Stuff I Didn't Buy

Just a couple pictures I've meant to share but hadn't gotten around to yet, of various plants which were brand-new to me, and arguably cool, but which I declined to buy for one reason or another.


This Yucca guatemalensis looks a fair amount like one I have already, though the colors are more precisely separated on this one than on mine: on mine the gray is kinda blurry/streaky. Whether this is actually a new variety, or just what mine would do if it were grown in better light, is something we're about to find out, because I cut mine back and stuck it outside, where it will either resprout or rot. (I'm hoping for resprout, obviously, but it was a pretty drastic cut-back, which I am kind of regretting.)

That particular plant was for sale at Wallace's, in Bettendorf, IA, and I would have considered buying it, but it was priced at $55. I've probably spent $55 on a single plant before, but I can't think of any: $40 (for a large Pedilanthus tithymaloides) is the priciest individual plant I can think of, off the top of my head. The tag didn't have a cultivar name on it. In fact, if memory serves, it didn't have a species name on it either. It was just, "Yucca." You know, like "Oprah" or "Cher."


This is from my former job, and did have a cultivar name on it: it's Philodendron 'Golden Emerald.' I wasn't interested in this one mostly because Philodendrons and I are very hit and miss: I do really well with P. hederaceum, P. 'Moonlight,' and P. 'Congo Green,' but P. 'Autumn' makes me crazy, P. hastatum dwindles away to nothing, and P. gloriosum just barely holds itself together. Would 'Golden Emerald' work out? Who the hell knows?

Finally, a plant I've heard a lot about but had never seen before, at Wallace's again. This is Sanchezia speciosa:


More specifically, this is Sanchezia speciosa 'Tahitian Breeze,' which differs from the regular species Sanchezia speciosa in that 'Tahitian Breeze' has been patented by Proven Winners and the species has not.

At least, as far as I can tell, that's the only difference. It's interesting in person, though I assume it's probably relatively difficult to grow or it ages badly or something. There must be something, or else they'd be available more often than this. The reason why I didn't buy one, though, is not because of the species, but because of the specimens: these had aphids.

APHIDS!
Aphids aren't that big of a deal indoors, and it's not like I hold it against Wallace's that they had them. Bugs will happen anywhere that's getting plants brought in from elsewhere on a regular basis. Fact of life. And if they have to have bugs, better aphids, which are easy to get rid of, than something persistent like mealybugs or scale. But it's also a bit of a turnoff, as you can imagine, and since I figured Sanchezia probably weren't good indoor plants in the first place, I didn't need much to push me over the edge.

I have, of course, declined to buy all sorts of other plants lately. It's just that these are the only ones I took pictures of, I guess. And at least one of them is still under consideration: it's a Euphorbia NOID that would be $25 at my former workplace but that Lowe's has for $9: somehow $9 seems unreasonable when it's at Lowe's, though.