Pretty picture: Epicattleya Rene Marques x Epidendrum pseudoepidendrum

Enough time has passed now that I no longer remember why I didn't get a close-up picture too. (The picture is from March.) I must not have been able to; I'm pretty sure that I would have if it were possible.

These are pretty close in appearance to those in the previous Epicattleya picture. Not surprising, since it was a picture of Epic. Rene Marques, one of the parents of this cross.

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Scalepocalypse 2012 update:

In other news, I've discovered scale on a few more plants on Saturday: 3 Hatiora salicornioides, an Asparagus macowanii, and a seedling Murraya paniculata. The Hatioras and Murraya got the basement infestation, and the Asparagus from the Alpinia.

It's also possible that the Asparagus was the original source of the scale that got the Alpinia, since I'm pretty sure it was the newest plant on the shelf in question, and the infestation was fairly advanced by the time I saw it.

In the cases of the Hatiora and Asparagus, I was lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that neither plant has broad leaves and stems: it didn't seem like a scale insect would be able to make a go of it, with so little access to the sap. Plus they're both difficult plants to check, since both naturally have bumps of the same color in places, and since both have lots of bushy, narrow stems, you're pretty much bound to miss some.

The Asparagus fronds most affected were cut off and thrown away, and the plant was sprayed with neem, but I haven't thrown it out because if all else fails I can always cut it down to the soil line and let it start over. I threw out the three Hatioras that I definitely saw an infestation on, as well as another four that were in close proximity to the infested ones. I kept another ten that were on the same flat but not visibly infested, and neemed them. The Murraya was likewise neemed, because its infestation seemed relatively mild.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 2.5-2.8

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results for matches 1.53 to 1.56:

In match 1.53, Cycas revoluta pretty much destroyed the old-man cacti (Espostoa lanata, Oreocereus trollii, and Cephalocereus senilis), 88-23.
Match 1.54 saw Tradescantia zebrina wandering all over Portulcaria afras face, winning the match by 63 to 42.

Cycas revoluta and Tradescantia zebrina will tangle -- probably literally, knowing Tradescantia -- on 13 October, in match 2.27.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana fell to Tillandsia cyanea in match 1.55, by a score of 37 to 69.
Finally, the furry-rhizomed ferns (Davallia, Phlebodium, etc.) were knocked out of the competition in match 1.56, losing to the self-heading Philodendrons ('Autumn' / 'Prince of Orange' / 'Moonlight') 36 to 68.

Tillandsia cyanea faces the self-heading Philodendrons in match 2.28, which begins 13 October.

And now, for your voting pleasure, today's matches:

Match 2.5
Dracaena reflexa cvv. vs. Asparagus spp. (asparagus fern)

Clockwise from top left: D. reflexa 'Riki,' 'Anita,' 'Song of India,' 'Song of Jamaica.'

Clockwise from top: Asparagus setaceus, A. densiflorus 'Myersii,' A. macowanii.





Match 2.6
Aglaonema cvv. (Chinese evergreen) vs. Oxalis triangularis cvv. (shamrock)

Clockwise from top left: Aglaonema 'Emerald Bay,' 'Brilliant,' 'Mystic Marble,' 'Sparkling Sarah.'

(All Oxalis triangularis NOIDs.)





Match 2.7
Ficus maclellandii (long leaf fig, alii fig) vs. Strelitzia nicolai/reginae (white/orange bird of paradise)

(Ficus maclellandii.)

Clockwise from left: Strelitzia nicolai, S. reginae flower, S. reginae.





Match 2.8
Philodendron hederaceum cvv. (heart-leaf philodendron) vs. Dracaena fragrans cvv. (corn plant)

Clockwise from top left: Philodendron hederaceum 'Brasil,' P. hederaceum micans, NOID, P. hederaceum 'Aureum' or something similar, species, P. hederaceum 'Frilly Philly.'

Clockwise from top left: Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana,' 'Sol,' 'Massangeana,' 'Sol,' 'Massangeana.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.9-1.12

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Match 1.9
Dracaena reflexa cvv. vs. Hylocereus/Gymnocalycium grafts

Clockwise from top left: D. reflexa 'Riki,' 'Anita,' 'Song of India,' 'Song of Jamaica.'

(Assorted Gymnocalyciums grafted to Hylocereus.)





Match 1.10
Asparagus spp. (asparagus fern) vs. Cissus rhombifolia cvv. (oakleaf ivy, grape ivy)

Clockwise from top: Asparagus setaceus, A. densiflorus 'Myersii,' A. macowanii.

Top left and bottom right: Cissus rhombifolia. Top right and bottom left: C. rhombifolia 'Ellen Danica.'





Match 1.11
Euphorbia pulcherrima (poinsettia) vs. Aglaonema cvv. (Chinese evergreen)

(Various unidentified Euphorbia pulcherrima cvv.)

Clockwise from top left: Aglaonema 'Emerald Bay,' 'Brilliant,' 'Mystic Marble,' 'Sparkling Sarah.'





Match 1.12
Oxalis triangularis cvv. (shamrock) vs. Jasminum spp. (jasmine)

(All Oxalis triangularis NOIDs.)

(Both Jasminum sambac, because that's all I had pictures for.)





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Saturday morning Sheba and/or Nina picture

I'd been in desperate need of a haircut for about the last month, so we went to Iowa City yesterday so I could get one. In the process, I also wound up getting two plants at the ex-job, because I am weak, and because I was left there to kill time taking pictures while the husband did stuff. Neither were terribly interesting plants, but I've told you about them already so I may as well show them to you too. I mean, you've come all this way.

Asparagus macowanii, I believe.
I didn't need another asparagus fern. Hell, I don't even like the Asparagus genus. But it was one of those deals where I saw a plant that I almost never see for sale, in a manageable size and at an acceptable price, and it was relatively fresh off the truck so it hadn't had time to look all mangled and sad yet, so I got it.

Also a consideration: my A. setaceus, which I've had for almost four years now, has been doing very well lately. I had to cut off a three-foot "frond" on Thursday because it was unmanageably large and threatening to cut the other plants. So I'd been thinking about asparagus ferns already, I suppose.

Episcia NOID.
I didn't need another Episcia, either, and as far as it goes, this doesn't strike me as a particularly beautiful variety, not by comparison to some of the other Episcias they had. But: I hadn't seen it before, and I already had plants that were similar to the other, prettier varieties. (I've somehow gone from zero to eleven kinds of Episcia since last August, with a lot of that from a single trade.) Plus, it looked like it was pretty robust -- lots of plants and plantlets. So.

There will maybe be a Walkaways post happening soon as a result of this trip, too, as I saw a few plants there that I'd never even heard of before, and what was either one highly exceptional flower of a fairly commonplace plant, or the perfectly mundane flower of a common plant that was dead, sick, or sunburned. I think the former. I'd tell you what it was, but obviously that would ruin the surprise, so, um. Just be ready for that, I guess.

Mary Richards and the Incredible Plant Lady

The husband and I watch all our TV on the internet now. The choices are more limited, and we usually can't watch first-run shows on the night they air, but otherwise it's worked out pretty well for us. The only real problem with it is that there aren't that many shows out there that I consider worth watching, and TV executives have done horrible things to scheduling (13-episode seasons, "daily" shows that are only on four days a week and go on vacation all the time, 8-month gaps in the middle of a season, shows getting moved to different days and times) so some nights we wind up without anything to watch, and have to dig a little deeper.

Fortunately, by now, Hulu has a lot of old TV shows in its archives, and I was moved to check out the page for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which currently has the first three seasons of MTM on-line. The very last episode of the show's third season was titled "Mary Richards and the Incredible Plant Lady," and with a title like that, how could I not watch it? (In the U.S., you can watch the episode on Hulu here; outside the U.S. you may or may not be able to see it: I understand shows on Hulu are often/always only available in the U.S., for some reason.)

The plot, for what it's worth, is that Mary's neighbor Rhoda (Valerie Harper) borrows a lot of money from Mary to start a "plant boutique." ($1300! Which in 1973 was apparently enough to buy a new convertible. I guess I sort of remember car prices like that. I watched a lot of "The Price is Right" as a child.) And then she doesn't pay it back when she said she was going to, so Mary worries about how to say something to her. The plants aren't a major part of the show, though there's an early scene involving an African violet, and a longer scene in Rhoda's apartment, which was, yes, covered with plants.

(What's going on here is, Mary had an African violet which was doing poorly, so she gave it to Rhoda to rehabilitate. In this scene, Rhoda's bringing it back to Mary.)
Anyway. The show originally aired on March 3, 1973, which is before I was born, but I think it explains a lot about me anyway. Somehow. Rhoda's apartment has certain obvious similarities to the inside of the house (though the inside of the house isn't painted red, thank goodness).


Also people tend to react to it the same way when they see it for the first time:


The show makes awful puns, too. When Rhoda is explaining her idea to Mary, she comes up with a name for the place --

(The closed captioning reads: "You know, with a name like Rhoda's-dendron. No, huh? That's --")
that sounds just like something I might come up with. And the episode comes damned close to stealing my blog title from me, thirty-four years before I came up with it:

("You know, they're just like people.")
("Little green people.")
And there's even more anthropomorphization:

("Fine. Thank you. I brought you this plant.")
("It's called a prayer plant." "Mm-hmm.")
("But don't worry, it's nondenominational.")
Now, I'd always wanted to discover a close personal connection to Mary Tyler Moore, but I'd been hoping that it would be more, um, financial than this. Like that she was really my otherwise-heirless grandma or something. But I suppose having Mary Tyler Moore directing my life choices from before I was born should be enough. Certainly I have no reason to expect better. So, probably, Moore has just replaced Helen Hunt as the patron actress of PATSP.¹

[ponders]

Anyway. I do have a serious horticultural point to make, which is: all the plants in the show look so . . . scrawny. Or I guess not all: there's a spider plant in Rhoda's apartment that's pretty good size, and she also has a substantial asparagus fern (though surely it doesn't get enough light where she has it?²). Mary has a big Boston fern in her place. But the African violet that Rhoda was holding in the photo above? That single Aglaonema stem in the middle of Rhoda's apartment? I'm assuming these were supposed to look full and lush and overgrown, so Rhoda would have credibility with the viewer as a Person Who Knows About Plants, and yet -- that's the best they could do? They filmed in California, right?

So I'm wondering how to explain this. Has plant-breeding made that much progress since the 1970s, that our cultivars are bigger, freer-branching, bushier, etc.? I mean, it would make sense that forty years of intense plant breeding and selection would result in really awesome plants, in general, I suppose. Have the industry standards changed for what's considered a "full" plant? (I.e., was it once okay to stick a single Aglaonema cane in a pot and sell it, and now you always have to have at least two, usually three?) Are people just somehow that much better at taking care of plants now? I suppose we do probably have warmer, more energy-efficient houses on average than we did in the 70s. Were there no plant-rental places in Southern California in 1973? I know they have plenty of them now.

Anybody have other theories?

Do you even agree with me that Rhoda's plants look kinda sad, or is it just me? (I realize it's hard to tell from the stills: they seemed crisp enough when I took the screen-captures, but once I'd e-mailed them to myself, downloaded them to my computer, and uploaded them to Blogger, they seemed a lot blurrier. If you watch the actual episode, it's clear enough what most of the plants are.)

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¹ Oh, yeah, you totally have to have a patron actress. Or actor. Whichever. Possibly PATSP's should be Valerie Harper, considering the episode, but I like Mary. Let's go with Mary. (The explanation for Helen Hunt.)
² Yep. I'm now concerned about the care being received by long-dead fictional plants. (It was a real plant in 1973, but it didn't live on the set of Rhoda's apartment. Or at least I hope it didn't. So that much of it is fictional. You know what I mean.)

List: Houseplants Native to Southern Africa

Houseplants tend to be from the same few places over and over again: Southeast Asia is popular, as are Central America and Brazil. But one of the richest sources of houseplants, particularly succulent houseplants, is the southernmost segment of Africa. South Africa lucks out because it has the Karoo, a very dry inland section of the southern end of the continent. The westernmost section of the Karoo (which is actually called the Succulent Karoo) is very dry, hot, and windy, and the plants living there have gone to fairly extreme lengths to survive, dispensing with stems entirely (Lithops spp.), or living buried in the soil with only the translucent leaf "windows" exposed to the sun (Lithops again, but also some Haworthias, Senecios, and Peperomias).

Most of us don't actually keep the inside of our homes broiling hot and windy, but the low humidity and sometimes-neglectful watering of some homes are compatible with these plants' needs as long as enough light is provided. Other South African houseplant species come from the moister areas to the south and east of the Succulent Karoo, but these also tend to be more tolerant of dry soil and air than your average tropical rainforest plant. (There are less drought-tolerant exceptions, like Saintpaulia and Streptocarpus.)

Map of the southern tip of Africa. The Karoo, Succulent and non-, is outlined in yellow; the Succulent Karoo is to the west of the green line. Image is public domain, from Wikipedia.
It's difficult to come up with a comprehensive list of houseplants from this region, because it's impossible to be precise about "houseplant" and "this region." Some of the plants on the list are only found in a single fairly tiny location, say around a specific town. Others have ranges stretching up through East and Central Africa, or even east to Madagascar and around the Indian Ocean. But these, at least, can naturally be found at some spot or another within the southernish part of Africa, wherever else they might or might not exist.

Aloe harlana.

Asparagus plumosus.

Chlorophytum comosum.

Euphorbia flanaganii.

Euphorbia pseudocactus.

Gasteria NOID. Gasterias in general, though.

Saintpaulia ionantha cv.

Sansevieria trifasciata 'Hahnii Pearl Young.'

Senecio rowleyanus.

Strelitzia nicolai.

For the recommends, I'll go with Aloe harlana, Strelitzia nicolai, and Euphorbia pseudocactus. All three are pretty easy-going most of the time -- I've literally never had a problem with my Aloe harlana, and only the most minor problems with Euphorbia pseudocactus, which were entirely my fault anyway. Strelitzia nicolai and I have had our ups and downs, but I'm still fond of it, so much so that I'm apparently willing to delude myself into thinking it's an entirely different plant so I can justify purchasing it over and over.

For the anti-recommend, I don't know. I've had minor problems with all seven of the remaining plants from the list, ranging from generalized failure to thrive (Chlorophytum, Senecio) to various speeds and flavors of decline and rot (Gasteria, Sansevieria, Saintpaulia), to extreme demands for light and the heartbreak of etiolation that causes (Euphorbia), to underwatering followed by hardcore needle drop (Asparagus).

I think Sansevieria is the one I'm least likely to buy in the future, as the Sansevieria problems have been a lot more permanent, and seem to happen to every specimen I buy sooner or later. Most people will think this is ridiculous, because everybody but me finds Sansevierias easy to grow. But that's the one I want for the anti-recommend anyway.

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Not pictured:

Adromischus cristatus
Albuca bracteata
Aloe aristata
Aloe brevifolia
Aloe ciliaris
Aloe ferox
Aloe greatheadii
Aloe maculata
Aloe polyphylla
Aloe striata
Aloe variegata
Anacampseros rufescens
Argyroderma delaetii
Asparagus densiflorus
Bowiea volubilis
Ceropegia woodii
Cissus quadrangularis
Clivia miniata
Conophytum spp.
Cotyledon orbiculata
Crassula arborescens
Crassula coccinea
Crassula muscosa
Crassula ovata
Crassula rupestris
Crassula tetragona
Didymochlaena truncatula
Ensete ventricosum
Euphorbia anoplia
Euphorbia caput-medusae
Euphorbia cooperi
Euphorbia enopla
Euphorbia grandicornis
Euphorbia horrida
Euphorbia ingens
Euphorbia obesa
Euphorbia susannae
Euphorbia tirucalli
Faucaria tigrina
Fenestraria rhopalophylla
Gerbera jamesonii
Gloriosa superba
Haworthia spp.
Hoodia gordonii
Kalanchoe beharensis
Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri
Kalanchoe luciae
Kalanchoe thyrsiflora
Kalanchoe tomentosa
Ledebouria socialis
Lithops spp.
Ornithogalum spp. (aka Albuca)
Pachypodium geayi, lamerei, other Pachypodium spp.
Pelargonium spp. (some)
Plectranthus amboinicus
Plectranthus ciliatus
Plectranthus oertendahlii
Pteris cretica
Rhipsalis baccifera
Sansevieria cylindrica
Selaginella kraussiana
Senecio macroglossus
Senecio radicans
Stapelia flavopurpurea
Stapelia gigantea
Streptocarpus spp. (most spp.)
Strelitzia reginae
Tylecodon spp.
Zamioculcas zamiifolia
Zantedeschia spp.

List: Houseplants With Finely-Divided, "Fluffy" Foliage

This list is another request from Joseph Tychonevich at Greensparrow Gardens, and I'm not sure if he was meaning anything fluffy-looking (in which case Soleirolia soleirolii, baby tears, would count) or anything with pinnate/bipinnate/tripinnate foliage, in which case Zamia spp., cardboard palms, would count). So I've tried to restrict myself to stuff that qualifies either way, stuff that both looks fluffy and soft (doesn't mean it actually is soft, by the way) and has finely-divided foliage.

In practice, this seems to mean mostly ferns and palms, but I found a couple other options too. It's a tough category. Additional suggestions are welcome.

Araucaria heterophylla. (Norfolk Island pine)

Asparagus plumosus (shown) and other Asparagus spp. (asparagus fern)

Chamaedorea elegans. (parlor palm)

Davallia tyermanii (shown) and other Davallia spp. (rabbits-foot fern)

Pogonantherum paniceum. (house bamboo)

Polypodium formosanum 'Cristatum.' (ET fern)

Polyscias fruticosa var. elegans. (parsley aralia)

Radermachera sinica. (China doll)

Schefflera (Dizygotheca) elegantissima. (false aralia)

Selaginella kraussiana. (club moss)
I like the look of a lot of these, but have had bad experiences with quite a few of them, too, and even the ones I haven't had bad experiences with tend to be difficult plants for most people. So I can recommend Araucaria heterophylla, which is pretty agreeable if you give it decently bright light and are consistent about watering; Davallia spp., which are a bit more challenging than most plants but are pretty reasonable, as ferns go; and Polyscias fruticosa var. elegans, which, like the regular P. fruticosa, is not quite as fearsome as its reputation would suggest.

I anti-recommend Pogonantherum paniceum, because my own plant needed so much water, so often, that I could only keep it going for four and a half months, and it didn't look so hot by the end of about two. I also discourage people from Chamaedorea elegans whenever I get the chance: I know there are people out there who can grow them and find them easy, but I am not one of those people, nor is WCW. In my experience, C. elegans either get spider mites, then black tips, and die, or they get black tips, then spider mites, then die. Unless they're in a greenhouse. Where they just get spider mites. Finally, I'd suggest the reader not try Selaginella kraussiana without the aid of a terrarium. I haven't tried the plant at all, personally, with or without, but they have pretty extreme moisture needs.

Not pictured:

Adiantum spp. (maidenhair ferns)
Chamaedorea cataractum (cat palm)
Chrysalidocarpus lutescens (butterfly palm)
Didymochlaena trunculata (mahogany fern)
Howea forsteriana (kentia palm)
Nephrolepis exaltata cvv., in particular the cv. 'Fluffy Ruffles' (Boston fern)
Pellaea rotundifolia (button fern)
Philodendron bipinnatifidum (tree philodendron, selloum philodendron) (should this count?)
Polyscias fruticosa (ming aralia)
Schefflera arboricola (umbrella plant, umbrella tree) (should this count?)
Scyphularia pycnocarpa (black caterpillar fern, Davallia pentaphylla)
Selaginella erythropus (red club moss)