promised a cutting to my friend Katie, so having three on the go means I can (hopefully) get one rooted and with her soon.
New Additions
Calethea White Fusion
I’ve been wanting one of these for a little while, but haven’t got one because there has always been something else that I want more. I spotted this while out in my local garden centre, and as they aren’t normally in regular shops, and it was a good size decided to snap it up.
It appeared to pretty root bound when I got it, but after I’d removed the substrate from the roots it became apparent that some of the roots had died off. I’ve cut these away and popped back in its original pot with a Soil Ninja mix specifically designed for Calethea.
The White Fusion is known to be the most picky of the Calethea, and doesn’t like to live in low humidity. In fact, they seem to like quite high humidity levels. On that basis, I’ve placed mine in the plant cabinet, in the second from the bottom shelf, where humidity levels rarely drop below 60%. Even there it started to crisp, so it is now in with the tropical plants that sit above 80% humidity.
Philodendron Florida Beauty
This is a rather special new addition, and one that I actually mentioned in my last post as a wish list plant! As I said in my last post, I didn’t think I’d be getting one of these for quite some time. Mainly because they are quite sought after and expensive, and I’ve got a holiday to save for first.
Well, turns out that my friend Katie has been paying a lot of attention to my wish list, because she got me a Florida Beauty cutting as an early present for my birthday in July. It was a lovely surprise, and for the time being I initially left it in the perlite she’s put it in and popped it into the plant cabinet, but I have since moved it to PON, which gave me a chance to check the root growth, which is coming along very slowly. Being a Philodendron, I was hoping it will be as easy to root as the White Princess was, but from a little reading, it would seem that they are quite slow, which is fine by me.
Wish List
There are just two plants on my wish list at the moment, and neither are going to be added to my collection any time soon. At the top of my list at the moment is the Syngonium Milk Confetti (not to be mixed up with the regular confetti) and a Monstera Aurea. The Aurea in particular is out of reach in terms of pricing, but I'm happy to take my time waiting for the prices to drop to get one.
There sums up my plant additions and changes for June and July! I have actually had another three arrive recently, but as they came in August they'll be featured in the next instalment. Have you made any new plant purchases recently?
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