[Exceptionally] Pretty pictures: transmitted light -- Part LI

The plants are coming in for the winter, and I've got a gigantic backlog of photos to deal with, so it's time for transmitted light pictures again.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Cissus rhombifolia.
Rotate it 90 degrees clockwise and there's a (subtle) peace sign!


Euonymous alatus, autumn.
Well. It's certainly very red, isn't it?


Ficus elastica 'Burgundy,' dying leaf.
This photo is very old (actually all of these photos are very old; I'm still working on a backlog of transmitted light photos from like 2009), but seems particularly appropriate right now. I had two Ficus elasticas. I just threw the small one out because it had scale, and I was like, whatever, I don't like trying to get rid of scale and it's a duplicate anyway, so I'll pitch it and grow the other one. But then the other one came in from outside, and it's been growing mostly horizontally the whole time it was outside because it's apparently one of those trailing rubber trees,¹ so I don't have any spot large enough to put it. And it's not like I'm hugely fond of F. elastica even when they're grown well. So I'm seriously considering throwing it out, or restarting from cuttings, or trying to sell it on Craigslist, or something like that. It's actually looking like a lot of the plants are going to have to be thrown out, sold, or restarted, in order to make space for the ones I actually want to keep. October's gonna be rough.


Pilea peperomioides, newish leaf.
Pilea peperomioides is probably not the most difficult "easy" plant I've ever tried to grow, but it's definitely on the list somewhere. And I have no idea what I was doing wrong.


Episcia NOID.

Ananas comosus 'Ivory Coast.'
This is perhaps not as flashy as some of the photos that follow it, but I think it's my favorite picture from this set. It's possible that I'm just a sucker for parallel venation.


Caladium 'Cardinal.'
Look out green! The red is right behind you! Run! Run! Aiiiieee!


Canna 'Tropicanna.'
As much as I love the red-blooming, green-leaved Cannas (and I do, very much), it seems weird that I haven't yet made it a priority to get one of the other varieties. Not necessarily 'Tropicanna,' (does it even come true from seed? Probably not, right?) but something. It's not as if there aren't a lot of options to choose from. Maybe 2014 will be the year.


Fittonia albivenis NOID.


Graptophyllum pictum.
I've seen Graptophyllum for sale exactly one time since I've been blogging, and I didn't buy it, because it was kind of underwhelming in person. (The books make it look a lot cooler.) Also you have to figure that if it were a satisfying houseplant, people would already be growing it everywhere. So I'm thinking I didn't miss much, but the picture still wound up pretty cool.

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¹ A joke: there is no such thing as a trailing rubber tree. Though there is a rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora), which is neither related to Ficus nor to Hevea brasiliensis, the "real" rubber tree. Common names are dangerously misleading! Shun them!

[Exceptionally] Pretty pictures: transmitted light -- Part L

Still have a lot of these photos stockpiled from . . . I don't even know how many years ago. Long time. I should probably try harder to burn through those, 'cause I'm still taking new pictures, and at this rate I'll never actually end up posting them.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Tetrastigma voinieriana. Alas, my Tetrastigma was lost in the big scale purge in February. It didn't have scale: I just got tired of it. It was top-heavy, and I couldn't actually let it climb anything like it wanted to, because I wouldn't have been able to take it to the tub to water it, and it had never grown very well, so out it went. I can't say I miss it much, though it's not particularly a bad plant, just not well-suited to my growing situation here.

Platanus occidentalis, autumn. I think sycamores are my favorite outdoor trees. Though tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is competitive. This particular photo does a terrible job of showing why it's my favorite tree, but that's not really what I was trying to do in the first place so whatever.

Strelitzia nicolai.

Fothergilla x 'Mount Airy.' This was obviously taken at the ex-job; we don't have a Fothergilla here.

Ligularia stenocephala 'The Rocket.' Same here, though I have run into Ligularias occasionally in houseplant books, and have always wondered how well they'd really grow indoors.

The only time I've ever seen anyone come close to trying is when we kept one in the greenhouse at work for a while; it produced some flower buds, which was exciting, but then the actual flowers turned out to have thrips, so they were all twisted and stunted and gross. The whole affair was pretty disappointing.

Plectranthus amboinicus, variegated. I'd like P. amboinicus better as a houseplant if it didn't try to get so big so fast.

Dieffenbachia 'Starbright.' One of the four or five Dieffenbachias I still own. Most of them get thrown out once they get too tall and leggy for me to deal with: either I decide I don't like them and just throw them directly out, or I'm emotionally conflicted about throwing them out, so I try to cut them back and root the cutting, but they don't resprout and the cutting doesn't root and so then I throw them out.

I've always loved the way Dieffenbachias look, and obviously they make for great transmitted light pictures, and it doesn't hurt that they're kind of dangerous -- I like the dangerous plants -- but overall? I don't find them worth growing. The exceptions are the really huge cultivars like 'Tropic Snow' and 'Tropic Rain,' which do well enough for me, and resprout consistently when cut back, that I don't mind having them around.

Pilea 'Moon Valley.' I don't know how many times I had to attempt a photo of 'Moon Valley' before I got this one, but it was a lot. So this is probably my favorite from this batch, whether or not it deserves to be.

Aglaonema 'Sparkling Sarah.' My original plant, which had three individual plants in it and looked decently full, is not as attractive as it used to be, though that's my fault, not the plant's -- I accidentally broke one of the canes off. It's still one of the better red/pink Aglaonemas in my experience.

Caladium 'Fire Chief.' Not a houseplant (though don't think I haven't tried, more than once), but the photos are almost always great.

[Exceptionally] Pretty pictures: transmitted light -- Part XLIX

Goodness. It's been so long since I did a transmitted light post that I don't even remember how I'm supposed to do them.

Actually no, that's not true. It's only been like five months. But it'd been nine months before that. I'm definitely a little rusty.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Schlumbergera truncata NOID, phylloclade. Though Schlumbergeras are not quite as abundant in the house as the Anthuriums, they've getting there. The most recent stats for the collection: 959 plants total, 198 Anthurium seedlings (21% of total), 116 Schlumbergera seedlings (12%). None of this changes the fact that they make lousy transmitted light subjects.

Philodendron [erubescens?] 'Golden Emerald.' I don't know what the deal is with this one; it never seems to photograph as bright and saturated as it actually is. It's really much prettier than this in person.

Brassolaeliocattleya Helen Brown. Probably by now it's not Brassolaeliocattleya anymore, but who has time to keep track of these things.

Iris ensata variegata. I have no memory of seeing a variegated Iris of any kind, anywhere. I mean, I know they exist; it's just that this photo is the only evidence I have that I've ever seen one. I didn't even take a photo of the whole plant, so there's no context for this picture. It's a weird feeling.

Salvia elegans. On Sunday, I semi-accidentally wound up looking at some of the pictures of the Salvia elegans we planted in the yard a couple years ago, when it was huge and in full bloom, and: I'm afraid we're just going to have to do that again. Even though I no longer seem to be capable of overwintering them. (Probably the basement is too warm now, what with all the lights.)

Callisia repens.

Tradescantia zebrina. I didn't actually intend for this to wind up next to the Callisia, but it's an interesting comparison, since they have a nearly identical growth habit.

Caladium NOID. Not one of my best Caladium pictures, but with Caladiums, even a bad picture is still okay.

Quercus sp., autumn.

Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar.'

[Exceptionally] Pretty pictures: transmitted light -- Part XLVII

Catch-up week continues. This particular batch has an unfortunate tendency toward greenish-yellow, which I fear will clash with the background, but this is the set that was queued up and ready to post, so this is the set you get. Wear eye shielding if you feel it's appropriate to do so.¹

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Commelina communis. Is it weird if I admit that I'm looking forward to seeing the first C. communis sprouts coming up outside this spring? I mean, I know it's a weed and all, but I really enjoy the flowers.

Aglaonema 'Silver Queen.' I recently cut my 'Silver Queen' back, and am trying to root the tops in soil. This had to happen -- the plant was too tall and gangly -- but the stumps haven't resprouted yet, and I can't tell whether the tops are rooting, so I'm a little anxious about the whole thing. It's a variety that used to be all over the place but doesn't seem to be anymore, so if it doesn't survive the beheading, I may have trouble finding a replacement.

Cordyline glauca, dying leaf. My goodness, some of these photos are ancient: I only realized it because I haven't had a Cordyline glauca for nearly a year now.

I like this picture. It has something to do with the colors, but I'm not sure how to explain.

Arctium sp.

Philodendron 'Congo Green.' The line across the top of the photo isn't a shadow; it's actually part of the leaf coloration. Because Philodendron leaves start out curled up (or at least those of 'Congo Green' and a lot of other Philodendrons do), a freshly unfurled leaf will sometimes be darker on the portion of leaf that was exposed to light during development, and lighter on the part from the interior of the spiral, which is what's happened here.

Mahonia aquifolium.

Alpinia zerumbet variegata. Alas, this is not turning out to be as easy to care for indoors as I'd thought it would be. I still have one, and if it continues to live, I'll continue to keep it, but if it dies on me, I don't think I'm going to try the plant again.

Aeschynanthus longicaulis. On the other hand, A. longicaulis is remarkably easy and vigorous, at least for me. Tons of flowers this winter, too, which would be easier to get excited about if the flowers were more colorful. But still. Hard to dislike a plant that's so easygoing.

Quercus sp., autumn. Either this one or the next one is my favorite from this batch. I like both the geometry and the colors on this picture; I want to say it reminds me of an afghan my grandmother crocheted.

Caladium 'Fire Chief.' This is a little more BANG! POW! In your face! than the other, but Caladium pictures tend to be that way.

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¹ It may surprise the reader to know that the Preview function in Blogger does not render the post as it will appear on the blog: the words and pictures are all present, and in the right sizes and positions relative to one another, but the background is plain white, and there's no sidebar. This isn't a huge deal, but sometimes not being able to view an actual preview means that I post pictures that clash uncomfortably with the background, or a video gets posted that overlaps part of the sidebar, or things of that nature.

[Exceptionally] Pretty pictures: transmitted light -- Part XLV

I woke up on Monday depressed, and remained that way. This is something that's happened before, though usually it spontaneously dissipates after about six hours without me having to do anything. Occasionally I have to watch Beavis and Butthead Do America to shake it.

Yesterday, it didn't dissipate after six hours. More like twelve (it started to lift around 8-8:30 PM last night). But I've scraped the bottom of the posts barrel¹ to bring you a post anyway, because I love you.

Though it's only a transmitted light post. I don't want to marry you or anything.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Spathoglottis NOID.

Zea mays.

Chlorophytum 'Charlotte.'

Aglaonema 'Maria.'

Cordyline fruticosa NOID.

Philodendron pinnatifidum 'Spicy Dog,' dying leaf. Unexpectedly, this is probably my favorite from this set.

Colocasia esculenta. Though this would be a close second place. Colocasia pictures are almost cheating, though, really.

Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar.' Turned out badly, which seems like it ought to be impossible with this plant. Not sure what to blame.

Caladium 'Cardinal.' Caladium pictures are cheats too. Also Codiaeum. Any of the "C" plants, really.

Episcia NOID.
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¹ Metaphor, obviously, but I picture it as being your standard staves-and-hoops barrel. Wooden (oak?), about 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter, and filled with white pieces of paper about the size of a receipt, which are the posts.